Hotels in Lake Como

We stayed at Albergo Milano in Varenna this past October. It is a lovely little place, has an excellant restaurant, and the owners are terrific hosts. Try for a lake view room with a terrace. The hotel is a short walk to the lake ferry and one can walk the entire town in a few minutes. Albergo Milano is a favorite of many people on this site.

Hotel Centrale in Bellagio is very good. Nice clean rooms. Very nice family that runs the place.
Very reasonable price for the area

Marina, Just to clarify, you're planning to stay in Varenna? Also, what price range are you considering?

Hello Ken, We are looking to pay between $100-150 us. Less would be fine. Marina

Hi Marina, I agree with Bob...Albergo Milano is lovely. We stayed there in 2009 & have reservations to stay there again this coming August. They also have an annex close to the main hotel (another building with 3 or 4 rooms). We stayed in the main hotel in 2009 & were lucky enough to get a room with a lakefront view and terrace; the views were outstanding. For our next trip, we're staying in the annex in a room with a lakefront view overlooking the harbor. The reviews of the annex and the main hotel are all good. Book ahead if interested in staying there. Have a wonderful time; Varenna & Lake Como are magical.

Albergo Milano is a delight; however, we paid over 130E a few years ago so I believe it's over your pricepoint.
Plus, I booked it at least 6 months in advance.

Marina, Thanks for the additional information. I suspect it could be a bit "challenging" to find a room in the price range you mentioned. US$150 is only about €118 so finding a double in that price range "close to the lake" may be difficult. This will depend to some extent on whether you're travelling in "high season" or not. If you'd be comfortable with a B&B rather than a Hotel, you might consider the Orange House B&B. There are only a couple of rooms so you'll need to book early. If you want to be really close to the water, have a look at Albergo Olivedo and Villa Torretta. These are located at the Ferry dock, so rooms on the front can be a bit "noisy" in the middle of the day (I've stayed there and didn't find that to be a problem, as I was out touring in the day). I've always enjoyed the restaurant there, even when not staying there. Albergo Milano is an excellent choice, but as noted, it's somewhat at the "high end" of your price scale. Two other properties you could look at are Villa Cipressi and the Royal Hotel Victoria. Both are located in the vicinity of the main Piazza (a bit above the lake, but with a view). Villa Cipressi and Villa Monastero have beautiful gardens that can be toured. You might find it helpful to have a look at Trip Advisor ratings for the various Hotels. Cheers!

Thanks Everyone for your suggestions, these are great choices and realize I will need to pay more for a nice place. Marina

Last September, we stayed at the Hotel Florence in Bellagio for two nights. We were able to get a lake view room but didn't have a balcony. Many of the hotels were already booked when we got to Bellagio so we were willing to pay little more and especially when we saw the view from the room. My husband thinks the price was about $180 per night but that price did include breakfasts each morning. We just happened to luck into the hotel. We had stopped at another place and the man at the front desk made some calls for us since his hotel was full. The room at the Hotel Florence was the last one available for that night. We asked if we could stay for the two nights as soon as we saw the room. The room and bathroom were both large and nicely decorated. The breakfast room was lovely and the breakfast itself was quite good. The ladies who worked at the breakfast were very nice. The hotel was a short walk to the ferry terminal so you can easily take a cruise on the lake. September 2011 was the hottest September in Italy in fifty years. We used the ferry to take two trips around the lake just to stay cool. Even though we chose not to get off and explore some of the other lake towns, it was nice to see all the towns around the lake. Since we were driving to Bolzano, we took the ferry to Varenna instead of driving back down the penisula. It saved a lot of time! My husband had to park the car away from the main town area during the day but we could move the car to the parking lot across from the hotel after 8:00pm. The car had to be moved before 8:00am each day. I would go back there if I could!