Budman

Anyone familiar with this little village on Lake Como? They seem to have extensive ferry service to Bellagio.

Any restaurant recommendations in this village? I see they have a restaurant in the Hotel Riviera. La cucina della Marianna looks nice, but they are closed on Mondays.

Steve_James

Hi Budman - I stayed there 3/4 years ago. Yes - it has a frequent direct service to Bellagio.

I can't suggest any restaurants there I'm afraid - we were on half board so we ate in our hotel.

Personally on that side of the lake I prefer Menaggio as a base. But if you have a car it doesn't make much difference - they're only 5-10 mins apart.

Steve

Budman

Thanks for your response. Actually we will have a car and staying in Lenno. I was looking for a place to meet with another Fodorite who will be in the area on a particular day. She will be staying in Varenna. In checking out the ferry schedules, the Varenna-Bellagio-Griante and return ferries run pretty frequently, so I am looking at Griante to meet/eat/greet/imbibe.

Hotel Riviera seems to have a bar/restaurant, but I'm not sure how far it is from the ferry pier.

I guess another option would be to meet in Bellagio, leaving the car in Griante. Any recommendations for places to meet close to the ferry pier?

ellenem

Budman, It depends on the ferry! In Bellagio, there are two ferry piers for the confusing variety of car and pedestrian-only boats. One location is for pedestrian-only boats, the other is for ferries that take both cars and pedestrians.

In other towns--Varenna, Menaggio, there's only one pier, so no confusion. Chances are, you will take whatever boat comes first and won't be concerned about its arrival pier in Bellagio.

If you do meet in Bellagio, just choose a cafe on the main strip by name--sorry I don't have one to recommend.

ellenem

Oh, and the two ferry piers are a 5-10-minute walk apart.

Budman

How can you tell which is a car and which is a passenger from this schedule: http://www.navlaghi.it/italia/navicomo/indicecomo.htm

That's the schedule thru 31 March -- I'm sure there will be more stops when the spring/summer schedule comes out.

nicolos1

Hi Budman,
My wife and I stayed in Cadenabbia at the Hotel Riviera in later part of Sept.2005. We walked up to the La cucina della Marianna and it was closed.This was on a Wed. The Hotel was very friendly. We walked back and ate at the hotel.I had osco bucco with risotto which was delicious.We went to Bellagio by ferry which was up the street from our hotel. If you get a chance hike up to the church Capelladi San Martino which you'll see coming back from Bellagio. It took only about an hour to hike, but on a clear day the views were fantastic.Good luck.Nick

ellenem

I think the Traghetto/Ferry ones are the car ones--they also take people. The others take only people. It is a wacky bunch of schedules--there is no single schedule that shows all the choice is one list, so if yo're on foot, you're always comparing a few different schedules. We would attempt to figure our choice, but always verified with the ticket seller.

Budman

Thanks Nick - I suppose I could drive up there?

Anyone recommend a meeting point/cafe that is equal distance between the two ferry landings?

smarty

The 2 ferry landings in Bellagio are more like 1 minute apart. Any of the hotel bars or cafes on the waterfront will be convenient to both.

flygirl

you rang? ar ar ar

I ordered Blue Guide Northern Italy from Amazon and it arrived last night - if I spot anything I'll post it or email you. It's only got 18 pages on the Lakes area...

Holly_uncasdewar

The Excelsior Splendide hotel has a covered bar/restaurant directly across the street from the hotel, right on the water. Getting off the ferry, with your back to the water, turn right and walk about 2 minutes.

Marianna

Budman, we will be in Lenno (Albergo Lenno)in July. I'm not sure when you are going, but I would love to get a few area restaurant recommendations from you. I will also look into La Cucina della Marianna since I think it is not far from Lenno. Thanks and have a great trip!

Budman

Marianna, we will be in Lenno for 3 days, the first one "our getting over jetlag" day. I am looking at La Cucina della Marianna one of the days. Their 4-course menu for 30 Euro sounds pretty good. Wine not included.

We had Albergo Lenno book us our last night at this place. Heard a lot of good things about it here on Fodors. I'll post my experience/recommendations when I get back late May/early June.

http://www.comacina.it/isola/locanda_inn.htm