deniseoliver86

My 4 friends and I have planned the most perfect ending to our summer. We are flying to Milan, renting a car and making our way through the beautiful lakes in Italy. Car is rented, plans are pretty much set. But thought I would double check with the most experienced travelers - Fodor's community, and see if you guys have any suggestions or notice something off with our plan. So far our itinerary looks like this:

June 24. Saturday:
Flight, a late arrival in Milan
Late check-in at the accommodation close to Maggiore.

June 25. Sunday
Day by the Lake Maggiore:

• Mount Mottarone
• Isola Bella
• Basilica di San Giulio

June 26. Monday
Driving to Lake Como, check-in, day by the lake.

June 27. Tuesday
Driving to Bellagio and Lecco
Back to accommodation in Como

June 28. Wednesday:
Check-out from Como
Lunch and a stroll in Bergamo
Evening arrival and check-in Sirmione

June 29. Thursday:
Early breakfast and drive to the Parco Naturale Adamello Brenta
Dinner and stroll in Sirmione

June 30. Friday:
Chill day by Lake Garda - no plans.

June 31. Saturday:
Check out from our hotel and drive to Malpensa airport (2h 172km)


Restaurant recommendations and some great hiking opportunities or unmissable sight suggestions are very very very welcome.

thursdaysd

I have never bothered with a car for the lakes. I think you will miss out by driving from Como to Bellagio rather than taking the ferry, however you are moving round a great deal more than I would.

I preferred Isola Madre to Isola Bella. From my TR: " Isola Bella – baroque palace and formal gardens – and Isola Madre – older palace and extensive, wilder gardens. There’s a combo ticket that gets you into both palaces for a reduced price, but you have to visit both on the same day. The palace on Isola Bella is infinitely grander, built and decorated to impress, but I preferred the family retreat feel of the palace on Isola Madre, where you can wander at will. In fact, in order to dodge the one tour group there, I went round twice. The shell grottoes in the basement of Isola Madre left me cold, in both senses of the word, while there is a beautifully frescoed sitting room with garden views on Isola Bella where I would love to spend more time. I also loved the more extensive, wilder grounds on Isola Bella, with its wandering peacocks. "

frvrtrvlng

Your itinerary looks reasonable to me. I have been to Como a couple of years ago in spring to avoid crowds of tourists. You've chosen one of the busier times to go there

Jean

To me, the lakes are a place to relax, enjoy the scenery, see the sights at a leisurely pace and be restricted only by the frequency of the ferries and not the traffic on the road, lack of parking, etc. If it was my trip, I'd stay somewhere other than Como on Lake Como and I'd rather stay at the northern end of Lake Garda than Sirmione, both preferences making this itinerary more difficult in the time available. So, I'd just visit Lakes Maggiore and Como on this short trip.

The drive from Sirmione to Malpensa will take closer to 2.5 hours, plus you need time to return the car. Do you know what time your flight would be departing?

StCirq

Been to all of them, but the one I keep returning to is Lago Maggiore.

HappyTrvlr

Rubicund

As Jean says, allow a little more time for the drive from Sirmione to Malpensa. The autostrada is fine and will get you there in a couple of hours, BUT it clogs up very easily and can get long queues.

Sirmione is a good choice IMO. We've stayed there several times as well as at Desenzano. It's the best end of the lake for access to the autostrada and has a busy ferry dock for access to other areas. Because Garda is a long narrow teardrop shaped lake, it takes a long time to get from one end to the other by ferry, so a car is no bad thing. On your chill day, maybe have a look at Bardolino which a lovely small place, or Garda or even up to the cable car at Malcesine (only if it's a clear day).

HappyTrvlr

On Lake Como, stay mid lake, not in city of Como, for more beautiful lake and mountain scenery and ferry connections to many towns.

werth

We just returned from Italy and spent 6 nights in Varenna on Lake Como. I like driving on vacations and do whenever possible, and I am VERY happy that I chose not to have a car while in Lake Como. We arrived and exited by train and we took ferries or water taxis everywhere we wanted to go. In planning this trip, it was suggested to not stay in Como and to stay in Varenna or Bellagio. I fell in love with Varenna and after seeing Como, I was very grateful for the advice.

