Villa & Palazzo Aminta

The location is superb - lake front views of the Borromeo islands. Excellent food and we loved the grotto spa and treatments.

This is a beautiful hotel, but it was the wrong choice for us. I hope this review can help you with your Stresa hotel choice. First the positives: The views of the Baromee Islands and mountains were absolutely stunning. The hotel, although not our style was decorated with beautiful antiques, gorgeous mosaics and the common areas were lovely. The pool area was very nice, but that was really the only area other than the outdoor dining terrace, or your private terrace that you could sit outdoors. The staff were very pleasant and helpful. Why it was not the best choice for us: Although a 5 minute drive from Stresa, it was not walkable--the road was narrow, curvy, fast moving cars and absolutely no walkability. Anywhere. Once at the hotel, which has rather smaller grounds there was no place to walk. (There was a small park area across the road, but not much to it.) We like to walk. The hotel had 6 shuttles daily into town, but the latest was at 6 pm so if you did not want to dine at the hotel you needed a taxi to return. We took many taxis at 15 euros each. We chose not to dine at the hotel because the dining had very limited choices for non meat eaters, and both dining locations were more formal than we were looking for. The Deluxe Double Lakefront Balcony Room was so tiny we had virtually no place to put luggage or unpack as the two small closets only had hanging space. Our room, on the top floor, had a loft sitting area with a television, which added to the room dimensions but was unused by us as it was small, low ceilinged, dark and we did not want to haul our luggage up there for place to put it. The room, while decorated beautifully had no modern amenities such as dimmable lights, or USB outlets, or adequate places to put your things. Every English language television station was so pixilated we could not watch it. The bathroom was very small and although it had two sinks, there was no way two people could stand in the bathroom at the same time, making the double sinks useless. The bathroom had an unpleasant urine odor, which the staff tried but failed to remediate. One night we barely slept as the air conditioning fan turned off and on constantly--often many times in a minute. They also tried to remediate this. Although we tried to change rooms, they only had one for our last night for an additional 300 euros, we opted against. I want to say the buffet breakfast was large with a lot of selections, (it was) but there too, I was disappointed when I picked up a peach and the entire underside was very visibly rotten--all the rest on the plate had rotten spots as well. For the cost of this hotel (over 900 euros a night) these little things were too much of an annoyance. One more note--we visited numerous hotels in town--to have drinks to avoid the rain, or to have the receptionist call us a taxi to return to Aminta- which they graciously did. Many look like they are right out of the Gilded Age, with the original furniture. However on the last night we chose to dine at the rooftop at the "Boutique Hotel Stresa"--a small, modern, gorgeous hotel near the promenade. We had drinks and a lovely casual dinner and then went to the lobby and asked the receptionist to call us a taxi to the Aminta. They insisted on driving us, telling us to call when we wanted to return. Even when we told them we were not staying at their hotel they insisted on driving us. And that is what we expect from a luxury hotel and would have liked to have been offered at Aminta- they did tell us they would call a cab if we called them. All in all, this was our third luxury hotel stay on this Europe visit, and the only one we were disappointed with. One last thing-- don't miss the Parc Villa Pallavicino on the other side of Stresa -a lovely park to visit as well as the Islands.

Super beautiful hotel Super view Super service Super location WE arrived to the lake … by mistake because we were heading to Switzerland and it was rainy and decided to find a different venue. Sometimes good things happen and it was definitely one. We plan to go back to the same place , to the same hotel

I have traveled extensively, including throughout Italy. My experience at the Villa Aminita was exceptional. Beyond the exquisite views, decor, and location, it is the service that sets this gem apart. Everyone, throughout the resort, was the epitome of hospitality. The General Manager, Fabio Vigitello, went above and beyond, exceeding my expectations. I cannot recommend this property enough.

Great hotel with great staff, location and food! Room and view were spectacular. Luxury at its finest! I wouldn't stay anywhere else in Stresa.