How hard/steep/long IS that walk to the Belvedere Hotel-Bellagio?
 

We'll be staying in Lake Como-Bellagio for 4 nights (with Lucern and Murren first in the trip, and Venice ending the trip) and narrowed it down to, what else, Hotel Belvedere (are you sure you all don't work for that place? everyone invariable loves it!). I've read all the posts on here about it, and I showed them to my 44 year old, fairly fit wife, but she is nervous that the walk from the town each day or after a meal is going to be hard and arduous, and she said she'll blame ME if it's REALLY difficult, as it will spoil her trip in part at that point. She'll blame me because I've been pushing for this hotel, and I've admitted it may be quite a steep walk to the hotel itself. Stupid me, I know. Full disclosure sucks. :o(

She's not into hiking (unlike me :o) and doesn't want a horrific walk after a quick trip to town for lunch or shopping. How hard IS that walk! How many minutes to the hotel from town, and the ferry stop? Difficulty factor? If we're coming into town from a ferry (which is I guess the way we'd come in from the Lucerne leg of the trip?), I guess we could take a taxi with our luggage... Thoughts?

Where else is good to stay in Bellagio in that price range or less if the walk to the hotel is too steep for her to deal with? She thinks Varenna (if we stayed at Hotel Du Lac) will be too slow, small for her and wants to stay in Bellagio as it's more "happening" (more shopping, restaurants, things to see and do without having to take a ferry). I'm thinking the same thing. I get bored REALLY fast.

Thanks in advance,
Steve and Julia
Silver Spring MD USA

My wife and I are fairly fit people older than your wife's 44 years and we managed the hill quite well! For your sake, I hope you are exaggerating your wife's potential reaction should she not like the climb! If you aren't exaggerating, then I would recommend that you NOT stay there....even though it means missing a wonderful experience. After all, who would need that aggravation! (Yes, it is a marvelous an experience as we all have said it is.)
Not everyone posting here will agree that the climb isn't bad....but then, they're probably not in good shape!

Right by the ferry landing are the hotels Firenze, Du Lac, Metropole, and Europa/Splendide.

Don't worry. Bellagio is built on a hillside and most of the streets/walkways run up and down the hill. So you will be walking up steps all the time regardless of where you stay. Belvedere is an easy five minute walk to upper part of town where many excellent restaurants can be found anyway. If you stayed down by the water you would have to walk up steps to get to them. We are older than you and had no problem. It was a very nice walk back to the hotel after dinner. Belvedere is a great hotel - you will love it. It is a difficult walk all the way from the ferry to the hotel if you have lots of luggage, we managed but next time we would take a taxi. You are right to stay in Bellagio if you get bored easily. It is still a small town but much more dining and shopping options than Varenna.

We are VERY fit BB(baby boomer) people, but after a few ;-) wines at dinner, we just leisurely strolled the short trip to the Belvedere. We liked that hotel very much BTW..great bkfsts and nice big rooms with wonderful views, They even had better TV programs than some of the other places we stayed in France and Italy. FYI Judy

And I thought I was high maintenance!
:) =D>

Awesome info, and SO fast! You people are the BEST! Better than any travel guide book, better than a travel agent... Well, you know that already. Hotel Belvedere it is.

We walked ALOT, uphill at times, when in Paris, Nice and Avignon this summer, so I can't imagine a lousy 5 minute walk will be a big deal at all. My wife is a trooper, and if the whole place is hills anyway, as you said, we'd prefer to stay at the nicest of places on the top of the hill! Can't wait.

Peace,
Steve and Julia

Wise choice, Steve. You'll have a magnificent view of the lake....and you'll be served by a wonderfully helpful, friendly and accommodating staff.

Last thing - we decided to go for a deluxe room as it's realllly expensive for us, but we figured, if we're "going for it", we might as well do it up! It's a difference of around 21 euros per night. http://www.belvederebellagio.com/camerein.html

Has anyone seen these rooms - superior vs deluxe and care to comment??? We figured deluxe would be alot nicer as they look nicer on the website.

Steve

our room didn't have a magnificent view of the lake. instead we had a magnificent view of a bunch of trees. maybe if we had gone for a more expensive room it would have been different. we asked to upgrade and offered to pay to get a view, but they said all rooms were booked and couldn't move us. I thought it was a long climb to look at a bunch of trees. otherwise the hotel was really nice, but the only we recent we stayed there was for the view.

Did you get and pay for a superior room instead of deluxe? Did they say you'd get a lakeview? I guess I better get our deal in explicit writing so we don't end up with a lovely view of ... trees! We have trees (and lots of occasional deer) in our backyard. I have no interest in going to Lake Como and getting the same view!

Thanks for your response,

Steve

we had a standard room, but they told me in an email that it would have a lake view. that's why we tried to change when we got there. they insisted that although the trees blocked our view our room was still a lakeview. in my book it only has a lakeview if you can actually see the lake. that's not the way they see it.

Thanks for the reply! We'll definitely shoot for the deluxe room with actual lake in the view, then. I need that view!!!

Steve

Trust me...when she gets there and finds out that most of the shops are up and down staircases you'll find you're actually married to a stairclimbing madwoman. Enjoy your trip

Most of the rooms do have an excellent view of the lake. The higher you are, the better the view. However, the rooms on the lower floor have a larger terrace.
We preferred the higher rooms with the better view.

Funny, I was thinking the same thing about all those stairs within the town. I think they may make the gradual slope to the Belvedere look like a "piece of cake".

I opted out of the Belvedere mainly because of concern of ending up with a room without a view (which several people had mentioned) and because I really liked being down "close". It ended up being a good thing that we were at the Du Lac as when it started to rain, we popped back to the room for our umbrellas. When we got cool sitting out by the lake at night, we popped back to the room to get a jacket. We popped in and out a lot -- something we wouldn't have been willing to do the climb for over and over. But we saw the Belvedere -- no doubt a prettier hotel than the Du Lac. My next stay there will be at the Florence.

Thanks again everyone. We emailed them and they guaranteed we'd have an actual view of the lake. Apparantly the deluxe rooms kind of guarantee this! yeahhhh. I told my wife about the great shopping and she quickly forgot about the steps. We're THERE!

Steve