MyriamC

This June we were at Lago di Garda (Colombare near Sirmione) and Lago Maggiore (Traffiume near Cannobio).
My thoughts: Lago di Garda: never again. Lago Maggiore: lovely!

deniseoliver86

Thank you for everyone who commented here.
I am surprised to hear the majority of you would see Maggiore lake as a highlight. I always thought that Como or Garda would take the first place. But that's the inexperience talking, I guess I will have to see them all to decide for myself.
Here's a list of locations that we're considering for accommodation:
Varenna for Lake Como
Piovere for Lake Garda
Pallanza for Lake Maggiore.

Has anyone been in these specific cities? I know Varenna is a popular choice, but what about the other two?

Rubicund

As far as Piovere is concerned, it's a tiny place that you'll miss if you blink. It has some hotels and restaurants but little else. Because it's on the west side of the lake you're away from the more popular areas (may or may not be a good thing) but if you want to see more of the lake and villages it's a pain. The road north to go to Riva is a bit hairy through the tunnels, especially if you get a big wagon (semi) coming the other way. Going south is very quiet too until you get down to Salo and although the scenery is lovely, there's not much else. To get to the other side you'll have to leave the car and catch the ferry across the lake, but you're sacrificing mobility to get between the villages.

I would always stay on the east side for much more hotel and restaurant choice and for easier access to the places worth seeing. As I said above, Bardolino is worth a look as a base.

MyriamC

As Rubicund says: stay on the east side of the lake. We stayed in Sirmione, but I would not stay there again. I kind of liked Lazise and Bardolino.
Pallanza is a good choice. You're close to the Villa Taranto (botanical garden). I don't know if the ferry to the Borromean Islands departs from Pallanza. It does from Verbania. If you want to enjoy a lunch with fresh fish, also visit Isola dei Pescatori.

bvlenci

I haven't been to Lago Maggiore, but we enjoyed the Lago di Garda very much, a great deal more than the Lago di Como. We drove there, as one of our goals was to take our granddaughter to Gardaland (Italy's best amusement park). We stayed in Pai, a tiny hamlet a bit north of Bardolino. That part of the lake is indeed very nice, and not as overcrowded or touristy as Malcesine, which is still further north. (It's worth going to Malcesine to take the cable car to the summit of Monte Baldo, but I advise you to arrive very early.)

Traffic on the lakeside road is often heavy, with some bottleneck spots, but it wasn't unbearable. We were there in July; it might be worse in August.

Alec

I hope you get good weather. I was near the lakes a couple of years ago in May/June, and it was rain/mist every day, so abandoned the trips to the lakes and just stayed in towns like Bergamo and Milan.

Rubicund

Because of the mountains, the weather can be incredibly localised. One year we stayed in Desenzano and it rained quite a lot, but a trip up to Garda gave us hot sunshine and a very pleasant trip. Driving back, it started to rain as we passed by Peschiera and it was chucking it down back at Desenzano.

HappyTrvlr

bvlenci

When we stayed in Pai, which is on the west side of the lake, almost all of the other tourists were German.

Salò was the city where Mussolini's puppet government made its last stand. From there, Mussolini tried to escape to Switzerland, but was captured by the partigiani and summarily executed.

For those who don't know, Mussolini was overthrown and imprisoned on the top of Mount Sasso in 1943. The Italians declared an armistice. Hitler ordered a daring rescue operation, landing a plane on the mountain top, and siezing Mussolini. The Italians had no government, because the king had fled when the Fascist government was overthrown. The German army invaded Italy and easily overwhelmed what remained of the army, most of which had disbanded when the end of the war was announced. A puppet government was set up, with Mussolini as the pretended head, but really controlled by the Germans.

HappyTrvlr

nonconformist2

That's right. There's a small museum about it at Dongo.