I LOVE Bellagio
 

Just had to give a quick report... in Bellagio for our second night and it is paradise on earth! Amazing little town, with enough action and enough quiet/serenity.

Headed to Bilacus for dinner right now, had an amazing time/meal at Tratoria S. Giacomo last night - restaurant full since it was the only place open on Monday, so they gave us pillows, drinks and blankets to hang out on the steps and wait - one of those experiences you can only have in small town Italy!

Loving the Hotel Metropole and its views... sorry to be so quick, but hating this keyboard!! Headed to Florence in the AM - wishing we had just one more day here... signing off until we return Oct 30... KAMG

I am with you, travelphile. We just stayed in Varenna 10 days ago and took a traghetto to Bellagio and Menaggio. Heaven... Could be a little warmer though, don't you think?

-e

I love it!! pllows,drinks and blankets and hang out on the steps of the restaurant in Bellagio. What more could anyone ask for? Well maybe dinner eventually. Have fun travelphile.

I'm going to Lake Como for the first time, next April, it will be a dream come true.
Only two days there, and staying near Como. Bellagio is how far by ferry?
Any specific recommendations for spending a day there?

Elaine, why are you choosing to stay in Como? My suggestion would be to stay in Bellagio and spend a day in Como.

Timing between the two depends on which kind of boat you take; hydrofoil or slow ferry.

Planning to stay near Como because part of the dream is to stay at Villa d'Este.
I'll be ending a 10 day trip on a high note, at least when it comes to hotels.

Elaine,

This site has the ferry schedule:
http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/

Como has a great-looking Duomo and piazza and some of the best shopping around, while Bellagio and Varenna are more serene, beautiful, quiet, simply divine. You can visit the several villas with gardens in both Bellagio and Varenna and other neighboring towns. Just stroll the gardens and take it in....

There is a great book and jewelry store in Varenna, Il Pozzo, right on the tiny "beach", run by Giorgio, a native, who happens to be the president of the local tourism association and has a lot of great info on inexpensive lodgings, B&B's restaurants, etc. He thinks all hotels in the area are incredibly overpriced. :-) Also makes some rather unique jewelry with precious and semi-precious stones, st. silver, marcasite...

Best time to visit IMO is when it is warm enough to eat/sit outside.

Enjoy,

-e

Elaine, You are going to love Villa De Este. It was superb. Rooms are huge, staff excellent, grounds gorgeous and the view from the outside terrace are phenomenal.

This is one of my favorite hotels in Italy. You will feel like you like a queen when you stay there.

Gail

Thanks for not making me feel silly.
All the hotels leading up to that one will be at much lower levels, to make for that splurge!! I felt comfortable booking lesser hotels in the other stops, because they are repeat visits.
Lake Como will be a first time for me.

Thanks for checking in, travelphile.

Glad to hear that you are enjoying your trip & that the Metropole worked out well for you.

Jim

Hi elaine, why would you feel silly for staying at the Villa d'Este? My goodness I would go there and stay for weeks if I could. I had a friend whose mother went and stayed at the Villa d'Este every autumn. This woman could have stayed anywhere she wanted to btw. I think your choice is fantastic!!

Elaine, I posted my reply before I saw your Villa d'Este comment. Great choice. I didn't stay but I loved what I saw. Enjoy.


-e

I didn't mean to hijack the thread, but travelphile is still travelphiling, so I'll go on.
Can Varenna and Bellagio both be seen in one day, or is that rushing about too much?
I will arrive in Como mid day (by train from Venice) on one day, so will have only about half of that day, plus the whole next day and evening.
The day after that I fly out of Malpensa. So I figure the first half day will be in Como.
Do you know if the Como station has a left luggage facility?

Elaine,

I think you can see both Bellagio and Varenna in one day. The ferries run every half-hour or so even off-season and are usually on time. You can be in Varenna within 15 min. Do check the schedule closer to April and it's different on holidays.

-e

Elaine, will you pop over to see Villa Carlotta too? I think it's well worth a visit.

