The main Villa d’Este restaurant at Cernobbio, on Lake Como, is the Veranda: breakfast, lunch and dinner every day of the season, open to non-residents who book. Around it, in the same park, are the Grill, Il Platano on the lake, the Sundeck and Bar Canova, open since 1873.
You want a dress-up dinner by the lake in a historic hotel, or a long lunch on the terrace, whether or not you are staying.
PricesYou want a starred tasting menu: Il Sereno’s restaurant at Torno holds a MICHELIN star, and its October 2026 menu costs €220.
Other restaurantsThe search for a Villa d’Este restaurant finds Tivoli first; this one is on Lake Como, and it has 5 places to eat and drink.
Villa d’Este at Cernobbio was built in 1568 for Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio and has been a hotel since 1873 (history). The UNESCO-listed Villa d’Este, with its fountain gardens, is a different villa, at Tivoli near Rome (UNESCO); the restaurants that come up first in the Italian search are near that one.
Beside the Veranda, the Grill serves grilled meat and classic fish under the old trees, from 1 April to 30 October, dinner daily from 7pm and lunch at weekends (Grill); Il Platano, on a lakeside terrace, cooks Mediterranean-Japanese dishes for summer dinners, closed on Mondays (Il Platano). The Sundeck, by the floating pool, is for hotel guests only and takes no bookings (Sundeck).
In winter the Greenhouse, a glass room over the lake, runs from 8 November to 6 January with aperitivo and live music (Greenhouse), and the Chocolate Room serves afternoon tea from 3pm to 6pm, €68 or €98 with champagne (Chocolate Room, menu). The autumn calendar adds Dine & Dance at the Veranda on 15 and 22 October 2026 (Dine & Dance), the Grill’s Sapori d’Autunno on Wednesdays at €160 (Sapori) and wine dinners with Leflaive, Yquem and the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (wine dinners).
On New Year’s Eve the Veranda serves a 6-course gala, black tie, with fireworks (New Year’s Eve). The MICHELIN Guide lists the Veranda for contemporary Italian cooking and notes its summer terrace by the lake (MICHELIN); Tripadvisor holds 297 reviews of the restaurant (Tripadvisor).
How a dinner goes for someone not staying, from the hotel’s pages and menus, read on 4 and 5 October 2026.
The Veranda is open to all, but lunch and dinner need a booking, up to 90 days ahead, on +39 031 348 400 or at restaurant.reservation@villadeste.it (Veranda); Bar Canova asks outside guests to book too (Canova). Without one, you will not get past the gate (Google reviews).
The room has glass walls that open in summer onto the terrace over the lake and the Mosaic; Executive Chef Andrea Guerini has led the kitchen since 2026, at Villa d’Este since 2004 (restaurants). Dinner runs from 7.30pm to 9.30pm (Veranda).
The autumn 2026 tasting menu is €210, €320 with wines, served to the whole table; à la carte runs from €42 for the cauliflower to €95 for Angus tartare with Alba truffle, with veal Milanese at €60 and lake-perch risotto at €48 (menu).
Passalacqua is 7 minutes away by car; L’Aria and Il Sereno face Cernobbio across the water; La Terrazza is in the middle of the lake.
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Every price below is printed on the hotel’s own menus, read on 4 October 2026, VAT included.
From the hotel’s Veranda page and menus, read on 4 and 5 October 2026.
| Hours | Breakfast 7 to 11am, lunch 12.30 to 2.15pm, dinner 7.30 to 9.30pm, every day of the season |
|---|---|
| Season | Mid-March to early January, with the festive opening |
| Who | Open to all, hotel guests and outside visitors; booking required for lunch and dinner |
| Booking | +39 031 348 400 or restaurant.reservation@villadeste.it, up to 90 days ahead |
| Dress | Smart casual at lunch; at dinner jacket, long trousers and closed shoes for men |
| Chef | Andrea Guerini, Executive Chef since 2026, at Villa d’Este since 2004 |
| MICHELIN | In the Guide, contemporary Italian, no star; the hotel holds Two Keys |
| Groups | From 11 to 20 guests, set menus at €160 (vegetarian) and €190; over 20, a private room |
For hotel guests the gate is never a question, and a few rooms come with their own terrace on the lake.
