Design Hotels by the Water: Addresses We Are Watching
Water changes everything. The best design hotels by the water know this — and build their architecture so that the lake or sea is not a backdrop, but the centrepiece.
Published 14 July 2026
Water changes everything. The best design hotels by the water know this — and build their architecture so that the lake, sea or river is not a backdrop, but the centrepiece.
Villa d'Este on Lake Como, Grand Hotel Tremezzo, Parkhotel Vitznau on Lake Lucerne: these properties are old, but they have never forgotten the water.
When the boundary between outdoor pool and lake dissolves, the design hotel by the water has achieved its purpose.
Related hotels
Cernobbio / Lake ComoVilla d'Este
Villa d'Este in Cernobbio is the most iconic hotel on Lake Como — a Renaissance palace with a floating pool, legendary gardens and over 150 years of grand hotel tradition.
Tremezzina / Lake ComoGrand Hotel Tremezzo
Grand Hotel Tremezzo is a radiant Art Deco icon on Lake Como — with three pools (including one floating on the lake), legendary restaurant T and a spa that leaves nothing to be desired.