I've never heard of it, do tell

Elaine: A day and a half for Como, Bellagio, Varenna, ferries, villas, gardens, churches, dining, shopping, enjoying the views, and not missing the last ferry? Forget the room at Villa d'Este! You won't have time to sleep.

Seriously, don't try to see it all or you won't see much. Skip Como (it's so easy to add it to another trip in No. Italy) and spend most of your time in Bellagio. If you're not into shopping, then also see Varenna OR either Villa Balbianello or Villa Carlotta (not both and preferably V. B.). If your visit is between early October and mid-April, skip both villas (gardens will be dull) and substitute with Villa D'Este.

Elaine

If you can manage it, make the steep hike to the castle at the top of the hill in Varenna, the view is marvellous and there's a falconer who puts on demonstrations with his birds.

We managed a quick look at Varenna and Bellagio in 24 hours but bear in mind we spent the night in Varenna, not Como. (Meant to spend 2 nights, but train strike forced change of plan). Also, while we enjoyed our hotel (the Milano) I must say that if I were staying at Villa d'Este, I'd probably want to spend some time there.

Be prepared for a wide range of weather; in 24 hours, we went from balmy sun to cool, sweater-and-windbreaker drizzle (and this was early May.)

Travelphile, glad you're enjoying Italy.

Since I'll be arriving by train in the town of Como, it seems I might as well see it for a couple of hours since I'm right there. I've been to Italy three times before and never to the Lakes,so I want to see the highlights and not assume I'll be back anytime soon.I'm assuming that if I have to choose betw Bellagio and Varenna, that B should win, but maybe I can do both.
This will be about April 10-12 or so, so I'm not counting on gardens that much.
More advice on ferry logistics is welcome.

www.navigazionelaghi.it for ferry schedules.

In June, we are staying in Menaggio for three nights, I know there is much to see and do on Lake Como, but is it okay to skip Verenna? Seriously, if we don't have enough reason to go there, we'll see some other sights.

viaggio sempre, what a wonderful screen handle, I love it!

I'll state the obvious first: it's ok to skip anything, he (she) who pays the piper calls the travel tune. But I quite liked Varenna, and would have been sorry not to have seen the view from the castle I mentioned. It doesn't take long to do a quick ferry-hop between Menaggio-Varenna-Bellagio, so you can do a quick dip into each town on a day.

Elaine, you have quite a choice of routes. You could take the bus from Cernobbio to Menaggio, and get a ferry from there to Bellagio, returning by bus or ferry from Bellagio to Como and thence back to Cernobbio.

Were it not for the fact that no hotel in Varenna really competes with Villa d'Este, I'd urge you to stay there for sheer ease of logistics. But hey, you'll figure it out.

Sorry travelphile to have muscled in on your thread.

Elaine,
I had to laugh when I read about the steep hike to the castle in Varenna!!! My husband and I took that stroll and I almost did not make it to the top! I have a phobia about heights and I was sure we were lost (little train left us in the middle of no where). But the end results were well worth the "fear" on my part. We loved the castle and the lunch was great. The best story of our trip in Varenna. Varenna deserves at least two or three days. It is a wonderful town!

Sorry, my remark should be addressed to Sue! Forgive!

Sue, thanks. You are right. There is much good info in this thread. We'll put Verenna into our plans and the things we want to do and see there. Then we'll be able to weigh it against the other possibilities.

aj - okay, thanks.

Elaine, I think with one full day, you should consider going to Villa Carlotta to see the house and the gardens, then from there to Bellagio. We stayed in Varenna, and I loved it, but if I had one day to see things, I would try to see one of the great houses (Carlotta or Balbianello) and one of the towns, Bellagio. I know you can do Carlotta and Bellagio in one day, because that's what I did.

so many choices, so little time!
I'll do some more reading, thanks
:)
Wonder how travelphile is doing?

There are different tastes. We loved the ferry ride to Bellagio but weren't that impressed with Bellagio. It just seemed to us like shops, shops, shops up and down the hills. It was pretty and we took lots of pictures and loved the ferry ride along the lake. If we had more time we would have stopped a lot of places..some maybe less touristy than Bellagio. But I know that shoppers really love it there.

Different towns on Lake Como have different flavors.

