Passalacqua
Arrive through medieval gates into a private villa on Lake Como and understand why this place was named the best hotel in the world
Lake Como does the heavy lifting before you even arrive. The drive along the western shore, the mountains rising off the water, the villas tucked into the hillside. It is one of those places that has been photographed so many times that seeing it in person feels almost redundant. Except it does not. The scale, the light, the stillness. It hits you.
And then you pass through the medieval gates of Passalacqua and something shifts.
If your arrival on Lake Como is not enough to get your senses going, wait until you arrive through the medieval gates to Passalacqua.
AJ Bailey
A short drive through manicured grounds and gardens and you arrive at what can only be described as an old money Hollywood film set. The front of house staff are already in position. Luggage taken. You are greeted as though you are a head of state. And then you walk into the villa and the first thing that hits you is not the interior. It is the smell. Huge diffusers carrying the scent of what luxury actually smells like.
If luxury had a smell, that was it.
AJ Bailey
The De Santis family bought this 18th-century villa in 2019. Valentina De Santis, the daughter, runs it. Her parents, Antonella Mallone and Paolo De Santis, already owned the Grand Hotel Tremezzo down the lake. When they found Passalacqua, they were not looking for another hotel. They were looking for a home. And that is exactly what it feels like.
It genuinely does not feel like a hotel. You get the sense that you are staying in a very wealthy person home.
AJ Bailey
Valentina has exquisite taste. That is not a throwaway line. The interiors were done without plans or renderings. Her parents became antique hunters, scouring auctions and fairs across Italy, bringing back truckloads of treasures. Local artisans, generations-old Italian workshops, layered choices from the heart. The result is a place that looks like it has always been this way. Like nobody designed it. Like it just grew.
The property spreads across seven acres of terraced gardens down to the lake. Three buildings. The main Villa with 12 suites. The Palazz, formerly the estate stables, with eight. And the Casa al Lago with four. Twenty-four rooms in total. Every one of them different. Every one of them with the kind of detail that makes you slow down and look twice.
I booked the Grand Room Al Lago. You are driven down from the main villa through the gardens to what is essentially a small villa at the bottom of the grounds. The room is better than the pictures online. Much better. You step inside and you are in the 1940s. Old money, ultra-luxury, the kind of space that makes you lower your voice. And then there is the private garden. Adjoining the suite, looking straight out over Lake Como, with the Mandarin Oriental visible on the opposite shore. You sit there and you think, this is not a hotel room. This is someone estate.
After check-in you are taken on a tour of the property. The spa. The indoor pool. And then you see the outdoor pool and the tennis court and they look like they belong in a James Bond film. Red clay, white lines, terraced gardens falling away behind it, the lake in front. It is postcard-perfect. The kind of setting that makes you question whether it is real.
If a hotel comes close to feeling like Heaven, then this is the one.
AJ Bailey
The food is exceptional. You can dine indoors or on the terrace of the villa with perfect views of the lake. The service matches the setting. Attentive without being present. There when you need it, invisible when you do not.
Passalacqua does not do things by halves. Beyond the pool and the tennis court there is an indoor and outdoor gym sitting in the gardens with a view that would completely distract you from your workout. And then there is the boat. Named after the hotel. Available to book before your stay. It takes you out on the lake and you see Como the way it was meant to be seen. From the water.
Without question. Passalacqua was named the World Best Hotel in 2023 and it is not hard to see why. The location, the setting, the staff, the property itself. It is mind-blowingly beautiful. But what makes it extraordinary is that it does not feel like a hotel. It feels like you have been invited into someone home. Someone with extraordinary taste. Someone who cares about every single detail. And that, in the end, is what separates the best from the merely excellent.
