Rating the Accommodations - Lake Como

Il Perlo Panorama, June 18-21, 4 nights

http://ilperlo.com/

Carlo Sancassano
Il Perlo
Via Valassina 180
22021 Bellagio, Italy

I first read about Il Perlo in a entry by Richard Pestes on his website http://pezcyclingnews.com/ .

His more specific report, and interview with Il Perlo's proprietor, is here:

http://pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=7375

We couldn't have been more pleased with the experience. Il Perlo and Le Velo Jaune were our two best experiences and certain "will do again" destinations (in our humble opinion).

Location: Smack dab on the climb to Madonna del Ghisallo. See this pic of Fausto Coppi in the 1950 Giro di Lombardia? That building in the upper left corner is Il Perlo.

The driveway is about, oh, a half mile from the start of the climb on a 14% pitch. So, to ride the entire climb, you have to ride downhill a little bit and turn around and come back up. Or, like we did, we climbed to the top and caught the first section as we ended our loop. Kind of a tough way to end a ride, but it was worth the views:

(You can click on the images to enlarge)

This never got old.

There is a whole bunch to see around Lake Como. Bellagio was just a short distance away. All of the little towns surrounding the lake are incredibly picturesque.

Rate: We paid in advance to receive a 15% discount. After that discount, the rate was 94 euros/day, about $118, bed & breakfast. I didn't do a lot of looking around for hotels on Lake Como--there are hundreds of them and certainly many wonderful locations there. I liked what I'd read of Il Perlo and settled on it fairly quickly. Making the reservation was easy, on-line, and credit cards are accepted.

Rooms: Our room was on the 2nd of 3 floors, corner closest to the road, facing Lake Como. It had French doors that overlooked the lake and opened onto a large balcony.

My new bride on the balcony.

Our rather unkempt room (that was my fault, most of that stuff you see lying around is mine).

The rooms were plenty large enough. Linda thought the bed a little uncomfortable--I thought every bed we slept in on this trip was great. It was kept nicely, the bathroom was large and the shower worked wonderfully. Don't know about the bidet. . . didn't try it.

Food: Breakfasts were as we'd come to expect in our short time in Europe to this date. There was plenty to eat--and it was the usual. Cereal (they had a good granola, not just muesli), fruit, yogurt, bread, juice, coffee, hot chocolate. No complaints. Although the hotel did not have a full restaurant, they did offer a nightly special that we took advantage of on two nights. Restaurants are close by and Carlo recommended a half dozen, or so, several of which offered free shuttle service to/from Il Perlo.

View from one of the restaurants near Il Perlo.

Staff: Carlo Sancassano, his mother Piera, are lovely people and were wonderful to deal with. Both speak English (and other languages--we saw Dutch, German, French, and Belgian guests while we were there) very well. The two women we met that were, I guess, hostesses--one in the a.m., the other p.m., were very nice, though their English was not as good.

Piera Sancassano, la famiglia matriarch, and Linda.

The economy is taking a noticeable toll on the area. The night we ate out, pictured above, we were the ONLY guests at the restaurant, on a Friday night no less. We spoke with the owners for a little bit and they said it was like that too often lately. Things should pick up in July, August, but you could tell they were hurting.

Carlo Sancassano is working on ways to bring in clients, and he's looking at catering to cyclists. He knows the area well and, though he is not a cyclist himself, can recommend many routes. He would have been very helpful, had I asked him beforehand, at clarifying the Giro di Lombardia route for me. We got it mostly right, but missed a key turn that would have kept us on the actual route. We ended up a at the right place, but it was not as pleasant a ride. Plus we missed the famous Civiglio climb that plays a part at the end of the race. Also, Carlo is involved with a local group called Como Lago Bike that is interested in focusing on cycling in the Lake Como area. Carlo even gave me a comolagobike jersey and windvest (I assure you, however, that the kit had nothing to do with my positive review of Il Perlo).

http://www.comolagobike.com/

My cool "comolagobike" jersey.

Language: Not an issue.

Recommend? Yes, I loved it. Great views. Terrific owners. Downside? A little far to walk to Bellagio if you don't have a car, but I think the hotel offers a free shuttle (or ride the bike if you brought it!).