Grand Hotel Des Iles Borromee

The property is undoubtedly beautiful—historic charm, elegant grounds, and a premium location. We truly enjoyed the atmosphere and amenities during our stay. Unfortunately, our experience was impacted by the non-functioning air conditioning in our room. Despite calling the reception multiple times and receiving repeated promises that someone would come to fix it, no one showed up and the issue was never resolved. For a hotel of this caliber, we expected much better responsiveness to guest concerns. We hope management addresses this, as everything else about the stay was memorable.

Stresa is a very nice spot on the Lago Maggiore and it has a few very nice hotels facing the lake. Last year we stayed at the Regina Place Hotel, which we liked a lot, and this year we decided to try the Grand Hotel des Iles Borromées. We liked very much its classical style and decor. The rooms are comfortable (not too spacious though). The Spa and swimming pools are enjoyable and very well kept. What we found very disappointing was that the cleaning may be a bit superficial (the bath tub in one of our rooms was clogged with hair), the WiFi didn't work for two days (which made Netflix unavailable in the rooms' tv sets), the breakfast experience was way below expectations (food quality and variety barely acceptable, unless you are intolerant to gluten as is the case with my wife and one of our daughters: they had to wait for half an hour to get two slices of gluten-free hard bread, and 10 more minutes to get a gluten-free piece of cake). The staff and attention was subpar. No doubt, the Regina Palace Hotel is a better choice.

A special 30 year anniversary of our marriage in a very romantic and exclusive hotel. We had a junior suite with the lake view. The staff was really professional and gave their best service for the whole 6 day stay. Breakfasts were everything you could imagine, we had also one dinner at the hotel-the menu of the house was tasty and worth of the money-the atmosphere when storming outside and warm inside. Really enjoyed and highly recommended for the special event.

Lake Maggiore is stunning and this is one of the better hotels. The ornate surroundings however cannot hide the shortcomings.||The staff are accommodating and attentive. The rooms are clean and the surroundings beautiful. The pools and spa are warm and relaxing. Some of the fittings are in need of refurbishment and it is obviously not the hotel it once was.||Breakfast is disappointing. Only hot drinks are served, the rest is all self service. All the food that should be hot is either tepid or cold. A freshly poached egg should be available at a 5 star hotel. The ‘toast’ machine has long since seen it's functional days. It is incredibly slow and struggles to turn out warm bread the same colour as it went in. The buffet breakfast is 2 star at best. Definitely volume of quality.||

I loved the hotel and would definitely stay there again. The hotel was spotless. It is absolutely gorgeous. The food in the bistro and at dinner in the hotel was excellent. The servers was very good, and the concierge was very helpful and friendly. I couldn't change the battery in my air tag and I think it was Felice that helped me with that. The setting is one of the most beautiful in all my travels right across from the lake with the most awesome entrance and the grounds are exquisite with the foliage. Loved the indoor/outdoor pool. Swam every day in it. Ate lunch at bistro everyday. Had breakfast outside on the terrace of the restaurant daily. The hotel is about 2 blocks from the town and also the dock to get the boat to the islands. Just sitting and looking out at the Lake is an experience in itself. When (not if) I come to Stresa again, I will definitely be staying here.

