Hotel La Perla - Tremezzo, Italy 

We booked the hotel after reading the good reviews on TripAdvisor and were pleased we did. The hotel was a fair drive up a hill from Tremezzo, but the rewards in terms of views were well worth the effort. The greeting when we arrived was very good, and the owners and staff were all very helpful and friendly throughout our 4 night stay. The room we had was on the first floor and was superb, excellent value for money. We had our own private terrace with the fantastic view over the lake, and the room and bathroom were very clean. We did not realise that dinners were not available, but the problem was solved on the nights we did not want to go back down to the lake by there being a service of bar snacks. As these were fine, they kept us going although they were not large portions, and choice was limited. Breakfast was excellent, and all meals were taken on the terrace with the views which were outstanding. A lovely hotel.

What a really fantastic hotel. My wife and I have travelled around Europe for many years and have experienced some of the best and worst of hotels. This year, La Perla was one of seven chosen for our driving holiday through France, Italy and Switzerland, from reviews in TripAdvisor and others. We ranked it amongst the best and probably up in the top five out of all the hotels we have stayed in. What you see on La Perla’s web site is exactly what you get, unlike some ‘country’ hotels that you find are city centre based or next to a motorway!! After the ten minute drive up from Tremezzo on the shores of Lake Como, we arrived at the driveway leading up to the hotel and instantly knew we had chosen well. We were welcomed at reception by one of the owners and guess what - no mistakes with the rooms booked, a change from some hotels who don’t seem to be able to read. A third of our bookings were wrong even though they had been confirmed! The rooms were oustanding with superb en-suites and included air-conditioning that actually worked - certainly needed with temperatures of 36c when we arrived. From this high up, we hoped that the views would be exceptional and we were not to be disappointed as we stood on the balcony staring out over the blue waters of Lake Como. For very good reasons, La Perla does not have a restaurant but they do offer a range of Italian snacks should you decide to eat-in which we did one night. The meal with wine was served on the top balcony, I was going to say under the stars but it was still quite light at 10pm, and included salad starters, main courses and ice cream. Simple, but very good and probably helped by the warm summer evening. On other evenings, we walked down the hill (about fifteen minutes) to a small Italian restaurant situated in a private house and run by an Italian lady and her Spanish husband. Lovely food with personal and attentive service. Breakfast was ‘Continental’ and nicely presented and taken on the balcony above the swimming pool. Even the free garage underneath the hotel was fresh, clean and secure but this was only to be expected after what we had experienced in the way the hotel is run. Would we stay here again? Absolutely without question, YES! Jan & Rae Cload. Devon. UK.