Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, Lake Como, Italy

Sitting at the very tip of the promontory that is Bellagio, the Villa Serbelloni is a grand 19th Century building that dominates the town. If you can, try to arrive at Bellagio by ferry – the scenery is certainly more impressive than if you’re coming by car and gives you a better sense of the hotel being almost completely surrounded by water. The main building of the Villa Serbelloni dates from 1850 and in 1873 the wings were added and the villa was transformed from a holiday home into a hotel.

Bellagio is a romantic town of winding streets and a labyrinth of staircases, which makes most of it inaccessible by car. But everything is within easy walking distance of the hotel, and you will only need a car if you want to venture further afield. In fact, there is plenty in the hotel itself, and its vast Italian-style gardens to keep you occupied.

The public rooms of the hotel have been kept, as far as possible, in their original state. Frescoes decorate most of the ceilings, skirting around gilded cornices and Murano chandeliers, and the antique carpets look like they are used to more aristocratic feet than the ones that walk on them today. Certainly the hotel did play host to some sort of people that were seen at the Villa d’Este (competition for the most famous guests must have been high when both hotels opened in the same year), and has its own collection of famous signatures in the guest book. Winston Churchill always stayed in the suite at the top of the marble staircase on the first floor.

Standard double rooms can seem a little small, particularly after the grandiose ballrooms and halls of the ground floor, but they are comfortable and homely yet offer all the mod cons. Deluxe doubles are more impressive and if you can stretch to a suite you will experience the Baroque décor and some of the better antique furniture. One of the suites even has huge marble columns that separate the sleeping area from the sitting area. Because it's such an old building some of the bathrooms are oddly shaped and on the small side, but have everything you need. The hotel also has a separate residence that houses apartments. They are on the garden side of the hotel, not as impressively decorated, but spacious and well-kept.

The hotel has recently splurged on installing a spa and an indoor swimming pool, no doubt to keep up with the other five-star hotels, and to good effect. The spa offers a number of tantalising treatments and the indoor pool, with a dubious underwater theme in the form of nets and seashells, is larger than the outdoor pool that lies on the terrace separating the hotel from the private beach and the lake.

The Villa Serbelloni is a good place for people who want to holiday like the Hollywood stars, but can’t afford the exorbitant prices of the Villa d’Este.