Some people have the bad habit of shopping online at night, others binge reality tv shows.
My toxic trait is that I stay up late at night and make hotel reservations – without really knowing if it works for my schedule or the people I want to go with me on this aspirational future trip. I booked a stay Claridge’s in London a few years ago late at night & in the middle of Covid, and more recently I booked the Passalacqua hotel in Lake Como.
The time stamp on the reservation? 11:07 PM on September, 20, 2023 – approximately eleven months prior to the reservation and way past my bedtime.
My travel agent fusses at me about this bad habit but my need for instant gratification and the calm it brings me knowing I have a fun trip to look forward to is hard to overcome.
In this case, the trip worked out although we made a few modifications – one being that instead of staying in Lake Como for the full week, we only stayed four days (which turned out to be plenty) and spent the second part of our trip in Portofino which is only a three hour drive. It turns out that I loved mixing it up and having both experiences.
And I’m not even sure where to start with the Passalacqua. It was magical – I don’t think it will ever leave me. I spent so much time just walking around the property and taking it all in. Here are a few details about the hotel, but if you’re considering a bucket list trip to Lake Como and are on the fence – the answer is yes you need to go and experience it.
History: The villa dates back to 1787 and in 1831, the then-owner was a friend and patron to composer Vincenzo Bellini and during a stay, Bellini composed the opera La Sonnambula. It has changed hands a number of times from private owner to private owner, until the De Santis family purchased it in 2018, began a three year restoration and opened its doors in June of 2022.
About: The Passalacqua was named number one on the The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2023, just one year after opening. The hotel has only 24 total rooms and it feels like you’re in someone’s beautiful summer home – it is that intimate and special. During our visit the windows remained open throughout the property so the entire house is filled with the sound of birds chirping and the cool breeze from the lake.
My favorite room in the hotel was the bar (no jokes please). It is so cozy and intimate – I sat there in the evenings and read my book with a martini. Ah, to be on vacation.
Restaurants: La Baia di Moltrasio (5 minutes by foot from the hotel), Il Glicine in Cernobbio, 10 minutes away by car, Latteria San Fedele, located in the city center of Como, Il Gatto Nero (make sure to request/insist on a table upstairs), La Moltrasina (6 minutes from the hotel).
These are places that I researched and wanted to try but we weren’t able to work them in to our stay: Da Luciano (11 minutes from the hotel), Locanda La Tirlindana (20 min from the hotel), Pasticceria Poletti (7 minutes from the hotel – famous spot for sweet and salty treats).
Note: My husband and I are not tasting menu/Michelin star types of eaters but if you fall into that category you will love the restaurant at the hotel for dinner. We had dinner there one night and regretted it – we wished we had walked to one of the casual restaurants in the nearby town or gone to another restaurant. The food was just so-so in our opinions at the hotel. (Not the case for breakfast, only for dinner).
Hemingway Cocktail Bar was also fun – close to Latteria San Fedele in the city of Como.
Activities:
Bike Tour: The highlight of our entire trip for me (my husband’s favorite was our visit to Bagni Fiore in Portofino) was this incredible bike tour through the towns and villages of Lake Como and up into Switzerland. We booked a tour through Lake Como Cycling and our guide Pietro was wonderful – he met us at the hotel with the bikes (e-bikes – don’t be too impressed) and dropped us off afterwards. We biked for over three hours and 28 miles and it was glorious.
Boat Tour: A well traveled friend of my husband’s recommended Boat Tour to take a tour of the lake to see all the sights and spend time on the water. Of course, any good tour of Lake Como includes a sighting of George Clooney’s villa – a highlight for me. We went in the afternoon from 5-7 PM which was perfect because we had a drink on the boat and then a late dinner close to the hotel afterwards. This company was much less expensive than booking through the hotel and it was exactly the same type of boat and tour.
Pool & Spa: The pool is lovely at the hotel although fair warning there are not an abundance of lounge chairs if they are at full capacity. We had trouble getting them one morning which was disappointing so I would advise getting there early to get the best seats.
Lastly, one of the most spectacular parts of the hotel is the spa which is located in what is described as a “secret passageway” beneath the gardens in what was once either a service passageway or some other secret patchwork of tunnels. It has an indoor lap pool that looks out onto the property. I didn’t book a treatment but did get to swim in the pool and it was so nice. There’s apparently a gym too but I never saw it. 🙂
There are more pictures and videos of the hotel and our activities on my Instagram Account if you would like additional details.
Have a great weekend!