Villa Orselina - Small Luxury Hotel

Beautiful hotel with panoramic views of Locarno and Lake Maggiore. The staff at the hotel are absolutely amazing, kind and efficient. The rooms are spacious, very comfortable and clean. The food is spectacular!! They have a beautiful outdoor pool and garden area that offers a real tranquil atmosphere. Easily accessible from Locarno city center by funicular but you can also walk down a beautiful nature path, which we really loved to do each day. An absolutely amazing hotel that I highly recommend!!

Gorgeous hotel with a magnificent view! Your stay commenced with an aperitivo in the patio, overlooking the panorama of Lago Maggiore. The service was top notch, with an extensive tour of all the facilities. I loved the floral arrangements that were spread across the property! The rooms are spacious and clean, featuring a kitchenette! A more old time feel with the interior but it’s so nice to have vast amounts of space! There are options to request different pillows. There are plenty of chaises for one to enjoy by the pool and various levels of the property. I wish I had the chance to explore the spa! The breakfast selection is good. Seating is offered indoors and outside, with fantastic service from the staff. The club sandwich was delicious from the restaurant, even if the meals are a dash pricey (but you are in Switzerland!!). Overall, you know you are in good hands! Plus, you have this beautiful view accompanying you wherever you are in the hotel!

This hotel sits above Locarno, which is easily reached by the funicular about 100 m away. They were very nice and let us see 2 or 3 rooms to select the one we liked best. 111 was our choice, it was above the garden and private. The swimming pool at this hotel is very good, heated to just the right degrees, 28 it has full sun all day and lots of soft lounge chairs, many in secluded areas. There is a pool restaurant and it was a nice salad and sandwich we ate there. Our bathroom was very unusual with a fabulous shower with incredible water jets and pressure, but the toilet had a fan that went on every time you sat down, that was annoying. We also ate 3 times in this one other restaurant which is also the breakfast room. We were not happy with most of the meals here, except the 1st one which was the mixed fish grill. That was a generous and nice dish of 4 fish varieties. We both lost weight eating nightly meals at the hotel but as it was a heatwave it was too much trouble to go down to the town and get back so we just stayed in the hotel. We lost weight as the portions of the main course portions were SO small as to be utterly stupid..and miserable. One night we waited 1.30 hours for our mains and were so hungry can you imagine how we felt when we received a tiny bowl of spaghetti and only 4 tagatellie as they wouldn't make it a main dish for me...... Apart from the unacceptable delay we found the restaurant so uncomfortable as it had NO AIR-CONDITIONING AT ALL ANYWHERE EXCEPT IN YOUR ROOM. even there it was pathetic, number 2 was high not number 3 and no one told us, I was so confused and found out on the 3rd day after calling reception as I thought the housekeeping kept turning it down but in fact they were turning it UP, from 3 to 2! The bed was a 3 star hotel mattress and the sheets were not up to a 5 star standard. I'd never return as, it was so hot in our room and all public areas. Maybe for winter or autumn. I cannot say or agree that this is a 5 star property, believe me it isn't. Small portions of food will Not get you a Michelin Star. Glamorous views are not enough for a 4 day's stay.

A beautifully kept Hotel in gorgeous grounds with spectacular views over Locarno, Lake Maggiore and the surrounding mountains. As a small luxury Hotel this means you are never crowded out of the amenities. We especially loved a long and lazy breakfast in the sun on the restaurant terrace. All of this is enhanced by the staff who make you feel entirely welcome, it is their pleasure to serve and treat you as though you are the only guest in the Hotel. This was my fourth stay along with different members of my family since 2013 and I cannot wait to return. My thanks to you.

Thank you Villa Orselina Team for that amazing stay. The Lifestyle Suite was just beautiful, the dinner fantastic, the view and pool great. Your staff is so kind and we felt the dolce far niente in every moment. Absolutely a must see

I had an amazing experience with all team of the hotel. They are all very polite, friendly, and helpful. A special thanks to Mrs. Bozena from the reception who helped me with my travel plans even before we arrived. It's a very peaceful place to relax and me and my mom had the best time ever! Looking forward to come back again.

We tried to have a drink after checking with the receptionist. After waiting for a few minutes we asked for service with the bell and again no service was provided. After a few more minutes of waiting and with the staff ignoring us, we decided to enjoy our drink somewhere else!

From the moment you enter this hotel , you are taken with the magnificent floral arrangements in the lobby .Our room was perfect with every amenity possible . The view was outstanding , and cleanliness was to perfection . Breakfast and dinner were superb . The grounds are beautiful and exquisitely maintained . The service was exceptional at all times and all staff aimed to please . A truly beautiful and very special property . We had a wonderful time . Only complaint is that we were not there long enough. Very highly recommended !!!!

My wife and I are frequent travelers to CH, and have stayed at many 5* hotels around the world. Our last stay in CH was five nights at the Splendide Royale in Lugano, summer 2019, after a trip through the vineyards of N. IT. Then COVID was declared a pandemic, and tourism stopped. For the spring of 2020, then 2021 and finally 2022, I made reservations for travel to CH, till all was clear and we could vacation again in May 2022. Due to fear of COVID, I had searched for 5* hotels with sunny, south-facing suites. Villa Orselina seemed like a great place : up on a hill in Locarno, with wide, sunny, south-facing balconies and views. The Lifestyle suite seemed like a great choice. On top of that, the hotel offered a 5-for-4 deal. Everything looked great. On paper. So I booked a five-night stay, from 13 to 18 of May, 2022. Checking in at Villa Orselina, we waited for about an hour for a 'welcome drink', that never came, and for bell-staff to take our luggage to our suite. Finally, we were led to our Lifestyle Suite : through the bar, past two small toilets, up a small, dingy elevator, to our "suite". We got the feeling that we were being taken into the servant quarters. Instead of a grand, sunny, panoramic vista over the lake advertised by Villa Orselina, especially for its Lifestyle Suites, our suite had a shady, partial-lake, partial-apartment-building view, overlooking a rain-drain / stairs that no one uses. Not even remotely what we expected. A waiter at the restaurant told us there were 14 Lifestyle suites, and he pointed to the suites on the top floor, with grand, sunny views over the lake. That is what we expected to get, but that was very different from what we got. I consider that to be dishonest marketing. When we asked the front desk about our suite, we were told by one person that the only thing available was the suite given to us, then told by a more senior person that all Lifestyle suites were in that small area. Clearly a lie. Fourteen Lifestyle suites cannot fit in a space for one, even if on four floors. And 'Lifestyle Suites' would not be in what appeared to be servant quarters. It seems we were baited by a 5-for-4 deal, then given a 'suite' that very few people would want. On top of that, we felt unwelcome in the restaurant that evening, and were served a half-burnt, half-raw entree. Decided to not have dinners at the restaurant. The experience at Villa Orselina completely spoiled our mood, and put us at perceived risk of COVID. It also wasted five precious days of our 17-night vacation, that we had waited for three years of the pandemic, and wasted five days of precious time off from work. Instead of a joyous vacation, we were given a sour experience. Villa Orselina is, in our experience, not consistent with Brand SLH and Brand CH. I wrote to their Director. Got a response that was consistent with my disappointing experience at Villa Orselina. Will not visit again.