Cascina Belvedì

Cascina Belvedì is a country house property on Lake Como, sitting in the hills above one of Italy's most visited stretches of water. The setting is rural rather than lakeside-urban, which means guests trade the bustle of Como's ferry terminals and promenades for gardens, open terraces, and views toward the mountains — a different register entirely from the grand historic hotels that line the shore below. With a rating of 9.2 across more than five hundred reviews, it has clearly found a consistent audience among travelers who come to this region for the landscape rather than the nightlife.

The property functions as a self-contained retreat. There is a spa with a sauna, a hot tub, and a solarium, alongside an outdoor pool and a sun deck — the kind of infrastructure that rewards guests who plan to stay put for a few days rather than use the place purely as a base for day trips. A restaurant and bar mean there is no obligation to drive down into town for every meal, which matters in a location where the roads are narrow and parking in lakeside villages is its own small ordeal.

For guests arriving by car — which, given the rural address, most will — on-site parking removes one of the genuine logistical headaches of the Lake Como area. Rooms are soundproofed, a detail that earns its keep when neighboring properties on this stretch of hillside can carry sound unexpectedly. Guests can settle in from three in the afternoon and have until eleven the following morning before checkout, leaving a reasonable window to take a last walk through the garden or sit on the terrace before the drive back to Milan or the airport.