Ok, changed my search criteria and found more recent posts on the topic. Seems that best advice is to bring her tag from home and hope for reciprocity/compassion/luck. so the next question is, easy hotels in hilly places.

We will be in the Lake Como area for two nights. I understand Bellagio is beautiful, but a lot of climbing. Would Varenna or Como be any more level? Can anyone recommend a hotel fairly convenient to the ferry dock in either town?

Lenno has a couple of hotels close to the ferry dock, and it is a nice little town. there is the San Giorgio, but there is another one even closer.

Unfortunately, Varenna is as hilly as Bellagio; Como is flat
but it lacks the 'wow factor' of the other two.

Once you get to the lakeside at Varenna there is a walk along
the water to the ferry landing. There's a very popular hotel
by the dock (the name escapes my feeble brain right now).

...Aha - Hotel Olivedo.

If you can afford one of the lakeside hotels in Bellagio, it would be a flat walk to the ferry dock. There are only a couple of restaurants that I remember down there, though, so your options for food would be limited if your mom can't climb steps (though for two nights you might be okay with that). Bellagio would be a pretty tough town to navigate with mobility issues: there's the lakefront, a road parallel to it up the hill, and pretty steep uphill pedestrian streets connecting them. Varenna would seem a little easier to me, but that's just my impression based on a day trip (and "easier" doesn't mean "easy").

Mennagio is flat along the water.

The stairs in Bellagio are steep but the risers are shallow and deep. The riser is perhaps 4" and then you take 2 or 3 steps before the next stair. There are several hotels along the water, where it's flat, but I don't know if they have elevators. I do know the Hotel Suisse does not have an elevator.

Thanks all. She can do stairs but I am trying to minimize or at least know what we are in for!

If it helps give you an idea, here's a picture I took from the top of Salita Serbelloni in Bellagio.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenthompson/5826575705/in/set-72157626948272088

I hadn't thought about Menaggio. My impression is again based on a day trip, but it is indeed less hilly than Bellagio. The ferry dock was a longer walk from the main piazza, though, whereas in Bellagio the ferry dock is right there in the middle of things.

The main staircase in Bellagio is gentler than the photo above. About half way up is a very good restaurant - Bilacus. The food is good and enormous portions; staff lovely.

The Hotel Florence has a restaurant and although I have not eaten there I've read some good reviews on this board. This hotel is on the flat part of the Bellagio waterfront.

If your mom can do stairs I think you'll be fine. You can walk a bit in Varenna and a lot in Mennagio. Taking the ferry around the lake is wonderful. There's one route that makes a bit loop and stops at quite a few towns. If you buy day passes you can hop off at each town, walk around for a bit, and then get on the next ferry.

The TI is at the Bellagio ferry dock (near the passenger ferry) and they are very helpful. You can pickup a ferry schedule here.

I would stay in Bellagio.

Is your mom able to step on and off ferries, especially if they are rocking at the dock in windier weather? If that's a problem, you might not want to stay in a town that requires you to use the ferry to get to Bellagio, which has the nicest view and which you will want to visit, if only for lunch.

You could also think about taking a train up to Lugano in Switzerland - from the train station, it's an easy ride down on the funicular to the flatter part of the town along the lake. Once there, they run the tourist "trains" (actually wheeled vehicles similar to those trams in Disney parking lots) that take you all around the city and the Paradiso neighbourhood.

In Bellagio, I second the rec for the Hotel Florence, both as a hotel (it has an elevator) and for its restaurant. The lunch I had at its outdoor terrace directly overlooking the lake was far and away my best meal in Bellagio.