Grand Hotel des Iles Borromées & SPA

Beautiful hotel, gorgeous location and grounds

This beautiful baroque style hotel would be sought for anywhere but being at one of the most attractive locations in Europe with fairy-tale balcony views makes it truly exceptional. It is very clean and well maintained with 21st century equipment and beautiful, new, and very well-equipped spa. Breakfast was very tasty. Many restaurants with excellent choice, reasonable prices and good service were available in the town centre, 10 minutes walking distance.

It's truly a five star hotel. Luxurious and spotless with extremely polite and helpful staff. The restaurant was beautiful with delicious food and top notch servers that make you feel "very" special. A casual dress code was a nice surprise (No Shorts but jeans were accepted). The breakfast buffet was delicious and had plenty of choices including fruits, breads, cereal, meats, cheeses and even a honeycomb. The breakfast should please almost everyone. This hotel is just gorgeous and the detail is impeccable inside and out. There's a lot to do nearby within walking distance. Shopping, restaurants, boat transport and a very inviting promenade. There are two pools, one indoor and the second outdoor. The indoor pool is accessed from the first floor through the huge spa. There you'll find a beautiful warm pool, jacuzzi, steam room, mint mist spray room and other areas that we didn't check out. There's one cardinal rule for the indoor pool "ONLY ENTER WITH FLIP FLOPS". There's a "tiny" sign at the entrance to the pool that says "no shoes" and I didn't see it, so I entered with slip on boat shoes, took them off, rinsed my feet and carried the shoes to my lounge chair. When leaving the pool I slipped on my shoes and headed out and an employee at the exit started yelling at me telling me there are signs everywhere indicating "No shoes", he was nasty, I said I was sorry and told him I don't see a sign, he took me to the entrance and showed me a tiny sign that indicated "no shoes" in small writing, I put my tail between my legs and wandered away a bit embarrassed. Yes, I was wrong but the sign should much much bigger for something this important to them. I am probably writing nonsense so I'll just finish up with my high recommendation of this hotel. We would stay here again in a heartbeat.

Although art nouveau is not usually our style, the hotel was extremely elegant and every detail was excellent. The place was unexpectedly highly polished, decor was immaculate and perfectly clean, with none of the usual musty odour that comes with historically significant buildings. Staff were exceptional. Bathrooms were stunning and well lit. The view from the balcony was breathtaking. Bed was firm and very comfortable. Breakfast plentiful. Parking free and easy.

Overall hotel setup is fantastic Breakfast buffet is outstanding. Location is superb