This hotel is fabulous! We had a junior suite because I wanted a walk-in shower and they were able to provide it. The room had a beautiful view of the lake and the street promenade from the balcony. The room itself had a comfortable bed, but the pillows needed to be exchanged for something softer. It was very quiet, you couldn’t hear anybody in the hall or next-door. The closet was pretty small, but I guess it was adequate. I would’ve preferred something a little larger so we weren’t bumping into each other. Each floor was decorated with different antiquity themes; beautiful artwork & decor. The hotel itself was absolutely gorgeous in its' old world style. It was completed in 1863. It did not look the least bit dated, just a real old Italian renaissance feel. I checked out two nearby hotels that were on my potential list, but they weren’t as nice as this hotel. If you like the charm & style of old world Italy, then this is your best choice. |Everyone at the hotel couldn’t have been more gracious and helpful. The concierge, Raphael, is wonderful, along with his colleagues as well. I mean, the concierge even wears tails, so how cool is that?! |The Hemmingway bar is small, but the entire lounge surrounding it is where people sit at tables and chairs to enjoy their cocktails or espressos. They have a very limited menu of cake or snacks but it works if you need to grab a bite. |The breakfast is great. I didn’t realize until we were there for a few days that you could order eggs or omelettes if you wished, instead of just selecting scrambled eggs from the buffet bars. But you can get anything from cereal to smoked salmon to cappuccino’s- to-go during the breakfast hours. The service is very fast and on a nice day you can sit out on the terrace and enjoy the lovely view. |I’m so glad that we got to stay there for a week because we were going to go to Switzerland for a few days and split the week but this hotel was fabulous. The spa and the pools were incredibly beautiful. There’s a wonderful little bistro at the pool where you can get lunch and/or drinks. Make sure you save time during your holiday to enjoy the hotel. |The hotel is conveniently located about four blocks from town. GPS says it’s a half a mile but it doesn’t seem that far. You can walk into town for dinner at one of the many restaurants in town, enjoying the palm tree lined promenade as you stroll into town. Or enjoy dinner at the hotel restaurant. Make sure you make a reservation; it fills up. |The restaurants on the island have a little boats that they send over to Stresa to pick up customers if you would like to have dinner there. The closest dock is at the La Palma Hotel, which is extremely close by. Just make sure to tell them that you’d like to be picked up there so you don’t have to walk all the way down to where people take the public ferries. It makes things a lot simpler! |This hotel really was the best. I would highly recommend it without a doubt. We loved our stay there and were totally enchanted by Lake Maggiore. We’ve been to Lake Garda and Lake Como, and there’s just something magical about this area. The hotel added to the stars that we had in our eyes when we came home! |A lovely hotel, very kind people, doing everything to please. This is by far the best hotel in the Stresa area.

Gorgeous hotel in a beautiful location. Beautiful breakfast terrace and dining room.Gorgeous Hemingway bar with seating inside and outside to relax. Fabulous indoor and outdoor pools and spa. Outside pool should have better drinks service. Excellent massage and spa and a reasonable gym.

Very disappointed by the customer service in this hotel. Yes it is beautiful and the rooms generous and well maintained but we did not feel valued or welcome. The breakfast staff stand in groups gossiping and mainly ignore the guests and the breakfast on offer was not high standard. If you wanted a fried or poached egg or omelette there was an extra charge. My husband was also refused entry to the restaurant because he was in shorts on a day when the temperature was 30 degrees! No pool side service either. We will not be returning.

This is a beautiful property with lots of amenities. Very good co-Ed spa, our room had a spectacular view of Lake Maggiorie. It has a restaurant on property and lobby bar close to the center of town, breakfast included but very limited choices on the buffet. If you want cooked eggs it's $10 extra. For lunch and dinner we found the restaurant t to be pricey and not very good. Good gym, lots of windows and natural light, clean. I would say the big reason our review is getting a three is because almost every employee we encountered could use some training in customer service. They have a certain way of doing things at this hotel which is fine, but much better received when said with a smile, especially when the answer to your question is no. Usually in a four or five star property the staff try to accommodate guests. We didn't find that to be the case during our stay and would have enjoyed the no's and our stay there more had there been more yes's and the no's at least presented with a smile. Also the massage from the spa was not good, I paid extra for a deep tissue massage, it was like a pressure point massage not enjoyable. And the sheets and towels on property are hard and scratchy not soft as you would expect at a nice hotel such as this one. It's also strange that you cannot get two keys for your room, another no.

This is a beautiful baroque hotel - if you like that sort of thing. Everything is gilded in gold and covered in mosaics. They are celebrating their 150th year this year. While I didn't stay there, I did visit for drinks in the lounge. They have a nice full bar and all the drinks were made well. As per the usual in Italy, ordering drinks comes with complimentary snacks - little bowls of pistachios, chips, etc. Looked over the pricing for the rooms and I'd say it's reasonable for the area and level of the hotel.

The Grand Hotel Des Ils Borromees was all ours on the off-season (late October); my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our stay for the historic atmosphere, lake-front property, and the quiet lull the hotel succumbed to when winter was on its way. Dining food mediocre (could have used more bio products), but the overall atmosphere, lovely. We found it equally compelling this was the hotel Ernest Hemingway stayed to write Farewell to Arms. Emily Rose Reeder

Ok, let me start off with saying, the price of this hotel is not worth it. Sure, the inside looks nice, but don't buy into it. The concierge was not helpful at all. The cleaning ladies were destructive to our property in the room. The beds weren't that comfy. The only thing that I have to say was good was the morning buffet. But for the price of this hotel, definatily not worth it!