Hotel Villa Principe Leopoldo & Spa

Villa Principe Leopoldo is a beautiful hotel with a unique style. The rooms are very spacious, the pool and garden are amazing, and the views of the lake and mountains are breathtaking. Yeelen at reception gave us a warm welcome, and Giorgio was super kind and helpful, even giving us a great goodbye at checkout. Highly recommend this hotel if you’re visiting Lugano!

The Villa has some glowing reviews and some bad reviews - We stayed there and found that Tripadvisor had a fairly accurate description of this hotel, its both good and bad. To explain I have posted some photos to show what I mean and won't just repeat similar photos in the other reviews and I will mention when I agree or disagree. The hotel has a beautiful terrace with a piano bar and restaurant with a view over Lugano. I strongly suspect the experience in the reviews may depend on the room allocated. We had a nice view of some solar panels near a delivery area, rooms with a lake view probably give a better review. for context, I had prepaid booking and paid any bill as I went along. 1. Yes the bar has slow service and yes I understand the comments about an unfriendly attitude. Be careful the hotel has a minimum spend on the weekends of 200 Swiss Franc or roughly $250 US per couple for using the bar at certain times. It is an outdoor piano bar - so we both used insect repellent but both were bitten within 30 mins. Tip- if you use it get in and out before 18:00, and consider lots of repellent. 2. Yes the reviews compliment the award winning pet friendly restaurant which is in a gazebo on the terrace, We decided to not spend a 4 figure sum on dinner and instead spent a high 3 figure sum. Yes compared to the bar the service is better and the food was very well presented but to me it lacked flavour. A subjective view. The surprise was having to say 'no' more than once over encouragement to buy a particular bottle of wine. 2. Reviews say the hotel is not clean - No I found it was clean because I was on the floor of my 'suite' looking for the power sockets. I agree with the review that says it was not actually a suite. I enclose some photos - there are sockets under a marble bed side cabinet - they are just not obvious because they are in the shade. Other reviews said the rooms needed refurbished - Yes I agree, and I agree that M10 is a room to avoid- it's right over a delivery area. I had a running 'battle' to try and get the coffee machine to work - it chewed pods but usually only yielded hot water. I asked for help and was told to try putting water in it (I found this funny rather than offensive) because my advisers then struggled to produce several cups of warm water before one small cup of coffee. We used a lot of pods. The next day we had the same issue so I spoke to another member of staff and suggested while I was enjoying the challenge I wanted to buy the machine so I could put it in the trash or worse! My adviser pointed out that it was probably just dirty and needed cleaned but would provide more pods. The day after the machine had more pods and worked! The shower head had a loose fitting so it would just fall off the wall when I turned the water on but was otherwise a good shower- the real problem was I hadn't asked for a walk in shower and it was quite a high sided bath/shower combination - so be careful its slippery to get in and out of it. As it happened the shower would not work on the morning of departure but the front desk sent maintenance who told me I just didn't know how to use the shower? The fabric of the walls in some areas is indeed not well maintained. 3. Reviews say that this is a very service orientated hotel. My experience is that the staff were pleasant but don't say very much. For example there is apparently a gym, indoor pool and personal trainer, perhaps even another bar?? but these are actually in another property and I was astonished to be asked about my experience of the indoor pool. What pool? Yes there is an outdoor pool but I saw no one to ask for pool service. In general I think a guest needs to do their homework and know what to ask for specifically, for example items can to cooked to order at breakfast but the staff do not mention that. Check out was problematic although I had a prepaid booking and had presented my paperwork on arrival - the hotel wasn't interested. On departure the reception was beside an elevator under repair with continuous very loud drilling at which point I was presented with a full bill. It was the noise rather than language that made it difficult to communicate. I was reduced to opening my luggage to retrieve my paperwork while other guests tried to check out past me. The clock was ticking on our train transfer but since I had already paid there was a point of principle. I found a contact number and reception agreed to call my agent and it was resolved. There was no offer of using a quiet private area so it was public and embarrassing but it was resolved. Of course no offer of help with bags, so we grabbed our belongings and departed.

Fantastic location with amazing views of Lake Lugano! Excellent staff and service was amazing during our entire stay. Can't wait to go back again soon!

Waking up to the glorious shimmering lake and dramatic mountains , made it hard to leave. Restaurants were professional and food was delicious and decadent.

Excellent hotel and experience! Lovely people and wonderful service, beautiful views and beautiful property. Concierge service is super helpful and knowledgeable