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Mixed feelings about staying in this villa. I'll s...
Mixed feelings about staying in this villa. I'll start with the good things -
The view is absolutely fantastic - the villa is situated in the small village of Plesio just outside of Menaggio and the view of Lake Garda, Bellagio and Varena is nothing short of spectacular. It is possible to walk to Menaggio from the villa - we did it once and it took about 25 minutes down and 30 (strenuous!) minutes back up. If you don't fancy the walk, it was a 5 minute drive or there is a lovely restaurant about 10 minutes walk away that saves the trip down into town.
The villa is new, clean and nicely furnished. It is also a good size for a group of four, with two good-sized bedrooms on the first floor. I would not recommend it for a larger party as the third sleeping area is in a dark basement area next to the washing machine on a sofa bed. The beds in the two main rooms are comfortable (not always something that can be said about holiday villas in my experience).
The villa has quite a large garden, including the private pool, which was very pleasant to sit in during the evening BUT coming to the biggest negative ... there is very little privacy. The villa is actually an end terrace, and so is joined to two other holiday villas. All that separates this villa from the next one is a low railing-type fence. Whilst it is possible to "escape" by going around the side of the villa, it means that half the garden is effectively out of bounds unless you want to get very friendly with your next door neighbours. Even then, the proximity means that you can hear every word of their conversation when they are outside. To make matters worse, the other villas share a communal pool, which is situated above this villa on the hillside, which effectively ruins the privacy in the other half of the garden when the pool is in use.
The second downside that would stop me from booking this villa again is the lack of air conditioning. There are a number of free-standing fans throughout the villa that just about made the nights bearable, but given that it was thirty degrees outside and the villa appears to have been built recently, this seems to be an odd oversight.
The final point I would make is that there are some odd omissions from the things that are provided - in particular, there are no tea towels for drying up or food storage containers. The lack of washing powder for the machine and strictly rationed dishwasher tablets (one per night) is stingy in a villa of this price.
Written 20 July 2023. This review is the subjective opinion of an individual traveller and not of Tripadvisor LLC nor of its partners. Tripadvisor does not check Vrbo reviews.
Max K.
by a verified reviewer on Vrbo.com
Sauberkeit war Verbesserungswürdig. Pool musste vo...
Sauberkeit war Verbesserungswürdig. Pool musste von uns selbst gereinigt werden. Equipment wie zB Toaster, Kaffeemaschine, Staubsauger nur bedingt funktionsfähig. Zu wenig Geschirr vorhanden. Putz- und Trockentücher gar nicht vorhanden. Nur ein Sonnenschirm und dieser war beschädigt.
Aus dem Inserat ist nicht ersichtlich dass direk nebenan ein weiteres Grundstück ist, womit man bzgl. Lautstärke stark beeinträchtigt ist von anderen Urlaubern.
Die Aussicht hingegen ist sehr.
Alles in allem jedoch zu dem Preis + Zustand nicht empfehlenswert.
Written 20 July 2023. This review is the subjective opinion of an individual traveller and not of Tripadvisor LLC nor of its partners. Tripadvisor does not check Vrbo reviews.
by a verified reviewer on Vrbo.com
Summer stay
Great property, really appreciated the welcome boxes which were waiting for us on arrival.
Only downside was the lawns were quite long and unmown, the key wasn't available when we turned up and the pool was dirty when we arrived (to their credit they sent someone to clean the pool asap).
Visited June 2022
Written 7 June 2022. This review is the subjective opinion of an individual traveller and not of Tripadvisor LLC nor of its partners. Tripadvisor does not check Vrbo reviews.
by a verified reviewer on Vrbo.com
Keine zweite Chance für den ersten Eindruck
Wir hatten uns wirklich sehr auf dieses Wochenende gefreut, aber anscheinend waren wir die ersten Gäste der Saison und dementsprechend war das Haus nicht richtig vorbereitet. Ja, die Betten waren bezogen und Handtücher waren da und den Pool hatte man vorzeitig auf unseren Wunsch eingelassen, aber man hätte ihn vorher auch putzen sollen. Das Gras war nicht gemäht und auch die Terrassenmöbel und Liegen waren noch im Keller. In den Festerscharniere und draußen unter der Decke hingen Spinnweben. Der Backofen war völlig verdreckt und der Teppich im EG war nicht gesaugt (es gab 2 Saubsauger, die beide kaputt waren). Die Duschtür im 1. OG konnte nicht ganz geschlossen werden. Das Bad im Souterrain und die Kissen auf der Couch dort hatten massive Stockflecken. In der Küche gab es keinen großen Topf zum Kochen.
Das Haus an sich und die Lage sind TOP! Die Agentur hat sich bemüht, und uns zwei mal den Hausmeister (der sich wirklich ein großes Lob verdient hat) und zwei mal die Putzleute geschickt (es war trotzdem nicht richtig sauber). Trotzdem ärgert man sich über soviel Unprofessionalität und dass jedesmal das Wochenende unterbrochen wurde.
Visited May 2022
Written 6 June 2022. This review is the subjective opinion of an individual traveller and not of Tripadvisor LLC nor of its partners. Tripadvisor does not check Vrbo reviews.
by a verified reviewer on Vrbo.com
Villa Serena
August 2017
We would like to thank everyone at Happy Holiday Homes for being SO helpful with information and answering all sorts of questions regarding the drive we had to the property and various bookings. Lydia was extremely enthusiastic and thoroughly knowledgeable about the advice she gave regarding our journey, which was slightly fraught driving through the Gotthard Pass as we had torrential rain and fog. Quite a precarious pass but apart from that, it was an excellent route.
