emckeeve

What is the advisablitly of having a car to drive around Lake Como. We will be there for 3 days and want to see the different towns. Does each town have a ferry launch?

rex

Opinions are about equally divided on this. I think that the main advantage of having a car (especially if you are staying in Menaggio) is to get to and from Lake Como. We had one there, and felt like we used it.

But yes, you can get to/from Menaggio, Bellagio and Varenna all by walking to their respective ferry launches.

It seems like maybe getting to from Villa Carlotta might be easiest with a car (I drove by it, but never went in); Villa Balbianiello, which is the jewel of all the lakes, in my opinion, can actually only be approached by boat. We also used our car to go to dinner at Villa d'Este in Cernobbio.

Best wishes,

Rex

Doble_Vergasser

Car ferries run only in the Menaggio, Bellagio, Varenna triangle (the middle of the lake). All other towns have passenger boat service.

A car would be more convenient than the boat schedule (especially North of mid lake or East of mid lake).

Even if you have a car available, I recommend a few boat trips as the scenery is incredible.

Steve_James

Em - I spent a week on Lake Como and didn't feel I needed a car.

There's a regular bus service up and down the west side to all the lakeside villages, and the mid-lake ferries Rex mentions are very frequent.

Much of the east side is tunnels, if I remember ...

Steve

schnauzer

Will you already have a car? That is are you coming by car from somewhere else. We recently went to Lake Como and decided we needed a car because we wanted to get to Lake Maggiore easily and decided that a car was the quickest way to go from Lake Como. However, for the two days we had in Lake Como itself we really didn't use the car, except to drive to the castle. We found the best way of getting around the lake was by passenger ferry. Unless you have a full week there and want to go further a field I wouldn't really bother. Come by train, use the ferries and leave by train would be my suggestion. There is plenty to see just by the lake side for the three days. Make sure you see Villa Balbianello and Villa Carlotta and allow some time for the shops in Bellagio as well as the Villa Melzi gardens and the view from the Punta.

Lake Como was just spectacular and we wished we had allowed longer. Enjoy yourselves. Schnauzer

emckeeve

Thanks for the resopnses. We will rent a car at the Milan airport and after Lake Como, will drive to Venice. Because we are starting a cruise in Venice, we will have a litle more luggage than usual and traveling by bus, train and boat aren't as appealing as when we are traveling light.