Lake Como and Zermatt
Feb 24th, 1998, 06:06 PM
#1
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Lake Como and Zermatt
I will be spending 2 1/2 days in the Lake Como area with lodging in Bellagio. I plan to take a guided lake trip 1 day but would like recommendations for the other full day. Please advise about a day trip to Lugano, Bergamo, Lago Orta, or any other recommendations. From there I will go to Zermatt. Is everything closed there in May to get ready for the summer season or is there eough going on then to make the trip worthwhile. I would like to be able to ski if they are open in May. Also, I would like advise on a good way to get from the Milan airport to Bellagio. Please help!
Feb 25th, 1998, 07:16 AM
#2
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Elizabeth,
On my European trip last summer, two of the places I visited were Zermatt and Bellagio. Bellagio is a very small relaxed town -- other than your lake tour, there are not major tourist attractions. That was a plus in our book because it was very relaxing. I would suggest for your second day to visit the garden of the Villa Melzi (most of the lake towns have famous gardens, and those of the Villa Melzi are Bellagio's claim-to-fame). After that, I suggest simply shopping along Bellagio's streets, sit along the lakeside and people-watch, visit a couple churches, take pictures, and just enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of Bellagio.
To get to Milan from Bellagio is easy. Take one of the frequent ferries to Varenna (a town across the lake). Varenna has a train station, from which you can go straight to Milan. [Note: the town of Como also has a train station, but it's easier and faster to go to Varenna in my opinion]. It sounds like from Milan, you will be heading to Zermatt (we did the opposite - Zermatt to Milan - on our trip). To get to Zermatt, you will need to take a train from Milan to one of the many towns somewhat below Zermatt, usually Brig or Visp, and then take the private train to Zermatt. We were told only private trains go to Zermatt. We took a train to Brig, then took the private train which climbs up the mountains to Zermatt. Zermatt is wonderful. I've been there twice in the late summer and people were skiing, but I don't know about May. But I'm sure everything will be open -- that's a fairly popular time to visit the town, especially for hikers. There is a homepage for Zermatt which may help you: http://www.zermatt.ch/index.e.html.
Well, if you have any more questions, you can email me. Also, we put a travelouge of our trip with photos on the web if you're interested. It's at http://www.lunadesigns.com/travels/. Have fun!
On my European trip last summer, two of the places I visited were Zermatt and Bellagio. Bellagio is a very small relaxed town -- other than your lake tour, there are not major tourist attractions. That was a plus in our book because it was very relaxing. I would suggest for your second day to visit the garden of the Villa Melzi (most of the lake towns have famous gardens, and those of the Villa Melzi are Bellagio's claim-to-fame). After that, I suggest simply shopping along Bellagio's streets, sit along the lakeside and people-watch, visit a couple churches, take pictures, and just enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of Bellagio.
To get to Milan from Bellagio is easy. Take one of the frequent ferries to Varenna (a town across the lake). Varenna has a train station, from which you can go straight to Milan. [Note: the town of Como also has a train station, but it's easier and faster to go to Varenna in my opinion]. It sounds like from Milan, you will be heading to Zermatt (we did the opposite - Zermatt to Milan - on our trip). To get to Zermatt, you will need to take a train from Milan to one of the many towns somewhat below Zermatt, usually Brig or Visp, and then take the private train to Zermatt. We were told only private trains go to Zermatt. We took a train to Brig, then took the private train which climbs up the mountains to Zermatt. Zermatt is wonderful. I've been there twice in the late summer and people were skiing, but I don't know about May. But I'm sure everything will be open -- that's a fairly popular time to visit the town, especially for hikers. There is a homepage for Zermatt which may help you: http://www.zermatt.ch/index.e.html.
Well, if you have any more questions, you can email me. Also, we put a travelouge of our trip with photos on the web if you're interested. It's at http://www.lunadesigns.com/travels/. Have fun!
