Best Hotels on Lake Como
Lake Como has no shortage of beautiful hotels, and choosing between them is not really a question of which building you like most. It is a question of which shore you want to wake up on — because on a lake shaped like a wishbone, with roads too narrow to hurry along, the water is the only fast way to travel, and your hotel’s position on it quietly decides what every day looks like. These are the four we’d book, and the shore each one puts you on.
Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
First, the shore — not the hotel
The lake splits in two below Bellagio. The western leg runs down to the town of Como; the eastern leg down to Lecco. Bellagio sits on the point where they part, which is why every boat timetable seems to revolve around it.
What this means in practice:
- The western shore — Tremezzo, Moltrasio, Cernobbio — is the villa shore, and it holds the afternoon and evening light. Gardens, terraces, the classic Como postcard.
- Bellagio and the point is the most connected place on the lake. Everything is a short boat ride away, which is also why it is the busiest.
- The eastern shore — Torno, Varenna — is quieter and gets the morning sun on the water. Fewer coaches, later dinners.
One practical note on arriving. Malpensa sits about an hour from the water, and the last stretch is the awkward part: lakeside villages have almost no parking, the roads narrow to one car in places, and the train leaves you at a station that may or may not be near your hotel. Arranging the transfer before you fly is the difference between starting the holiday at the water and starting it with luggage on a platform.
Getting To The LakeA driver who meets you at Malpensa and takes you to the hotel door, booked before you fly.
Look up the ferry timetable before you book a room, not after. A hotel twenty minutes further up the shore can mean an hour of waiting each way, and the last boats back run earlier than you’d expect.
01 · Grand Hotel Tremezzo — Tremezzo
The one most people picture when they picture Lake Como. An Art Nouveau palace from 1910 on the western shore, looking straight across the water at Bellagio, with terraced gardens behind it and a swimming pool that floats in the lake itself. It is grand in the old sense — marble, palms, a lot of ceremony — and it wears it well rather than apologising for it.
If it’s your first time on the lake and you want the version of Como you’ve already seen in photographs, this is it.
Villa Carlotta’s gardens are next door, close enough to walk, which makes this the easiest base for a day spent among azaleas and lake views instead of on a boat.
Fourteen hectares of terraced garden running down to the water, at their most extravagant when the azaleas open in spring. Worth booking ahead if you’re staying in Tremezzo — it is the one thing here you can do on foot.
The other way to spend a day without getting on a boat. Worth it if you’d rather taste what the slopes above the lake actually produce than queue for another villa.
02 · Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni — Bellagio
A mid-19th-century villa on the very tip of the Bellagio promontory, with frescoed salons that feel closer to a museum than a lobby. What you’re really booking is the address: from here both legs of the lake are a short crossing, and you can be in Varenna or Tremezzo before breakfast has properly finished.
Staying here does mean living off the timetable, though, and the timetable lives on your phone — as does every boat you end up booking once you realise how much of the lake is within reach.
Stay ConnectedAn Italian eSIM installed before you fly — a ferry timetable is no use offline.
Our pick if you’d rather spend your days moving around the lake than settling into one shore.
Worth Booking
The crossing every Bellagio guest ends up making anyway, done properly: two of the lake’s best villages by water, with the villa shoreline in between. Worth booking if you want the lake explained to you once before exploring it alone.
03 · Passalacqua — Moltrasio
An 18th-century villa on terraces above Moltrasio, a short drive north of Como town, which opened as a hotel in 2022 and spent the following year being named the best in the world. It is the least hotel-like of the four: a house with rooms rather than a lobby with corridors, formal gardens dropping to the water, and considerably more quiet than its reputation suggests.
The one we’d choose for a honeymoon or an anniversary — and the one where staying in for dinner is not a compromise.
On a lake this narrow, the view from your room is the whole holiday. Pay for the water, not the square metres.
The villa shore from the water at the hour it looks best, with a glass in hand and no itinerary. Worth booking on your first evening — it shows you where everything is before you try to reach it.
04 · Il Sereno — Torno
The modern one. A low, contemporary building on the eastern shore at Torno, designed by Patricia Urquiola, where every suite opens onto its own lake terrace and nothing is gilded. After three villas it can come as a relief: the view does all the work, and the architecture stays out of its way.
Torno is quieter than the western shore and catches the morning light, which makes this the pick for a second visit — when you already know the lake and want to look at it rather than tour it.
Being this close to the town of Como also puts one thing within easy reach that guests further up the lake tend to miss: the funicular, and the view back down the water from the top of it.
Editor's Pick
The lake from the water, then from the ridge high above it, in a single afternoon. Worth booking on a clear day — from up there you can finally see the shape of the thing.
If you’re staying in Milan
Plenty of people see Como without sleeping on it, and there is no shame in that: the lake is barely an hour from the city. If that’s the trip you’re taking, the version worth doing is by water rather than by coach — the shoreline is the point, and you only see it properly from the lake.
Worth the Detour
A private boat rather than a shared bus, plus a crossing into Switzerland for Lugano. Worth it if this is your only day on the lake and you’d rather not spend half of it queuing for a ferry.
One last thing worth doing before a trip built around water. Lake days get cancelled by weather more often than city days, boats are booked ahead, and a villa hotel’s cancellation terms are stricter than a chain’s — which is the whole argument for cover that refunds the bookings rather than just the flight.
Before You GoCover that includes cancellation, not just medical — the part that matters when the bookings are boats.
Como pairs naturally with two other Italian trips: the city weekend in our 3 days in Rome itinerary, and the mountains an hour north, in our guide to 5 fairytale places in Switzerland — Bellinzona is on the same railway.
Good to Know & FAQ
Which shore of Lake Como is best to stay on?
The western shore — Tremezzo, Moltrasio, Cernobbio — is the classic choice: villa gardens, terraces and the best of the evening light. Bellagio, on the point where the lake divides, is the most connected and the busiest. The eastern shore around Torno and Varenna is quieter and gets the morning sun. All three are lovely; what differs is how much of your day goes into travelling.
Do you need a car on Lake Como?
No, and it is often easier without one. The lakeside roads are narrow, slow and short of parking, while ferries and boats connect every town worth visiting. Check the timetable before booking a hotel — the last boats back run earlier than most people expect.
When is the best time to visit Lake Como?
Late April to early June, and September. The gardens are at their best in spring, the water is warm enough to swim by September, and both avoid the July and August crowds. Most lakeside hotels close for the winter.
How far is Lake Como from Milan?
About an hour. Trains run from Milano Centrale to Varenna and to Como, and Milan's Malpensa airport is roughly an hour from the lake by car — which is why a lot of people fly into Milan and go straight to the water.