Grand Hotel Victoria – Belle Époque glamour reborn on Lake Como

On Lake Como's quieter western shore, in clear view of Bellagio across the water, Grand Hotel Victoria has stood since the Belle Époque, when the villa was built in 1890 and welcomed its first guests two years later. Wealthy English, German and Russian families once arrived here from the Engadin with trunks, hat boxes and the promise of a holiday to remember, and the sumptuous staircases and gilded friezes of that era survive today. What guests find now, though, is a hotel entirely reinvented: a renovation finished in 2021 added a new wing, the Palazzo, beside the historic Villa, bringing the hotel to 81 rooms and suites. The MICHELIN Guide awards Grand Hotel Victoria Two Keys, describing neoclassical architecture touched by Liberty style and an air of Old Hollywood glamour, paired with contemporary design and subtle high-tech comfort. Two restaurants, two bars, a private beach club and one of the lake's largest spas now occupy a building that once hosted aristocrats on their Grand Tour.

01The house

During the Belle Epoque, the Grand Hotel Victoria hosted well-off English, German and Russian families travelling from the Engadin, trailed by huge trunks, loads of luggage, hat boxes and the promise of a holiday to remember. Sumptuous staircases, chandeliers and halls adorned with stucco and gilded friezes testified to the splendour of the Art Nouveau style in which the villa, built in 1890, was conceived.

The modern hotel is the result of a two-year renovation conceived by architect Franco Pè and his firm, completed in 2021. A new building was raised alongside the original villa between 2018 and 2021, adding 81 rooms and suites in total, and the addition deliberately echoes the heritage structure, mimicking its pale yellow façade and terracotta roof and joined to it by a hallway that blends old and new. Interiors came largely from the Italian designer Medea, with exterior furnishings by Talenti, while the main entrance pays homage to The Betrothed, the 1827 novel by Alessandro Manzoni that also lends its name to the hotel's restaurant.

02Rooms and suites

Categories run from Deluxe courtyard view and Prestige park view rooms through Executive and Loft lake view rooms to a full suite ladder — Junior Suites, Suite Lake View, Suite Terrace Lake View, an Exclusive Suite Lake View, a Master Suite and a Presidential Suite. Accommodation favours light wood floors, statement wallpaper and a nature-inspired palette of greys, browns and creams with touches of green or blue. The best rooms look straight onto the lake from the bedroom itself or from a private terrace, with others facing the gardens and the mountains behind.

Insider tip

Open spring to autumn; closed December to February. A short walk from Menaggio's ferry landing.

03Where to eat

Lago is the all-day restaurant, built around traditional Italian cuisine, an open wine cellar and a veranda that shifts between indoor and outdoor seating; in summer it adds live piano from Thursday to Sunday and a show-cooking space used for culinary gatherings. The 1827 restaurant space has itself evolved: it now operates as SHIORI 栞 1827, an Asian fusion dining room whose Japanese name translates as 'bookmark', a nod to the exact point in a story worth returning to, while the 1827 reference keeps its original tie to Manzoni's novel and its curiosity about the wider world.

SHIORI 栞 1827 is led by Executive Chef Maichol Morandi together with Chef Suphaphon Saengwong, moving from sushi and gyoza to ramen and wagyu in a continuous dialogue between techniques and ingredients from East and West. Falstaff has awarded the restaurant 91 points, highlighting its sushi, ramen and wagyu alongside a colour-changing bottle display case and a serious sake and cocktail list. Down at the lake, the hotel's beach club adds a fourth table, the ERRE Restaurant at Victoria Beach.

04The bar

Drinks are split across Bar Manzoni and Bar Griso, which pour expert cocktails and a well-chosen run of Italian and international wines; Griso sits by the pool for guests who prefer not to leave the water. The hotel's cellar, assembled during the earlier 1827 restaurant concept, runs past 400 labels.

05Spa and pool

ERRE Spa covers 1,200 square metres, making it one of the largest wellness spaces on Lake Como. The route through it takes in a 20-square-metre indoor heated pool, Finnish and infrared saunas, steam baths, emotional showers and a salt room, built in collaboration with the wellness specialist Starpool.

Outside, a separate heated pool gives guests a second place to swim in the garden, away from the spa's indoor circuit, with the mountains behind Menaggio as a backdrop.

06The neighbourhood

Menaggio occupies one of Lake Como's quieter stretches, directly across the water from Bellagio, which means a little more peace for hotel guests without losing easy access to the rest of the lake. The town itself has Roman-era origins, now visible only in the remains of its old fortifying walls, while most of what stands today dates from the 19th century — terracotta-roofed houses gathered around a small working harbour. The hotel sits a short walk from that centre and from the ferry landing.

07Making the most of a stay

A few minutes on foot from the hotel, Victoria Beach functions as a separate beach club with two infinity pools and a private stretch of lakefront, plus its own restaurant and cocktail bar. Guests can also arrange a water limousine to explore the lake independently, taking in villages such as Bellagio or the small island of Isola Comacina. The hotel itself closes for the winter season between December and February, so a stay is strictly a spring-to-autumn proposition.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.