taffym

I 'm new to this forum thing, posted a question earlier without designating the town in Italy I was researching; hence the double post. So here it is again: Has anyone who has been to Bellagio familiar with the Hotel Silvio? It also has a restaurant associated with it called Albergo Ristorante Silvio. We were booked in 2004 to stay there @ 85 Euro's per night for a dbl w/ breakfast, but cancelled (they were very gracious & refunded our checks)our trip due to our fears of terrorism. We realize our mistake in cancelling out of fear and want to rebook our trip but would love additional input. The hotel seems pretty on the web site , nice views of the lake & a very good deal , any comments?

donw

Bellagio is great but I am not familiar with the hotel. We stayed at the Sorbelini or something like that right on the corner there-be sure to go have a drink there, it's fab!

I've heard the Belvedere there is very nice with balconies, etc.

Michael

The Silvio is a fine restaurant. It sounds like the hotel is a deal. We stayed at Il Perlo Panorama above Bellagio. I recommend that one.

ERICE

My wife and I have stayed at the Silvio twice. it is a family run Albergo and is a wonderful place to stay. I recommend it highly.

Jean

Check comments on your other thread, same subject.

taffym

Dear ERICE,
Since you are the only positive response from someone who has actually stayed at Hotel Silvio, can you tell me how you got around. There are 3 couples on this trip and I would like your opinion on the points brought up by other travelers, such as: "The only problem is, it's (Hotel Silvio) a fair walk out of town, and a rather dangerous one as you have to go through a very narrow "underpass" sort of tunnel that cars fly through. I'm not sure how you'd survive if you happened to be going through there at the exact time a car came around the blind corner and plowed through it. We took a taxi to Silvio, and then couldn't get a taxi back for about an hour. But there are worse things than getting stuck sitting my the moonlit lake waiting for a taxi. I wouldn't stay there without a car, and then that brings up the problem of parking for the boats if you have a car."
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"Ditto for the car issue. When I was staying at the Florence in Bellagio, I asked about going up to Silvio's for dinner. It's not that far away and I told the Florence manager that I wouldn't mind the walk. Her eyebrows shot WAY up and she shook her head at the thought of walking along that road at night or even at dusk (no sidewalk + Italian drivers=bad idea)."

We probably will be out exploring two of the three nights,and were expecting to be able to walk to the hotel. Are taxis that hard to come by and are they reasonable in cost?

and Jean, I realize I made it harder on myself by two postings on the same subject but just didn't know all the in's and out's of this format.

Jean

Just wanted to make sure you checked the other thread...

chicagolori

Here is a link to a site with hotels that may be in the same price list. Hotel Bellagio seems to be right in town and less expensive than some of the others. It shares some facilities with Hotel Du Lac (pool/spa/restaurant) as well.

http://www.bellagio.info/indexeng.html

Patrick

Since I'm the one who made the comments about the "dangerous" walk, let me explain about the taxis. Our hotel called us a taxi to take us to Silvio for dinner. We asked him if he could pick us up, but he was scheduled to pick someone up in Milan, so couldn't. They called for us from Silvio, but as I mentioned it was an hour wait to get one. There are very few taxis in Bellagio and should not be counted on to get around. From village to village the boats are the MAIN and dependable form of transportation.

DRJ

My wife and I stayed at the Silvio a couple of years ago. We walked to the town center (maybe a mile) several times without incident. One of the good things about staying there is that you don't have to walk at night. The food and service, IMO, was excellent. The proprietor empties his nets noonish so the dinner is as fresh as can be. I'd stay there agian.

Chicago_Heather

Stayed at the Silvio twice, too, and it's maybe a 7-minute walk to the town. We had a car but left it parked in the small lot at the hotel. The restaurant is wonderful and the view over breakfast is outstanding. It doesn't have fancy rooms, but had a balcony overlooking the lake and mountains for a extremely reasonable rate.

jabez

Try http://www.lapergolabellagio.it/
LaPergola.We stayed there and the rooms are big , nice and have unreal views. We visited Silvio and liked it as well,but not as much.We had a car, but the walk (especially at night might be interesting at Silvio's.
A couple caveats:
-There is a pretty , but uphill walk from/to town. If you have difficulty with this or if it's hot (it was when we were there),this may not be for you.
-I have not seen the new rooms that they were building while we were there.We had rooms on third and second floors in older building. Each had balconies and were much better than expected.
The restaurant is good, but not as good as Silvio's. I even went swimming from a little "beach" next to the hotel.

BTilke

Has anyone been to Bellagio recently? When I was there last May, up the street and across from the Belvedere there was a construction project going on...has it finished? What was it? Apartments, shops, restaurants, a hotel?
One advantage of Pescallo over Silvio (if you don't have a car) is you can take the pedestrian path...allows you to get back and forth without "interacting" with Italian drivers. But it is kind of steep.
Pescallo is a nice little neighborhood, picturesque and friendly, fat cats.

Patrick

jabez, I'm confused. I looked at the site for LaPergola. It is right on the edge of the water. What did you mean about an uphill walk into the town of Bellagio which is also right on the water's edge? What am I missing here?

hs145191

A different question for you - do you recommend Bellagio over Menaggio or Varenna? I'm guessing that since y'all have visited Bellagio that you might have day tripped to the others.
Thanks for your help!

vedette

La Pergola is over the hill from Bellagio. That is, it faces east while Bellagio faces west. The walk to and fro is not bad at all, though taxis are available. La Pergola (a converted convent school apparently) is very nice if you like calm, quiet. No commerce around there.

Patrick

Duh, thanks Vedette. I couldn't quite figure that one out.

hs, that's a tough question. While I enjoyed "day tripping to the others", many people prefer staying in those other towns and day tripping to Bellagio. Be aware, however, that Bellagio is by far the busiest of all the towns during the day. Those who stay across the water often report back that they are glad they didn't stay in "busy" and "touristy" Bellagio. What they fail to realize is that they were there at its worst, when they themselves were adding to its tourism. Those of us who stay in Bellagio tend to leave during the day and return in the late afternoon and evening when we have the place much more to ourselves and have a much wider selection of nice restaurants for dinner. I'm anxious to return next summer. I'll definitely stay in Bellagio again.

hs145191

Patrick - thanks for the response. Care to offer more advice? We're traveling in early Sept, flying into Zurich and will train down to Lake Como for a couple of days then to Cinque Terre for a few, next is Florence and then back to the Lakes - not sure which one yet - on our way to Germany. We have 11 days to play with before we have to be in Germany. We're on a budget and this is my first time to Italy, his second but he hasn't been to these locations except for Florence. Any suggestions?

jabez

vedette explained it correctly. The only "action" in the LaPergola area was an artist who would be painting (and selling his art work) from the shores, the daily cheese and ham truck that stopped nearby at lunch time and the small boats that launched nearby.
I could take time and enjoy the beauty of the lake from our porch or at a small table reight next to the water and then walk to town to shop,eat, catch a boat,etc. Very nice.
By the way, the idea of Bellagio being "busier" than the other towns is true, but Bellagio is far from a busy town. That's one of its pluses.

travelphile

Great thread... and thanks Patrick for claryfying the thoughts on staying in Bellagio - I had been scared off from it, but will reconsider now. Anyone stayed there and Menaggio - that's currently in the running for my top choice.

hs - we're also planning on taking the train down from Switzerland in Oct - have you gotten all the specifics yet?