Does anyone have recommendations for a hotel or B&B in Italy's Lake District? Our trip will be in June, 2006. Thanks so much.

We enjoyed our stay at Villa Marie in Tremezzo, www.villamarie.com. I don't know your budget, but this is a modestly priced hotel and a good value. Tremezzo is central to most sights along Lake Como. Bellagio, which is a more expensive place to stay, is just across the lake by ferry from Tremezzo. Some of the best food we had in Italy we found in Tremezzo, recommended to us by the owners of Villa Marie.

There are a lot of lakes in the lake district. Do you have a preference? If you don't, where are you coming from and where are you going? And what draws you to going there?

We have heard that this is a beautiful part of Italy. We were thinking of either Lake Como or Lake Maggiore. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I have stayed in the Eremo Gaudio in Varenna on Lago di Como and was extremely happy with the hotel. You can do a Google search and find it. It has fabulous views, partly due to the fact that it was once a hermitage high on the hill, and getting to it requires taking a small funicular (elevator) up the side of the hill from the town.

On Lago Maggiore, I hesitate to recommend my hotel, because it's a bit off the beaten track, had corny decor and gets a lot of tour buses (I didn't know that until I got there). That said, it was perfectly clean, and it turned out that being at the "wrong end" of the lakefront was a plus, because within 100 feet there was a really marvelous little dockside trattoria (called L'Idro Volante) that played jazz CDs and served tasty and cheap homemade food outdoors overlooking the water. The boat to the Borromeo Islands also stopped within 150 feet, and the cable car going up into the mountains was also about 100 feet away.

That said, most people who go to Stresa stay in one of the grand old hotels in the center of town. From what we saw, Baveno (which is just up the road from Stresa) looked like a very nice place.

If you don't have a car, both Varenna and Stresa have train stations.

So it turned out we rather liked it.

In case you're still interested in my Stresa hotel, it's called La Perla Nera. It's not quite walkable from the train station, so you'll need to take a taxi.

In Bellagio, I'd recommend La Pergola. It's a converted convent in a tiny fishing hamlet about a 15 minute walk from the town. It's right on the lake, most rooms have views, some have balconies, and there's a great restaurant. It's small and quiet and wonderful.
lapergolabellagio.it

Hi Obrien,

We stayed at Lago di Maggiore, on Isol dei Pescatori, Hotel Verbano. We loved it! It's the only hotel on the tiny island and has about 14 rooms. We had a room with a huge terrace with a eastern view of lake. Their restaurant is excellent.


During the lake boat hours you can get there using that service, but earlier or later, you will need to arrange a private boat.

This makes the island dead quiet at night! Beautiful views. We really enjoyed visiting all the Borromean Islands as well as Villa Taranto's famous gradens a bit further up the lake.

Buon viaggio!

I ate at Hotel Verbeno and it is a charming, unique spot (alas, my dinner wasn't but that may have been an off night). I would only recommend that if doing this appeals to you that you ask for a room that doesn't overlook the restaurant terrace, where you will have to listen to the sound of chatter and tinkling silver and glass late into the evening.

Also, the first stop in Stresa docks by the cable cars that take you high into the mountains. Right next to the cable car entrance is a very charming, tasty trattoria called L'Idro Volante, which makes for a good contrast to the formal atmosphere of the restaurant of Verbena.

Ooops -- i'm repeating myself. Let me just say that my favorite place to eat on Maggiore was L'Idro Volanate!

goingtoitaly,

Just for laughs, I typed "baveno" in the Fodor's forum search box and there's a lot of threads you could look at. I snatched this from one:

"Though the islands get all the ink, nearby Baveno, Pallanza and the Villa Taranto, all served by boat, are also great places to explore. Baveno, 2.5 miles from Stresa, is a resplendent resort where Queen victoria watered in 1879. The town square is dominated by a dreamy parish church with a textbook Romanesque facade, a novel octagonal baptistry and splendid cloisters; there is also an inviting waterfront esplanade, suave villas and, behind the town, famous pink-granite quaries from where stones were extracted that now grace many local edifices. Pallanza, 3.5 miles by raod from Baveno and another swank resort, is known for its panoramaic views, pleasant lake promenade, old center with nice churches, profusion of flowers and, as it faces south, a blamier climate than most of the lake. Pallanza, the lake's toniest resort, is engulfed by palatial millionaire villas. From Pallanza, you can either drive, bus, or boat 1.5 miles to the Villa Taranto, home to one of the world's preeminent botanical gardens. in 1931, a Scot, Neil MacEacharn, bought the villa and propagated on its ground a 50-acre horticultural extravaganza with some 20,000 species in a superb park-like setting, bringing plants here from all over the world, including rare tropical plants. added to this are landscaped gardens, with some plots devoted to a single type of plant, such as roses, dahlias or azaleas; paths meandering by waterfalls and ponds; and bridges spanning bubbling brooks. Since 1939, the small so-so villa (closed to the public) has been owned by the Italian Government which uses it for state occasions. (the gardens are open Apr-Oct; boats dock below the entrance. just beyond the villa."

oops! wrong thread. Sorry!