Bellagio (translate to Bell of the Lake) is located at the tip of a peninsula (possible similar to the end of a cul de sac), so they have gravitated to tourism.

Como has made money off of silk maufacturing for several hundered years. It has a population of 80,000+.

Menaggio is at the intersection with the 2,000 year old north-south road and the road to Lugano (it is a natural shopping town, less touristy).

Varenna was a small (600 people) fishing village until recently.

This variety is part of the charm of Lake Como. You can add to that you are going by boat and the unbeleivably beautiful scenery.

Thanks for the summaries, that helps

How about travel logistics to each, from Como and back again, by ferry or hydrofoil?

I will only have 1.5 days, want to see some highlights and still allow enough time for savoring, of course that will mean concentrating on at most two towns, maybe three if I'm efficient.
I arrive by train in Como, hotel is just outside of Como but not far I believe.

I believe that Villa d este is in Cernobbio. I beleive that the villa offers service to Como on their own boats (I don't know if or what they charge.)

From the boats schedule that I have, the 'Fast Boats' do not call at Cernobbio. Cernobbio to Como is a 13 minute boat ride. Cernobbio to Bellagio is a 1 to 2 hour ride (depends on the number of stops).

Once you are in the Bellagio, Menaggio, Varenna area, you can use the ar ferries in addition to boats, to get from town to town. I would recommend you start with Bellagio then decide between Varenna and Menaggio based on the types of towns youy hope to visit on your trip. If time allows, then tour one of the many villlas with gardens.

An insider tidbit, we found Bellano to be a nice town (not near the tourist destination of the other three). The car ferries do not go there, you can use the special 'Central Lake Boats'.

Enjoy your trip.

Any information on how to contact Villa d Este? Thanks Lou

www.villadeste.it

includes their email address, phone, fax

Travelphile is almost done travelphiling... LOL.

Followed the post just a bit... checking in from Milan hotel, leaving in the AM... :(

Yes Elaine, you can do Bellagio and Varenna in a day, I would save Bellagio for the evening hours (or late day) as Varenna was TOO quiet for my taste.

Already planning the next trip (12-24 mos away) and trying to decide if we do Bellagio again or Stresa next time! We loved it that much. (and have done Lake Garda on previous trip)

Also loved Panzano and Venice -

Actually, if I said I loved Bellagio for my topic here, it must have been Lust, as my love is saved for Venezia! (with Tuscany as a third lover, I had to at least taste them all!)

I'll post more over the next few weeks, y'all learn more than you needed about me, as my dad has been in intensive care since before we left and is finally 'waking' up, so the trip has been bittersweet... -Travelphile

PS On a good note, last day in Milan (2 nights) was wonderful, it deserves some time!).

glad to hear your dad's condition has improved, enjoy the rest of your trip

If I had only one day I would try to do Bellagio first. Varenna is a much MUCH more "traditional" Italian village than is Bellagio and there aren't nearly the shopping or eating opportunities in Varenna that there are in Bellagio.

Bellagio is, for some, much glitzier than Varenna, too. I like them both, as well as Menaggio, but all for different reasons...because they are all, well, different.

So, starting out from Como (Cernobbio, actually) are you recommending that I start that day in Varenna, and, moving on about mid-day, end it in Bellagio?

I would think that you will have more lunch choices in Bellagio (compared to Varenna). Any boat/ ferry ride from/to Bellagio, Varenna and Menaggio is no more than 15 mintues.

Varenna is very compact and unless you are going up to the castle or to tour one of the villas it will not take long see Varenna.

You probably want to print and study the boat service schedules. If you want to see the lake, then here is one idea: there is a pre-lunch that goes from Bellagio to Lecco. The boat then sits in Lecco for the lunch hour and leaves about 1:00. The scenery is very nice. We found this an efficient use of time.

I just realized I completely reversed Voyager's suggestion, sorry.

OK, I'm thinking now I will have to stay flexible due to possible April showers.
But, I'll have half a day when I arrive in Como, and then the next full day. Maybe I should spend some time at one of the villas--are they walkable from the towns, or can one take a taxi?

Thanks for your patience.