Sounds wonderful. I've always wanted to do "A Month by the Lake" after seeing that movie. Sigh...

We stayed in Bellagio, not near the ferry dock, but halfway up a hill in a (relatively) less touristy part of town. We were disappointed in the restaurants we tried in Bellagio, mostly mediocre food and high prices. Another problem is that there were only two restaurants near our hotel, one worse than the other. But if we ate in town, there was no way to get back to our hotel but to walk up a narrow twisty road with poor illumination. Buses and taxis both stopped operating very early by Italian standards. You could reserve an expensive night taxi in advance, but without knowing when dinner would end, that wasn't very convenient.

If I were going again, which is unlikely, I would stay in Varenna. I just need one good, dependable restaurant; I'll eat there every night.

Relatives of ours stayed in Menaggio this summer. They had a nice hotel overlooking the lake, with a pool. I don't know the name of the hotel. They have a baby, who loved the pool. They didn't do much exploring.

We are staying in Tremezzo next June. We got reservations some months ago by emailing the hotel directly

It has been 6 years since we were at Lake Como but we stayed in Bellagio for three days in mid-week (Tue, Wed, Thu) in mid-May (15, 16, 17) and had a great experience. We could have easily spent a couple of more days there. It was not crowded at all, the weather was great and the scenery was spectacular. I know the OP is going in June so I can’t speak to what it might be like then but for anyone reading this thread that might have some travel flexibility, I would certainly recommend staying in Bellagio in mid-May. Everyone has their own taste and we enjoyed visiting other towns on Lake Como, but for us, our stay in Bellagio was perfect.

As far as food goes, the first night we brought food and wine back to our hotel room’s terrace. The second night we had an enjoyable meal at a nice little restaurant we found on one of the side streets. And the third night we had a very nice meal at our hotel’s lakeside restaurant watching the lake traffic and the sun set. Below is a link to some pictures we took. For more details about our trip, I posted a trip report of the wonderful time we had at Lake Como and a few other places in Northern Italy in 2012.

https://john183italy2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/423

Thanks so much for your time in replying to my questions. I will look into each one and get back with more questions i'm sure!

The city of Como might be worth a look as well. Also, Lake Maggiore. FWIW, below is my TR that included Bellagio and Bologne:

Turin, Spoleto, Bologna and Bellagio TR

We found it soooo easy to take the ferry around. Have a super time and please report back!

We visited Lake Como in mid-June. While we were there, we visited several villas famous for their gardens. The gardens featured mostly rhododendrons and azaleas, which were pretty much finished blooming in mid-June. I'm sure they were at their peak a month earlier. For those who enjoy visiting gardens, I second the idea of visiting in May.

We didn't go inside any of the villas, because I'm not much interested in that sort of visit. My husband isn't much interested in gardens, and even less in villas, which is one of the reasons we ran out of things to do on Lake Como. We took the ferry all around the lake one day, and the scenery is really very nice, although far from the best in Italy. The excessive heat ruled out hiking, and there's little else to see or do there. Except shopping, of course, which is tied with a visit to the dentist in my book.

WE've stayed in Bellagio several times and did self-catering in the apartments at Villa Serbelloni (you still have access to hotel grounds and services) and at La Limonera, which is right in town. We enjoyed getting provisions at the various shops on the main street in the upper part of town, parallel to the main drag closer to the water down the hill. Also like Varenna.