Bellagio, Lake Como
 

Three of us will be spending a week in a wonderful home in Bellagio on Lake Como in September!. One of us has been to the area and the other 2 have not! From what I hear and read, it is quite a beautiful setting.

We are thinking about spending a day in either Parma or Verona, but are not sure of the drive time to either of them. SO, questions abound:

Should we stay closer to the Lake area?
Has anyone made this drive to either Verona or Parma?
Has anyone taken a cooking class in the area?
Is there a train station near Bellagio???

Any other suggestions?

Thank you!

The closest train station to Bellagio is a 15-minute ferry ride across the lake in Varenna. The station is called Varenna-Esino.

I would not think of Bellagio as a good location for a daytrip to either Verona or Parma. Maps.google.com estimates these one-way drive times by fastest route:

Bellagio to Verona = 2.5 hours (173 km)
Bellagio to Parma = 2.5 hours (193 km)

So for either city, you would have at least 5 hours of driving for these day trips.

The train station in Varenna is quite far from the lake, and sometimes getting a taxi into town isn't easy. It's more convenient to take the train to Como and then the ferry to Bellagio.

This site has a good transportation resource: http://www.comoguide.com/milan-transportation.html

<< The train station in Varenna is quite far from the lake >>

It's a 10 minute walk. Not what I would call quite far. And it's downhill from the station to the lake.

I only took the train to Bellagio (not leaving Bellagio) but I've read that there is no ticket window or machine at the station. I think there is a place to buy tickets in Varenna - at a tabac maybe?

Unless something has changed, there is a travel agency where you can purchase train tickets on the road to/from the train station in Varenna.

I've been to both Parma and Verona and they are terrific towns. We stayed in Cremona the night before we drove to Bellagio last fall....it may be closer than Parma, and is ALSO a really great foodie and music town. Don't know about train transport, however...

Milan would make a nice day trip. Ferry over to Varenna (right across the lake from Bellagio) and train to Milan. Train trip is about an hour and no change of trains. See the beautiful Duomo, visit Galleria Vittorio Emanuele right by the Duomo,see DaVinci's Last Supper painting in the Santa Maria delle Grazie ( need reservations). Have a nice lunch, walk around and enjoy the city.You will have a totally different experience from a day in little Bellagio. If you train back to Varenna just be sure and check time for last ferry back to Bellagio. Have a great trip!

Yes, there is a travel agent in Varenna who sells train tickets. They are even open on Saturday til 1:00 PM.