daria

Greeting fodorites,

My husband and I are planning our next trip to Italy in May 2004. We will spend 4 nights in Lake Como and although I have read all of the posts on this site about Lake Como going back over 2 1/2 years, I am still a little confused about which town to stay in.

We would like to stay in either Varenna, Bellagio or Mennagio because they have the best connections with other locations via the ferries (at least during the day) and we will not have a car. We want to stay someplace beautiful, with great restaurants and with less tourists, if possible. We are very focused on good quality food. We love to cook and, when traveling in Italy, excellent meals are one of the things we enjoy most. We like to dine with Italians at authentic restaurants, not at tourist traps and not at restaurants filled primarily with other tourists. A small town appeals to me, and from what I gather, Varenna is the smallest (approx 800) with Bellagio and Mennagio also small but a little larger (approx 3,000). I realize that Bellagio has more shopping opportunities, but that is not a big priority for us (because we will be spending 5 nights in Milan prior to arriving in Lake Como).

At first, I was leaning towards Varenna because it sounded less touristy. However, I have gotten the impression that Varenna is so small that it may not have enough restaurants to suit our needs. It sounds very quiet. Can anyone recommend any restaurants there? Are there many choices? Did you eat anyplace that wasn't filled mainly with tourists? What was the quality like? If we stayed in Varenna, would we be able to eat elsewhere and still return by ferry the same night? Does anyone know how late the ferries run? Where can I get a ferry schedule?

I get the impression there are more dining options in Bellagio. Are the restaurants there mostly touristy? Is it possible to find more authentic places if we are willing to eat away from the waterfront/hotel row?

What is Mennagio like? I have read many posts about this town, and have combed many travel books for descriptions, but I still don't have a sense of what it is like. The only real description I came across was in Rick Steve's book. I believe he said it was more sprawled out than Bellagio. What is there to recommend this location aside from particular hotels? (I have read many posts from people who stay here because of particular hotels and I know it is well linked via ferry, but I am interested in what other reasons there are to stay here.) Is it beautiful? What are the dining options like? How would you describe it? What is it like compared with Bellagio and Varenna (other than being larger than Varenna)?

If it matters, we will be heading to Verona after our stay in Lake Como. Thank you all in advance!

Patrick

I'm tempted to cut this short and simply say, "Don't go to that area if you don't want to be among other tourists." Like it or not, that's basically what the area is all about --tourism. I suppose, Bellagio might be the most touristy, but only because it is also the busiest and has the most variety in what you seek. There are several nice restaurants in Varennna, not a lot, and even fewer in Mennagio. Frankly there really isn't much at all to Mennagio and if anything the hotel rooms might outnumber the private homes there, so if you are thinking you'd avoid tourists there, forget about it.

I think the bottom line is that these days you have to accept one thing: the world's most beautiful places have long been discovered by tourists, so don't let the fact that you are not the only tourists there put you off. Go and enjoy.

My first choice would be Bellagio!!! It is simply the nicest and has the most to do in my opinion. By the way, I've often heard people mention how overrun it is with day trippers. That may be true, but one of the best things about staying there is that you then go to the other villages during the day and you return to Bellagio at night, when the biggest bulk of those day trippers are gone.

daria

Thanks Patrick.

I hope I didn't sound too anti-tourist. After all, I'm a tourist too! It's true that the most beautiful places have been discovered by tourists. Venice is my favorite place on earth, and we all know it has plenty of tourists. . . .

I appreciate your advice. I really am leaning towards Bellagio. It makes sense to stay someplace that others visit during the day, and where I can go back at night and enjoy more dining options.

I'll be interested to hear what others think.

GAC

Varenna is "cozier" and definitely more romantic, although 4 days is a bit much. Amongst Menaggio, Varenna and Bellagio, many people choose the hotel rather than the town, since all three are connected by ferry; the weather is the same, and the vistas very similar. Menaggio has the least "personality" of the three, but is well connected by public bus to Lugano on Lake Lugano in Canton Ticino.

GAC

Boat schedules: www.navigazionelaghi.it
Bus schedules: www.sptcomo.it

Intrepid

I agree that the largest number of dining options are in Bellagio even though Menaggio is by far the larger of the three towns. Varenna is much more of a prototypical Italian village than Bellagio and there aren't as many tourists there as are in Bellagio. Bellagio is a much more "upscale" (and wider variety) shopping experience and yes, you'll pay for it.
Go to this page and then scroll down to the "transportation" section for ferry schedules:
http://www.bellagio.co.nz/
One word of caution: in terms of your desire for "great" food...whereas the food in Italy is obviously authentic don't go there thinking that it is necessarily any better than some of the great Italian food you may have had at home. And judge wisely in Bellagio in terms of places to eat. We were there this past May and happened to have lunch in a place that I later found in Rick Steves which was felt to be mediocre food-wise..he was right! Point being....just because something is IN Bellagio doesn't automatically make it good...we had better food over in Menaggio at restaurants frequented mostly by locals.

