sallypl

Just returned from nearly 4 weeks. A few thoughts.Siena - stayed at Palazzo Ravizza - gorgeous.Beautiful gardens and outstanding restaurant.Big rooms. Essential to stay within the walls of the old city for the atmosphere and getting around. Siena a must see.
Hill Towns - all lovely tourist traps. Had to imagine not having a car. Driving no problem. The Italians are all bluff!
Cinque Terra - stayed in Manarola at La Toretta. Impossibly steep climb with suitcases. I'm surprised we didn't have heart attacks. There is some sort of bus thing which runs up and down but seemed quite infrequent. La Toretta excellent. Pocket handerchief balcony with a view to remember forever. Walking varied in difficulty. All very touristy but so pleased we went. Boat not running because seas too steep. I think the boat would be a magic way to get around.
Lake Como - book well in advance. Its all very popular and we were lucky to jag a booking in Varenna. Varenna much more to our taste than Bellagio.Too many package tourists. Wonderful shops though.Stayed at the Villa Cipresse in Varenna and highly recommend. Glorious gardens and view and big room with proper shower. The other great hotel is the Albergo Milano. Much loved by Rick STeve and booked out a long way in advance for very good reason. Would definitely be my first choice in Varenna.Fabulous setup and the most charming couple.
Restaurant for truly memorable meal - Vecchio Varenna.
Bellagio - seemed to us that Hotel Florence might be very nice. We stayed one night at Metropole - certainly the only hotel actually in the water but all pretty tired and old and very small rooms.
Wonderful walking and hiking and pleasant trips on the lake for a view of all the faded glory. Some villas obviously still privately owned and maintained but lots unoccupied. Fun to see how the other half used to live!
Milan - shop til you drop. We did not stay in Milan. We went by train from Varenna and were so pleased we did. Milan hotels are bad value.The train took an hour and cost 4 Euros. It was fun to spend the day in Milan but so nice to go back to the peace and quiet of our lakeside villa.
Highlight and surprise of the trip was Verona. Could not recommend highly enough. A magic medieval town with fabulous shops. Stayed at Hotel Aurora. Very good (GREAT shower) and right in the main square.
I would be pleased to answer any questions. Many thanks for all the advice I received before our trip from knowledgable Fodorites.Cheers. Sally

GailLK

Sally- You're trip sounded great. In Bellagio, did you happen to notice the Hotel Belvedere? I'm booked to stay there next year, but having some problems locating it on the map in the travel books. Eat in any "great" restaurants in Bellagio? See any Can Verona be done stopping off the train from Milan to Venice? Anyplace to leave luggage "securely"? Thanks!

Statia

Thanks for posting your helpful info, Sally! Glad you had a good trip.

kismetchimera

Sallyp,

I was also at manarola this past summer, and for some reason my request for informations and reservations for la Torretta, went to a different site,and i rented my apt. for a week with paganetto instead. Gisella, the owner was a doll, very friendly, a tiny little hercules..She came to the station to meet Us, and she helped carry our baggages..never saw such strenght in a tiny lady.
Thanks heaven for that!! When I saw where La Torretta was located up, up the steep Hill, I was soo Glad that my apt. was where the action was, below and close to the water, and to all the restaurants.

HowardR

One of your comments ("Hill Towns--all lovely tourist trips&quot certainly needs further explanation!

sallypl

The friends we were travelling with were at the Hotel Belvedere. They were very happy with it. Their room was enormous - I have never seen such a big room in Europe. They had a lovely balcony with a view. The downside of the Belvedere is that it is way up the hill above Bellagio. A big hard very steep walk. Our friends are hikers so they didn't care.
Hill towns tourist traps - I mean exactly that. San Gimingnano, Montepulciano etc etc are all very beautiful but exist mainly for tourist shopping and the prices reflect that. You have to see them, but do your shopping elsewhere in my opinion.
Verona - Italian trains are great.I don't know much about their schedules because I had a car but easy to find out on the Trenitalia website. Cetainly Verona and Venice are not far apart. Sally

HowardR

Sally, the point about visiting the hill towns is that you go there to SEE not to SHOP!

eschule

would have to agree with comments about san gimignano. it was the only place we went where they were selling items with the name of the town on it in every store. After going to siena and volterra (which we loved) we likened SanG to many of the cruise ship destinations in the caribbean.

sallypl

Howard, it's very difficult to SEE anything else when the SHOPS are ubiquitous. It really does take the edge off the experience for me. Sally

Sue_xx_yy

There's a torture museum in San Gimignano into which we almost didn't go, on account of the rather tacky looking sign outside. But the exhibits turned out to be very thoughtfully and sensitively presented, a refreshing change from having this cruel practice from history turned into a joke. Sometimes a cover truly does not reveal the quality of the book.

I enjoyed San G but concede that because we stayed the night, we got to see it sans crowds. Perhaps this is why I wasn't bothered by the shops (although there is, indeed a very fine wine store there, best I have seen anywhere.)

Sue_xx_yy

Forgot to add, thanks for the fine report. Glad you enjoyed your trip.

Marko

We took the kids to the torture museum in San G, my 10 year old boy thought it was the highlight of the trip !
My wife hated it.

GailLK

Thanks Sally for the info.....

GailLK

Sallypl-Another question for ya...
Is the Palazzo Ravizza easy to get to from the train station and centrally located to sights, restaurants, etc.? I'm thinking about staying at the Grand Hotel Continental Siena, but the rates are high.... Wondering how nice the rooms are at Palazzo Ravizza? Thanks!

sallypl

The PR (and most other hotels within the walls I think) is a decent cab ride from the train station.
The Palazzo is faded but very comfortable. Not in the league of the Grand C however. We couldn't get a room overlooking the garden (and hills) but if you can,I would think the experience would be pretty much unbeatable. Their restaurant is really special too I am told. I think the room with a view is the absolute essential. Sally

eschule

should add that we went to the Torture museum in SanG and thought it was great. didn't mean to convey that we hated everything about the city.

we also stayed at palazzo ravizza in siena, but had the garden view. It is outstanding. Can't comment on distance from train station because we drove.

judyyee

Hi Sally:
I was torn between spending 4 days in Milan or Lake Como but based on your posting, it sounds like Lake Como wins. What was the tariff at Villa Cipresse and Albergo Milano? What is the distance or ferry ride between Varenna and Bellagio? Can one home base at one and visit/ferry to all the other lake towns?
Thanks,
Judy

Jean

Judy, Bellagio is a 15-minute ferry ride to both Varenna and Menaggio.

tiffpolm

We were in San Gimignano last week too and found it to be the most touristy of the hill towns that we visited. However, I also thought it was one of the prettiest with all of the towers. My husband said it reminded him of Disneyworld because it was so crowded and they had those huge paid parking lots! I loved loved loved Tuscany but I tend to agree with sallypl that besides the beauty of them all, they are filled mainly with shops for tourists. I did think that almost all of the shops had quality merchandise from the area instead of tacky souveniers though.

daria

Hi Sally,

Thanks so much for your post. Could you say a bit more about Hotel Aurora in Vernona? I am thinking of staying there next Spring. What was it like? How much did you pay? Was it clean, comfortable, etc?

Thanks.

Daria