My wife, daughter & I are travelling around northern italy in Dec/Jan 09 and wanted to visit the Lakes e.g. Lake Como etc but wondering what will be open and what the weather will be like? We just want to see these places and enjoy relaxing there. Not looking for a lot to do, Will hotels, shops etc be open? Any suggestion??

Miserable wet or miserable and cold. Shops open but it gets dark early. Might do better up in the alps

I've been in that area in January and it was much colder (but sunny) than I'd expected. Temps well below freezing. But my colleagues in Milan say that was colder than usual weather.

My husband's aunt and uncle used to live nearby (outside Lugano) and they complained that it was often very chilly and damp in winter. Lots of fog.

Which isn't to say it won't still be beautiful. But a lot of places will be closed.

Much as I enjoy villages like Bellagio, at that time of year, I suggest you consider staying in Como itself (more will be open there) or going a bit farther north to the city of Lugano. Much of Lugano (town) is open all winter. Or go to another town/city like Bergamo or Turin.

Thanks for your replies - it helps to get the feel of the places we hope to visit. Probably not the best time of the year to be travelling but with daughter's schooling we don't have much option. But we are determined to make the best of it. We are not being fixed on destinations. If one is not good then we will move on to somewhere else. Hope it works for us!!

Rather than the town of Como, I'd suggest staying in Menaggio. It's much closer to Bellagio and Varenna for sightseeing but less impacted by seasonal closures. Bellagio and Varenna will be very quiet, but there are people who live in these towns year-round and there's a small ski area south of Varenna.

Thanks Jean,
Will look those place up - We may have to bring going into Italy a little bit earlier - end Nov/early Dec as we may be meeting up with other daughter & son-in-law in Salzburg for Xmas week. So we may fly into Zurich and then travel down and do some of northern Italy across to Venice and back up to Salzburg and then after that we can always come back down and do Florence, Pisa, Tuscany and back along the coast and up then towards Zurich. Can you pls tell us where the Amalfi coast is? Everybody talks about it - where does it begin and end???

Found the Amalfi coast on the internet - below Naples - too far south for us this time - maybe another time
Any good B&B's along the route we plan to take - or some interesting towns we shouldn't miss??

You will love Salzburg at Christmas. The holiday was practically invented in those areas. Hope you get some perfect snow. Enjoy.