The Cardinal Suite, 108 m² on the first floor of the Cardinal’s Building, has a terrace on the lake; the Junior Suite Lake View Deluxe, in the middle of the same building, has a balcony. On Google Hotels a night started at €890 on 16 November 2026; the tourist tax, €7 a person a night, is extra.
All 11 room categories and 4 villas, with photosChef, guide, prices and access from each restaurant’s own page or menu, read on 4 and 5 October 2026, and the drive from Villa d’Este.
Of the 5, only Il Sereno’s restaurant at Torno holds a MICHELIN star (MICHELIN), with an October 2026 tasting menu at €220 (menu). Passalacqua, 7 minutes away, takes non-residents only by email or phone and publishes no menu; its last printed tasting menus ran from €190 to €250 (CiboToday).
The Veranda’s €210 tasting menu sits in the same band as La Terrazza at Tremezzo, €240 to €280, and L’Aria, €250. What Villa d’Este adds is the rest of the evening: a bar open since 1873 with a pianist, 4 other places to eat in the same park, and a festive season, when Il Sereno and Grand Hotel Tremezzo have already closed.
| Restaurant | Chef, guide | From its own page or menu | From Villa d’Este |
|---|---|---|---|
| Villa d’Este: Veranda | Andrea Guerini; in the Guide, no star | Open to all who book; tasting €210, €320 with wines; jacket at dinner; open into January | You are here |
| Passalacqua (Moltrasio) | Viviana Varese; not in the 2026 selection | Non-residents by email or phone; 2024 tastings €190 to €250; no menu or hours online | 7 min by car |
| L’Aria (Mandarin Oriental, Blevio) | Massimiliano Blasone; no star | Italian with Japanese touches; the Journey menu €250 | 19 min by car |
| The restaurant at Il Sereno (Torno) | Raffaele Lenzi; one MICHELIN star | October 2026 tasting €220; lunch 12.30 to 2.30pm, dinner 7 to 10.30pm | 23 min by car |
| La Terrazza Gualtiero Marchesi (Grand Hotel Tremezzo) | Osvaldo Presazzi; no star | 4 courses €240, 5 courses €280; dinner 7.30 to 10.30pm; elegant dress | 36 min by car |
Drives computed on OpenStreetMap’s streets on 4 and 5 October 2026, without traffic or ferries; prices from each restaurant’s menu or page read the same days, except Passalacqua’s, from CiboToday’s November 2024 report (routes).
In the 1,094 Google reviews with a text since 2021, read on 4 October 2026, 196 of the 4- and 5-star ones praise the food; in August 2026 a guest called dinner here an extraordinarily elegant experience (Google reviews).
Which Villa d’Este, who can book, what to wear and what it costs.
Yes, with a booking: the Veranda is open to hotel guests and outside visitors, and lunch and dinner need a reservation (Veranda). Outside visitors without a reservation are refused entry (Google reviews).
At the Veranda, smart casual at lunch; at dinner a jacket, long trousers and closed shoes for men (Veranda). At the Grill and Il Platano, long trousers and closed shoes for men in the evening (Grill).
At the Veranda the autumn 2026 tasting menu is €210 a head, €320 with wines; à la carte dishes run from €42 to €95 (menu). At the Grill the pasta starts at €36 (menu).
Andrea Guerini, Executive Chef since 2026 and at Villa d’Este since 2004 (restaurants). Some guides still name his predecessor.
No: it is in the MICHELIN Guide without a star (MICHELIN), and it is not among Lombardy’s one-star restaurants (one-star list). The 2 MICHELIN Keys are the hotel’s.
No. This is the hotel at Cernobbio on Lake Como; the UNESCO-listed Villa d’Este with the fountain gardens is at Tivoli, near Rome (UNESCO), and the restaurants near it are not the hotel’s.
Signature and amphora cocktails €30, classics and Italian cocktails €26, the house gin €29, a club sandwich €40, on the summer 2026 menu (menu). Outside guests must book (Canova).
Yes, into early January: the Veranda serves through the festive season, and the Greenhouse and the Chocolate Room open from November (Greenhouse, Chocolate Room). The Grill closes on 30 October (Grill).
In the festive season, in the Chocolate Room, from 3pm to 6pm: €68, or €98 with champagne (Chocolate Room, menu).
Written and checked by Lumina, independently of Villa d’Este. Lumina sells no rooms or tickets: every link leads to its source.
This guide is written with Lumina, the marketing system for hotels.
