C'era una Volta

A beautiful B&B high up above Varenna with fab views of Lake Como from church 20m from B&B. Amazing decor in a stone villa. Lovely breakfasts on patio.

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Beautiful location in a tiny mountain village, large comfortable accommodation, delicious breakfasts and helpful hosts.

A bit of a challenge to get to and from the isolated location, and the WiFi was a bit spotty but that added to the peace and quiet!

The absolute USP of CÉra Una Volta was the host Alessandro Polto himself. When we arrived at Varenna station and couldnt find a cab he arranged one himself otherwise we would have been stuck for a long time. Right from the moment we stepped through his door we felt welcomed as a friend rather than a guest. Over the next two days, Alessandro was extremely generous with sharing valuable local information with us and suggesting ways to save money. At night when it was too hot to sleep he put an extra fan into the room. Breakfast was always cooked by him, either pancakes or eggs, and it was a good wholesome start to the morning. I used to message him regularly and he would always reply promptly and courteously, a pleasure to interact with both in person and on the phone. The room facilities were good in fact it was more like a suite with a little ante-room or parlour, a main bedroom and a large bathroom. Perhaps the shower could have been a little larger given the size of the bathroom. It would have been nice to spend another day and explore the area around up in the hills but we were on a tight schedule

What I hadn't realised about CÉra Una Volta is how far up the hill it was from Varenna, a total of almost 7 Kms along winding roads. Before showing up there I thought it might have been possible to walk down the hill to Varenna using the shortcuts but really that would have been impractical. Which meant that you were dependent on the infrequent bus which ran every hour or two to get down the road to Varenna. The bus stop was about ten minutes walk down from Céra Una Volta and if you missed it you had no other option than a cab ride (over 20 Euros) At night there is a free van during the summer that brings you back up the hill. To compensate for the distance from town the views out over Lake Como are nothing short of spectacular since you are so high up the hill.

Hotel is nice

Internet can not come to my room