We recently stayed at the Hotel Leonardo da Vinci in Erba, Italy, a small town about 25 minutes from Como. You can also quickly get to beautiful Lake Como and the town of Bellagio from Erba.

The rooms at the hotel are large by many European hotel standards. We had one with two twin beds that could be pushed together to form a king. While the beds were relatively soft, the pillows were somewhat thin, but the room had extra pillows in the closet to make it more comfortable.

Our room had a nice-size balcony with a spectacular view of the nearby mountains that are the foothills of the Alps. We were at the property in late August, but the temperatures were such that we slept with the sliding glass door open and did not run the air conditioner. Erba is a quiet town, and while the hotel is off a main road, it is set back enough that it is very quiet.

We ate in the hotel restaurant the first night, and it was excellent. The service was very good, but the food was top notch. They also had a good selection of wines that we were able to choose from.

The hotel had a bar and a patio where you could sit outside and enjoy the views.

Breakfast at the hotel was typical European fare, but this hotel had a better than average selection of foods.

Overall, the service was very good at the hotel. Most of the staff spoke enough English to combine with our weak Italian. They were very friendly despite the language barriers.