Five-star Two MICHELIN Keys Cernobbio, Como
Villa d'Este
A cardinal's summer house of 1568 at Cernobbio, a hotel since 1873, with ten hectares of park and a swimming pool that floats on the lake.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- MICHELIN
- Two Keys, 2026
- Rooms
- 151, plus four villas in the park
- Built
- 1568; a hotel since 1873
- From the airport
- About 48 minutes from Malpensa
The hotel
From cardinal to princess to grand hotel.
Pellegrino Pellegrini, known as Il Tibaldi, designed the main building in 1568 as a summer residence for Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio. It is still called the Cardinal's Building and holds most of the rooms. From 1815 to 1820 the villa belonged to Caroline of Brunswick, Princess of Wales. In 1856 Baron Ippolito Ciani added a second building, first named Hotel de la Reine d'Angleterre and now the Queen's Pavilion.
The hotel opened in 1873, and Verdi and Puccini came to stay. Since 1929 the Concorso d'Eleganza has brought classic cars to the villa each May. The park covers ten hectares behind the villa, and the pool floats on the lake itself. The hotel opened its 154th season in spring 2026, and in the 2026 selection the MICHELIN Guide raised it to two Keys.
- The floating pool An outdoor pool set in Lake Como, open in summer, with an indoor pool for cooler days.
- Ten hectares of park Gardens and woodland behind the villa, with four private villas for rent among the trees.
- Sport A spa, the Sporting Club, and the Villa d'Este Golf Club at Montorfano, which marks its hundredth year in 2026.
Rooms & suites
Two buildings and a lakeside terrace.
There are 124 rooms in the Cardinal's Building and 27 in the Queen's Pavilion. Four villas in the park are let separately.
- Rooms Classic Room Between 32 and 42 square metres.
- Lake view Junior Suite Lake View Between 45 and 60 square metres, looking over Lake Como.
- Signature suite Cardinal Suite 108 square metres, the largest suite listed, with a terrace over the lake.
Dining
Lunch on the water, dinner on the Veranda.
Restaurants and bars as listed by the hotel. Shown for information.
- Veranda Lakeside terrace The terrace restaurant over the lake; executive chef Andrea Guerini
- Grill Mediterranean grill In the hotel
- Il Platano Mediterranean with Japanese technique By the lake
- Sundeck Light lunches and cocktails For hotel guests only
- Bar Canova Cocktails With the Greenhouse over the lake in winter
- La Terrazza al Golf Golf club restaurant New in 2026, over the eighteenth hole at the golf club
Recognition
Awards and listings.
- Two MICHELIN Keys 2026
Good to know
Before you go.
- Arrival Check-in from 3 pm, check-out by noon.
- Season The 2026 season began in spring and has been extended to 7 January 2027. In other years the hotel has opened from March to November.
- Children Welcome, with a kids' club, cots and babysitting on request. Extra beds are possible from a Junior Suite upwards.
- Pets Accepted.
Getting there
Flying to Como.
Milan Malpensa is 60 kilometres away, about 48 minutes by car without stops, and has a private aviation terminal. Linate is 70 kilometres, about an hour. The villa has its own helipad, and the Swiss border, on the road to Lugano, is just a few minutes north.
- Geneva 40 min
- Rome 1 h 00
- Paris 1 h 10
- London 1 h 40
- New York 8 h 50 long-range jet
Questions
What guests ask first.
- How many MICHELIN Keys does Villa d'Este have?
- Two, in the 2026 selection for Italy, where it was raised to two Keys.
- Is Villa d'Este open in winter?
- For 2026 the hotel has extended its season to 7 January 2027. It usually closes in winter, so dates for 2027 should be checked when booking.
- How far is Villa d'Este from Milan airports?
- Malpensa is 60 kilometres away, about 48 minutes by car; Linate is 70 kilometres, about an hour.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to Como?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to Como, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in Como
Other hotels worth the trip.
- Passalacqua A late eighteenth-century villa where Bellini wrote Norma, with twenty-four suites across three buildings.
- Grand Hotel Tremezzo Open since 1910, in a park that was once the botanical garden of Villa Carlotta next door.
- Il Sereno A modern building on the eastern shore, with interiors by Patricia Urquiola and vertical gardens by Patrick Blanc.
- Grand Hotel Victoria A nineteenth-century neoclassical hotel on the shore, looking across to Bellagio.
- The Lake Como EDITION A nineteenth-century palazzo on the western shore, new to the Keys in 2026, with a floating pool and its own dock.
- Villa Làrio Eighteen suites in three buildings on the eastern arm, with an infinity pool and a private landing stage.
- Palazzo Albricci Peregrini A handful of rooms in an old family palazzo inside the town walls, marked only by a small sign.
Staying at Villa d'Este?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to Como, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.