Quite simply this is a very well-priced hotel for the area. However, the rooms are tiny and the breakfast is pitiful. And yet, due to our circumstances we've stayed here three times over the last three years and would recommended it to our friends. Great location across from the lake and ferries. It has free parking and internet access (for a fee). The restaurant for lunch and dinner is superb and very good value so eat at the hotel. They were also extremely accommodating on this stay and checked us into the room upon our arrival at 12pm.
For those traveling with kids: tiny rooms, no elevator, they charge you for a cot, highchairs available

We came to Cernobbio on the off chance, and managed to get a room for one night in the Regina Olga, but had to move to the Albergo Centrale for the next two nights, as the Regina was full.

The room at the Albergo Centrale was clean and tidy but very small for two people. The bathroom was tiny but adequate. The room was at the back of the hotel with a flat roof outside, where people sunbathed, so we could not leave our windows open as there was no security. Even at night, we couldn't have the wndows open because of the noise of the compressor of the hotel's air conditioning unit.

There was a car park which was shut at night.

Despite the fact that the bread at breakfast appeared to have been steamed, and the coffee machine broke down one morning, we ate in the hotel's cellar restaurant on our last night. They were expecting a big party and tables were already laid out with a first course of cold meats. Despite the fact that there were many empty tables the waiter was not welcoming. We ordered two courses each, antipasti and pasta. The antipasti arrived and was adequate, no more. Then we waited. and waited. and waited. After 20 minutes we called the waiter over, and he said they were still working in the kitchen, but he immediately returned with two plates. How disappointing! Evidently our food had been sitting all that time on a hot plate. The food was covered with a dull skin. My husband's ravioli was sour, and mine- well just inedible!

We have never, ever walked out of a restaurant before. Yes, we have had poor food, but the staff have always tried to put things right. Here, no one was bothered. The big party had turned up, and no one was interested in us. No one asked us why we were unsatisfied, no one apologised. In fact, when we complained at the desk, the girl seemed to think it was funny, and laughed with her friends as we went out. She said the pasta was fresh prepared - but when, I would like to know.....

The next day, the manager was off duty, so we just paid the bill in full and left. If you stay here - just eat elsewhere, please!

I travelled to Cernobbio for a business conference at Ville Este. Fortunately, I picked Albergo Centrale. Couldn't have asked for a better location.

My room was quaint. Fine for me... one person... but had an almost queen sized bed. Great crisp sheets. Window overlooking the main street. CLEAN. Shower was tight. 2.5' by 2.5'.

Staff were awesome.

The HIDDEN GEM for this place is the restaurant in the grotto. Didn't know it was there until my 3rd nite. (I thought the main floor back room was "the restaurant".) GOTTA GO TO THE RESTAURANT. Great pizza. Great pasta.

The sepia tinted photos in the lobby point ot the fact that this small hotel has been around a long time. It has been modernised but they have managed to retain a certain gloominess to the decor which makes it unmistakeably traditionally Italian. There does not appear to be a lift.

The location, as the name implies is central, a few minutes walk from the ferry to Como and other lakeside towns. Breakfast is a bit basic, coffee is from a self service machine and synthetic tasting orange juice. The main restaurant is in the cellar, not where one wants to be on a sunny evening. We did eat well a couple of times at the nearby Miralago which has a pleasant restaurant with lake views and charming staff. The improbably named pizza restaurant next door to the Centrale is better than it looks.

Cernobbio is a great place to stay on the lake, noticeably less touristy than Como itself which is only a 10 minute ferry ride away.