Hotel Helvetia

Top experience! Fantastic hotel and TOP RESTAURANT! This hotel is possibly in the best location: view on Sestri is amazing, close to the best you could wish for: incredible see, awesome nature, perfect terrace and perfect staff. Their restaurant is just incredible! Chef Mancini is a young local talent that shines for his vision and commi**ent to Perfection of Italian Dining/ which means the highest of them all. Selection of superb ingredients, flawless presentation, outstanding desserts, excellent wine list are the base of an exceptional experience! Together with the Metre and all the other staff members, you will touch heaven. Thanks Helvetia!

I have been wanting to stay at this hotel for years and finally my wish came true. The location is just perfect on the Bay of Silence. We had a sea view room and it was absolutely the best part of the stay. Breakfast on the terrace was delicious. We enjoyed lounging at the pool, and staff was very friendly. I would love to return again. Grazie mille!

Beautiful hotel in a perfect location in Sestri Levante and the area which allowed you to visit both Portofino, Cinque Terre and other towns in between. Rooms were absolutely beautiful, tastefully decorated and spotlessly clean. We were very appreciative of our room upgrade. Aperitivo in the evenings was a little on the expensive side and we would have liked a greater buffet breakfast offering. Overall we loved our stay

Location Superb. Sestri Levante is a wonderful town; the Baia del Silenzio is unique and the hotel has wonderful views across the bay and beyond. The hotel is in a commanding but secluded position. Environment and ambience This is a small, boutique hotel that has much charm. At times it feels like being in your own personal villa. The foyer and lounge are tasteful and perfect for relaxation; there are places within the garden to sit and enjoy the views of the stunning bay. Pools and sunbathing areas There are two small pools which are excellent for plunging and cooling off during the day. These are lit up at night and can be used at any time of the day. For older residents, these would be more comfortable if they were slightly heated, even during the hot summer months. There are two areas in which sun loungers are available: a small garden above the pools and the hotel roof-top. We found the latter to be excellent as it had partly covered areas and we were the only residents using it on many occasions. An area of the beach is also cordoned off for hotel guest, with sun-loungers provided. We decided not to use this area as it wasn't as enticing as the relaxation areas within the hotel grounds. Restaurants and bars The main restaurant is also used as a breakfast area. This also has superb views of the bay, there is plenty of room between the tables and the ambience is one of quality and class. The hotel roof top also has a bar which is open from around 5pm until midnight. Again, this is a classy environment. Breakfast provision is through a combination of buffet and cooked/prepared to order. The dishes are of very good quality, although a more extensive choice of foods within the buffet would have been welcome. We ate at the restaurant on one evening and had a very enjoyable meal with excellent service to match. The provision of a greater choice of vegetarian dishes and light meals would have been welcome by ourselves. The hotel also has a cafe bar across the road from the main building. We had some drinks in this area close to the water, but found it not be in-keeping with the quality service and food offered at the hotel itself. Service Undoubtedly, this was the highlight of our stay. Every member of staff we encountered was service orientated, polite and catered for our needs throughout our stay. Generally, they were delightful. Rooms When considering the relationship between room rate and quality, we found the initial room that we were allocated for our 7 night stay to be rather underwhelming. However, our request for a more suitable room were taken seriously and we were given the option of moving to a junior suite after 2 night. In my view, how a hotel's staff responds to a request such as this is indicative of how seriously they take their guests' comfort. To sum up, the Helvetia is a high quality boutique hotel offering excellent service to its guests. To improve the provision even further, it might consider extending its food of

As has been written, Hotel Helvetia is a lovely hotel right on the beautiful bay in Sestri Levante. We loved our stay here and would agree with all the wonderful comments written previously. For me, the hotel itself is a big part of my travel experience and can make or break my trip. I work for hours looking for the luxury boutique hotel that will give me a sense of place while still feeling on the “luxury” level. Usually a 5 star chain hotel, while wonderful, is too generic and I try to steer way. Hotel Helvetia checks the boxes. Though not luxurious, it is very lovely and quite charming and very nicely and comfortably decorated with many nice amenities most smaller hotels don’t offer. The hotel is owned and managed by a wonderful couple and is historically the home of his grandparents which only added to the charm. There is a nice little piece of beach with beach club and restaurant for the hotel, a lovely pool area and full service restaurant overlooking the bay for both breakfast and dinner. It was beautiful with a view of the town and we ended up eating most meals there just enjoying the relaxation and the view over the bay and town. The cherry on top is the roof top bar for aperitifs in the evening and watching the sunset (make reservations though). This was the favorite part of our day! Sestri itself is a beautiful smaller town on two bays that we found quite authentic and charming. Not the fancy yachts and cruise ship day trippers you will see in other areas. Just low key beautiful Italy. We spent days traveling to the Cinque Terre and to Portofino and Santa Margherita and can say without a doubt, Sestri was the prettiest and most charming! And we loved that it was not overrun with tourists like the CT and Portofino. The tourists there were primarily Italian families on holiday. So we loved the town and are very happy with that choice. Once that choice is made, to me the only hotel is Hotel Helvetia. So in closing, if you are looking for charm, location, relaxation, beautiful views, helpful staff…look no further. It is a lovely hotel and a charming stay in a beautiful part of Italy. P.S. Take one of their paddle boards out around the bay…so relaxing and fun!

Beautiful location, friendly and knowledgeable staff, delicious food, everything was perfect. The restaurant and rooftop bar had excellent views of the bay. I was not ready to leave. I'm ready to go back.

We just came back from a 4 night stay and had a great time at this beautiful boutique hotel overlooking the bay of silence. The staff and owners are lovely. The breakfast area overlooking the water is beautiful and there is a beach bar below the hotel for late afternoon drinks. The town of Sestre Levante is fun to walk around and has lots of great restaurants.

The most fabulous hotel and place we stayed in on our travels throughout Italy. Sestri Levante was such a surprise. We had booked it not knowing much about it. But we were delighted to find a small town brimming with cute restaurants, local shops and local Italians holidaying. The narrow roads led us to Helvetia which was beautiful. Once we arrived at the hotel we were treated like royalty, complimentary drinks while they took our bags to the room was the start of somethings special. The restaurant and the most amazing view over the beach. The room was equally as special. With a view of the waterfront and 2 bathrooms and beautifully decorated with marble and yellow! It felt divine. The beach bar was a bonus too - a great place to watch the sunset, have a drink and nibbles. They had valet parking for the car which was fantastic as we didn't have to worry about parking it on the streets. Highly recommend staying, we didn't want to leave.

The hotel lies picturesque above the bay. Management and staff are very helpful and friendly. The rooms are very nice and clean and the food is excellent. Be warned, but also assured: Driving there by car leads through very narrow city roads, but our car is large (206cm wide) and we passed through quite easily.