The Property
The Grand Hotel Tremezzo opened its doors on 10th July 1910, during an era of romantic grand tours, long voyages and illustrious travellers. At this time Lake Como was already an obligatory stopover on the international tourist circuit and a favourite destination with the elite: rich and cultured foreign visitors from England, Germany, France and Austria, as well as Belgium and Switzerland, and even from Tsarist Russia. A local gentleman from nearby Bellagio wanted to create a hotel of class and sophistication on one of the worlds most beautiful lakes and since the day it opened to present day, the Grand Hotel Tremezzo has been welcoming discerning travellers from all over the world.
The hotel has weathered many storms, including the First World War, new ownership in the 1930s and then during the Second World War, it was able to remain open. When the war ended it was ready to welcome guests with the grace and charm, it had become so famous for.
A favourite hotel with the glitterati and referred to by Greta Garbo as ‘that happy, sunny place’ in the film “Grand Hotel” (1932).
Today, following in the footsteps of the Gandolas and the Sampietros families, another family (De Santis) is proudly carrying forward the Grand Hotel Tremezzo tradition, celebrating a century of charm and authentic Italian hospitality.
Who is it perfect for
This hotel is truly special and would suit anyone with a special occasion. A wedding, honeymoon, special birthday or anniversary would be absolutely perfect, however families are welcomed with open arms at the property. The hotel can’t do enough to cater for children (and their parents), which we have experienced personally.
For families who enjoy spending time together, taking walks around the gardens of the neighbouring villas (Villa Carlotta & Villa Balbianello), spending time on the lake in the summer and enjoying long Italian lunches (and dinners), this is absolutely faultless. With all the usual amenities including pools, tennis courts, an award winning spa and fitness centre, you can certainly indulge in the Italian hospitality and not feel quite so guilty.
What makes this property unique
The people! The General Manager (and owner), Valentina De Santis, is a young, exceptionally glamorous, yet driven, leader. You can tell that her entire team absolutely love working for her, her family and in this unique property. Many members of staff have worked at GHT for their entire careers. Nothing is ever too much trouble.
The property itself is stunning and from the minute you step inside you get the feeling of stepping back to the Belle Époque era, where every detail is catered for the elite traveller. Plush, luxurious and sumptuous interiors are coupled with all the modern day amenities that any guest would require.
Our own experience
The hotel opens seasonally (from mid March to early November) and we stayed as a family just before Easter. Our room ‘Suite Aurelia” (aptly the same name as our daughter) was located in the centre of the hotel, overlooking the lake and the view was absolutely breath taking. We had an interconnecting room for our daughter, also overlooking the lake and the hotel had been so kind as to remove all traces of nuts from our room, due to her nut allergy. Its tiny details like these that highlight just how caring and detail focused this hotel is. We dined in each of the hotels restaurants during our stay and each gave a different flavour of Italian cuisine. When we couldn’t find the dishes we liked one evening, the chef prepared us cuisine of our choice and no fuss was made. We thoroughly enjoyed exploring the local areas both on land and on the water. Sadly it was still a little too chilly to swim in the lake or enjoy the T-Beach, but this did not mar our stay. Our favourite room in the hotel has to be the Sala Musica with its candy coloured sofas and an abundance of natural light.
It’s easy to see why this has become the home away from home for some of the worlds elite…I know that we certainly didn’t want to leave and promised to return!
2020 Update: We returned for a long weekend, in August 2020 and were delighted to see the hotel in a whole different light, during the summer months. As we were still mid pandemic, the hotel had gone above and beyond to provide all the necessary sanitation and social distancing measures, yet still retain the excellent service and attention to detail….there wasn’t anything that hadn’t been thought of. This was our first international trip following Covid 19 and we couldn’t have been happier to choose on of our favourite places in the world to experience the new way of travelling.