jmv

Varenna has the Vecchia Varenna restaurant that serves a really gooey buckwheat noodle, swiss chard and cheese concoction called Pizzocchieri. You can also get it at the restaurant of the Hotel du Lac. I'd guess that the Victoria hotel in Varenna also has a respectable restaurant and the restaurant at the Oliveta is praised by some so that would take care of your 4 dinners even if the boats don't run late enough to make dining in the other towns possible (I've been there several times and never paid any attention to the last boat schedule, sorry) I think people become partial to whichever place they first stayed. I'd guess they all feel homey and you keep returning to what's comfortable. I've almost never seen a discussion of this topic (and from your search you know how many there are) that doesn't seem to come down to --they are all swell and you can't go wrong whichever you pick. Draw names out of a hat and start picking your hotel the same way.

cmt

I have exactly the same question. I'm leaning toward Varenna. I was not really considering Menaggio too seriously. Varenna is easier to get to from Milan than Bellagio since it can be reached directly by train, and Bellagio sounds like it may be a bit too commercial. Both seem to have good access to other towns by ferries. Varenna sounded appealing to me, but I have some (small) concern that in early October many hotels and restaurants may be closed for the season. But I don't think that would upset me too much. Since I'm choosing Stresa as my base on Lake Maggiore, I thought I might like to choose a quieter town for my stay on Como. I don't want to go to Switzerland, so connections to Switzerland are not a factor in my decision.

If my thinking on this issue is not sound, would someone let me know. I'm in the process of planning now.

Jean

Don't worry too much about where the "best" dining options are. You can stay in one town and take the ferry to dinner in one of the other towns. Everything is very close. Just keep an eye on the time of the last ferry so you don't get stuck on the wrong side of the water.

I can recommend Bilacus Ristorante in Bellagio. Make reservations the day before at the latest.

I love Bellagio, but everyone has their own preference. I also am not a shopper, but I did enjoy spending a little time looking at the shops in Bellagio and bought most of my gift souvenirs for friends there.

For CMT: Most hotels in Bellagio close during the last week in October. We're going to be there this year from October 27th and our first choice hotel (Florence) will already be closed. In previous years, we've been there around October 15th. No tourist hordes (thank God), but everything was still open.

cmt

Do you think Varenna hotels will be mostly closed the first or second week of Oct? I didn't set my dates yet, but I'll be going for two weeks and the lakes will be the last few days of the trip.

rex

If you're arriving by car, then Menaggio wins on "connectedness" to other destinations around the lake.

Spent four nights there in 2000; never lacked for somewhere to eat - - but then we did splurge two of the four (GH Villa Serbelloni and Villa d'Este), and we quite enjoyed the restaurant of the hotel itself - GH Victoria Menaggio.

Best wishes,

Rex

Jean

For CMT: I suggest you e-mail the hotels you're considering and ask them when they "usually" close for the season. They may not have locked in the 2004 date but should be able to tell you an approximate time. This year, the Bellagio hotels that close all closed during the same week.

HowardR

I totally agree with Patrick and recommend Bellagio. No, it's not too commercial.
And, I agree with Jean's recommendation of Bilacus in Bellagio for dining.

cmt

I'm going in 2003. I haven't even begun to think about hotels. i'm still picking a town. (Does this mean you think I'm too late? I rarely book more than a month in advance.)

daria

Thank you very much everyone! I will check out those ferry schedules to see how late they run. My husband and I like to eat later so unless they run pretty late, I guess I am now leaning towards Bellagio . . . unless anyone has any great restaurant recommendations in Varenna. I notice that although jmv recommended a few restaurants, she didn't say any of them were great.

Intrepid, in my experience there is *great* food in Italy and bad food in Italy. Usually the food close to the tourist attractions is bad. If you choose carefully, however the great food in Italy is better than almost any Italian food I've had in the US (and I live in one of the food capitals of the US--the San Francisco Bay Area). The quality is just more consistently better. I choose restaurants carefully and I think it pays off.

If anyone else has advice, I'd appreciate it! Thanks again for all of the great information.

Jean

To CMT: I would nail down your hotel ASAP.

cmt

Jean: I guess that means I'd better pick my dates pretty soon. Thanks.

viking

www.navigazionelaghi.it doesn't seem to mention a day pass, like I took on Lake Garda with the same company. Am I missing something in the tariff section?

GAC

There are indeed day passes available on Lago Maggiore. They are particularly useful between Stresa and Verbania/Intra/Villa Taranto, as you can stop in Baveno, Pallanza, Isola Madre, Isola Bella and Isola dei Pescatori.

Patrick

Daria, I might want to disagree with you. Having eaten maybe a couple of hundred meals in Italy, I'd be more inclined to say, "there is great food in Italy, and there is OK to good food in Italy". I'd think you have to try pretty hard to find "bad" food.

By the way, we followed recommendations here and had a meal at Silvio's just outside Bellagio. I followed suggestions and we ordered "spaghetti" as a first course. It sounded too simple to be anything great, but I must say I nearly fell off my chair as they approached with this simple spaghetti, steaming on the platter with fresh herbs and tomatoes from their garden. How in the world can a plain spaghetti in tomato sauce taste so magical??? And it was followed by perfectly grilled, very fresh fish.