Are you taking the train? I've never heard of Bellgion. Is that in Switzerland or Italy?

Bellagio?

Assuming you mean Bellagio---take the direct train that goes from Zurich to Milan, but get off in Como (Como San Giovanni is the station) Cab or bus down to the ferry dock at the lake and ride a ferry to Bellagio. Or, stay on the train to Milan, change there for a train to Varenna, and ferry to Bellagio from there.

Buy those train tickets now on the Swiss rail site (SBB.ch) and you should be able to get a good discount on the tickets. The Special Offer fare is non-refunmdable..

More: the Special Offer price is 27 CHF and the regulare fare (Zurich to Milan) is 86.CHF. So on 2 tickets you would save 118 CHF while will help pay part of your Zurich hotel bill.

Thanks for the tip!

Now I gotta figure how much it is US dollars.

Your timetable: Zurich airport dp 15.47 - Bellagio ar 21.25 (last bus). Change at Zurich main station 16.09 - Arth-Goldau 16.50 - Lugano 18.51 - Chiasso 19.46 - Como SG 20.15

If you don't like to change so many times:
Zurich main station dp 17.09 - Como ar 20.46, Sleep there and go on the next morning at 8.45 - Bellagio ar 9.55
or take the hydrofoil Como Lago dp 9.20 - Bellagio ar 10.20 (except Sunday)

I don't think you can purchase your Swiss train tickets yet on sbb.ch. I tried to purchase tickets for early June and it would not let me and when I sent them an email I was told to wait until it was 30 days out.

We are planning a similar itinerary for in Oct. We plan to go from Zurich and probably stay in Como. Then from Como to Venice. Pre-buying train tickets from Zurich to Como and then from Milan to Venice seems to save alot of money. The fare from Milan to Venice is 9E! if you can negotiate Trenitalia website. I think Zurich to Como is about 3 hours - a bit longer on the trip over to Venice.

sounds do-able, yes we are going from Zurich, Lake Como/Bellagio (typo due to ipad), and then to Venice. Since I know we are for sure going into Italy buying them in advance and saving money appeals to me. Suec1, did you find a place to stay in Como and Venice yet?

fyi the fair is available from Zurich to Como for $34/pp advance purchase

enzian, Zurich is expensive but we have one free night (thanks to Hyatt Passport)...yay!

"the fair is available from Zurich to Como for $34/pp advance purchase"
but not at all dates and not for all trains

In Venice we planned to stay at the Hotel Olympia, near Piazzle Roma - we are going out on a cruise so wanted to be in convenient location for port. Otherwise I would probably make another choice. I think on another trip we stayed at Pensione Accademia - we like the area near Zattare. www.venere.com is good for finding location of hotels.

I spent alot of time looking in Como and was thinking about the Best Western there but my friend wants us to stay at Grand Hotel Imperaile in a nearby small town. I am thinking we can take a taxi there from Como for not too much but there is also a ferry dock if you wanted to go by boat. I can't say any of the choices I was looking at in Como were "singing" to me!

If I was traveling all the way to Lake Como, I wouldn't stay in the city of Como. It has its charms, as do almost all of the lakeside towns, but the real draw of the area is mid-lake. Bellagio, Varenna, Menaggio, Cadenabbia, Tremezzo, Lenno. It's also where the ferry service is most frequent. You can even take a nice walk/stroll between Cadenabbia and Tremezzo. If you want to see Villas Balbianello, Carlotta, Melzi, their gardens and the gardens of the Villa Serbelloni, and you don't have a car, these sights are easiest reached from a mid-lake base.

If you must stay in Como, the gardens of the Villa Olmo are open to the public. In nearby Cernobbio, the Villa d'Este is a hotel. There's a funicular from Piazza de Gasperi in Como to the hill-top village of Brunate.

Jean - Well our choice of Como was mainly for convenience - we are getting off a transatlantic flight in Zurich and heading that day to Como - I just did not want to add a boat ride to the end of a really long journey. We are only staying 3 nights, then going to Venice. Como just seems easier esp. at the front end of an overseas trip. We do hope to visit some of the mid-lake sights - do you know if we can hope for at least one ferry an hour (early Oct.)?

I fly from L.A., so I know all about long flights to Zurich. I still wouldn't stay in Como for 3 nights. I hate one-nighters, but after one night in Como I'd ferry to somewhere mid-lake.

What time do you land? Consider taking the train to Lugano the first day (3 hours). The next day, make your way (bus, taxi, driver) to Menaggio (30-40 minutes). Stay in Menaggio or continue by ferry to another mid-lake destination (Bellagio, Varenna, etc.). -OR- Train Lugano-Como S. Giovanni, and ride the ferry north to the mid-lake area.

After your time on Lake Como, get to Varenna and train to Milan to connect to the train to Venice.

I very much doubt there would be one ferry an hour between Como and the mid-lake area. October schedules won't be posted for a few more months, but you can get a sense of the frequency from the current spring schedule:

http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/file/PDF_orari/NLC_Serv_Rapido_Invernale12-13.pdf

I wouldn't stay in Como either. You have a bus option to get around the lake in addition to the boats.

>>>we are getting off a transatlantic flight in Zurich and heading that day to Como<<<

That means you arrive early morning and have plenty of time to get to Como and on to another town on the lake.

>>>What time do you land? Consider taking the train to Lugano the first day (3 hours).<<<

Como is only 30 minutes further.

Not knowing when the OP lands, I suggested Lugano as an alternative to Como for the first night. I'd much rather stay in Lugano than Como, even for one night.

Now that I"m reading these replied, would it make sense to skip Zurich over nighter, train straight to Lake Como (would stay in mid lakes are, Bellagio, etc. etc). Its a long flight to Zurich from LAX, but since I feel our time is limited, why not? Or would I be killing myself if I skipped Zurich? BTW, our Zurich over nighter is free on Hyatt Passport account.

Thanks

sheesh sorry for the misspelled words.

reneev40, if you can catch the 4:45 p.m. train from the Zurich Airport, you'd arrive in the city of Como at 8:45 p.m. There won't be ferry service at that time, so you'd either stay in Como or perhaps taxi up the lakeshore a short distance to, say, Cernobbio or Moltrasio (about 6 miles). Unfortunately, if your flight is late and you don't catch the 4:45 p.m. train, you'd have to wait until 6:45 p.m. and not arrive Como until 10:45 p.m. If you stayed O/N in Zurich and departed the next morning, the train at 9:09 a.m. involves no changes and arrives Como at 12:15 p.m. Or the 7:09 a.m. departure, arrives Como at 10:15 a.m., no changes.

I like Zurich more than many. Considering the lodging is free, I'd probably spend the night and head to Bellagio the next day.

You can check Swiss train timetables here:

http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html

And the ferry timetables here (although you'll have to wait a few weeks until they load the June schedules):

http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/eng/c_orari.asp

marking for later comment.

Jean, thank you so much, I like the idea of staying overnight since I have no idea how miserable I will be when we land. Your info is so generous. Much appreciated.

Jean sorry to bother you, one last question - why am I only seeing routes to Milan? and I don't see the 9:09 departure? What am I doing wrong?
From Zürich HB to Milano Centrale
Please select your preferred date for Outward journey.

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Thu, 13.06.13 Outward journey
Fri, 14.06.13 Outward journey
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