We were very relieved to arrive in Menaggio and the staff were exceptional in guiding us to Plesio where Villa Serena can be found. We did find this short journey very windy, hilly and some drivers not always keeping to their side of the road. We were surprised that we were quite far away from the town and unable just to walk in as the parking situation was very difficult. We had to allow extra time to find a place to park. Villa Serena was indeed beautiful, comfortable and clean, plenty of room and the most amazing views. Lovely to have a pool (shame it wasn't bigger)!
Our trip to Villa Balbianello was superb, sadly Lenno market wasn't on as it was a national holiday (should have been noted on info sheet) and La Barcola was excellent too. Our favourite outing was to hire a boat for 3 hours and Nautic Planet boat company were excellent and recommended by yourselves.
My daughter managed to arrive in Menaggio from Dubai and also had a great journey back. It was she who found Serena initially, and I can say on all our behalves - it was the most wonderful weeks holiday on Lake Como. Our regards to everyone and hope Lydia enjoyed her honeymoon. We will return one day. Regards The Peacheys.
Alison, UK
Visited August 2017
Written 17 October 2017. This review is the subjective opinion of an individual traveller and not of Tripadvisor LLC nor of its partners. Tripadvisor does not check Vrbo reviews.
by a verified reviewer on Vrbo.com
Villa Serena
July 2017
The villa is wonderful, however, you need to read the directions guidelines carefully to reach to the villa.
Hadi, UK
Visited July 2017
Written 7 August 2017. This review is the subjective opinion of an individual traveller and not of Tripadvisor LLC nor of its partners. Tripadvisor does not check Vrbo reviews.
by a verified reviewer on Vrbo.com
Villa Serena
August 2016
Our stay at Villa Serena was exquisite. The villa was very well furnished and the outdoor areas were superb, spoiling us with beautiful views of the lake and nearby Varenna. The team were very helpful upon our arrival and departure by providing maps, restaurant recommendations and highlighting local attractions. We will definitely return, can't wait.
Donna, UK
Visited July 2016
Written 14 November 2016. This review is the subjective opinion of an individual traveller and not of Tripadvisor LLC nor of its partners. Tripadvisor does not check Vrbo reviews.
by a verified reviewer on Vrbo.com
Villa Serena
July 2016
I was intending to send you an email with some feed back from our recent stay at Villa Serena. My husband and I have stayed in many villas around Europe and the USA and can quite honestly say Serena is up there with the best. The views from the kitchen, lounge and both bedrooms were absolutely breath-taking. We lost count of the number of times all four of us commented on this during our was stay.
The facilities at the villa were excellent and everything advertised was available and in perfect working order.
We are still sorting through photos, modern technology means we now have pictures on phones, cameras, kindles and tablets!! So we are hoping shortly to get them all together on one gadget, once we have done this I will look through them and see if there are any that may be of use to you.
Finally, I would like to thank Danilo and all the team in Menaggio. As I stated we have stayed in many villas in the past and definitely agree the team looked after us like no other. Their helpfulness, friendliness and efficiency was second to none and we will certainly recommend to friends and family and look at using them again when we return to Lake Como.
Thank you.
Colette, UK
Visited July 2017
Written 10 October 2016. This review is the subjective opinion of an individual traveller and not of Tripadvisor LLC nor of its partners. Tripadvisor does not check Vrbo reviews.
by a verified reviewer on Vrbo.com
Villa Serena
Everything was fantastic
Loved the villa
Staff at office excellent
Thank you, will recommend using your company to friends & family
Visited June 2016
Written 30 June 2016. This review is the subjective opinion of an individual traveller and not of Tripadvisor LLC nor of its partners. Tripadvisor does not check Vrbo reviews.
by a verified reviewer on Vrbo.com
Villa Serena
First of all, thank you for helping us with our holiday at Lake Como and for asking our feedback. The apartment was as we had imagined it from your web page. The best of it was naturally the balcony with spectacular view. We loved having breakfast there in the morning sun. The apartment was easy to find with your instructions. The garage was a positive surprise, it was spacious and convenient even with a bigger car. The distance to the center was also shorter than I had thought and even our senior members had no problem walking there and back. All in all we liked the apartment very much.
What we realized almost immediately was that four days is way too short time to stay at lake como. We spent a lot of time driving in the neighborhood, Villa Carlotta, Varenna, Pigra, Como, Fox Town, Lugano... in the place like Lake Como you should also take it easy and reserve time just for walking in the villages and visit restaurants. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time for that but next time we will be wiser...
Once more thank you for your help with finding the apartment and for numerous tips for places to see. It has been a pleasure to be your customer and we're looking forward for the next time.
Visited June 2016
Written 4 June 2016. This review is the subjective opinion of an individual traveller and not of Tripadvisor LLC nor of its partners. Tripadvisor does not check Vrbo reviews.
Showing results 1-10 of 10
What this rental offers
Bathroom and laundry
Towels provided
Washer
Wi-fi and internet
Wi-fi
Location info
Kid friendly
Indoor amenities
Internet access
Entertainment
DVD player
Television
Kitchen and dining
Grill
Dishwasher
Refrigerator
Microwave
Cooker
Toaster
Outdoor amenities
Balcony
Patio
Terrace
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Map
Getting there
Lugano Airport
20.6 km
Orio Al Serio Airport
54.4 km
Restaurants
Cantina Follie
5.5 km
Ristorante La Baia®
7.1 km
Al Prato
4.6 km
Ristorante Antica Trattoria
4.2 km
Attractions
Angolo DiVino
5.6 km • Wine Bars
In Vinis Veritas
4.7 km • Speciality & Gift Shops
Il Giardino Botanico
4.8 km • Gardens
Villa Del Balbianello
7.9 km • Architectural Buildings
Things to know
Check in / out timings
Check in after 4 pm • Check out by 10 am
Cancellation policy
About this property
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