Varenna Guest House

Very conveniently located just a few minutes walk from the train station (top tip - if you have heavy luggage, walk down the station drive to avoid stairs). The apartment was spotlessly clean, with a lovely bottle of bubbly in the fridge for us. There was aircon on the main floor, a fully functional kitchen, and a clean sauna, steam room and hot tub to enjoy. The windows opened for fresh air and the living room windows had side views of the lake and mountains. Beds were comfortable, the shower was great, there was a hairdryer, washer/dryer, iron and ironing board. Check-in and checkout instructions were clear and easy.

The apartment js on the second and third floors of an apartment block. So there are about 20 steps in the grounds to navigate in the lead-up to the apartment, then about 15 steps up to the front door, then 15 more steps to the living area, kitchen, bathroom and main bedroom. Then the second bedroom is accessed via a narrow spiral staircase and is a mezzanine space with no privacy from the living space downstairs. So the people sleeping upstairs are exposed to the sounds and lights from the living area at all times, and can themselves be seen and heard. There is no aircon upstairs either, but there is a high powered fan which can be used but is quite strong and noisy so may disrupt sleep. The people using the upstairs space cannot bring their belongings up the spiral staircase so that is a major inconvenience, as is the fact that the toilet is down a narrow spiral staircase if you wake up the night. The pitch of the roof also means you need to crouch over unless you are in the middle of the mezzanine space. I am 171cm tall and I hit my head a few times over three days. None of this was made clear to us when booking and the inconvenience of the multiple stairs was problematic both when checking in and out, and also just day to day as my friend was challenged by so many steps all the time and I was inconvenienced by the restrictions of the second bedroom in the mezzanine.

Great location near train station and ferry. Quiet, nice views from the windows, great air conditioning, nicely decorated and came with coffee and sparkling bubbly in the fridge! One bath has a shower, sink and toilet. The BONUS bath has a jet tub, very high tech shower and steam room! (but note, that area does not have a sink or toilet)

The hosts provide very detailed instructions on how to get to the unit, which was extremely helpful!! However… there are many many steps along the way. To be happy staying here, please be comfortable lugging your suitcases up and down staircases. The second bedroom is up in a loft with a tight spiral staircase.

Modern bathroom, all essentials provided including water and juice bottles in fridge X2, excellent customer service, great location across from a perfect cafe.

Could be fitted with a full size mirror on bedroom wall as bathroom one is very small.

Very convenient location and quiet room

We didn’t feel that the photos & description adequately represented the accommodation. It was a self checkin premises and ours was a fairly basic room. We were hoping for a better atmosphere, an attractive garden view and a manager on site, ie a “guesthouse”