Flowr646, what time of year? What's the rest of your honeymoon itinerary? Are you interested in gardens, villas, walks, ??

The longest I've stayed just on Lake Como was 4 days, but one year I did a tour of the Northern Italian Lakes and spent a total of 14 days among the 5 largest lakes and never tired of the beautiful scenery and lovely peace and quiet. You could do a week on Como with day trips by car or train to some of the other lakes, but it would probably be better to split the time between two lakes/places. At least that's what I'd do.

Jan 604, we didn't have advance reservations. Just showed up at the boat dock and they took us. You might check with your hotel to see if you need advance reservations at whatever time of the year you're going, but I'd guess unless it's absolutely peak season weekend, you'll be ok just showing up.

This is awesome!! Once again I'm so glad I came to these forums!! Y'all helped me last year when we went to Paris for the first time so I decided to stop in again and I'm very glad I did. ;-)

We're going to be in Lake Como for a few days the first week of July and I was wondering about restaurants, so these notes are perfect! We're certainly on a budget, though. Felt lucky to find this place to stay, the Albergo Bellavista in Veleso: http://www.hslombardy.com/en-20105985.asp

If anyone has had any experience with them I'd love to hear about it.

Once again, the Fodor's forums rock. ;-)

I'd be going in May of next year.

Bookmarking

Thanks for the info!

We will be in Varenna for four nights beginning on 6/28, if anyone wants to get together for dinner at one of these places.



Steve

Thank you!

Wonderful summary IMO.

there are several restaurants which front that "town square" area in Menaggio and they offer what we thought were good menus.

We also enjoyed eating at the bella Vista hotel on more than one occasion.

And there used to be a great gelato stand on the square in Menaggio as well.

Sheridan,

Veleso is high above Lake Como. On my map, Veleso looks to be about about eleven hairpin turns abve the main road and the main road is about 300 vertical feet above the lake level.
Unless you are planning to have a car, then Veleso might not be the best location.

Julie, both Barchetta and Bilacus are worthwhile. One of the best meals was @ Vecchia Varenna; chestnut ravioli,venison,etc.!

Going to Varenna/Bellagio in a couple weeks and I'm looking forward to having lunch at Hotel Florence. We are staying at Albergo Milano and I'm considering the three course dinner at Ristorante la Vista at Albergo Milano? How does it compare to the Hotel Villa Cipressii, Il Cavatapp, or Vecchia Varenna? Thank you.

Julie, thank you so much for the great information!

Yes, a big thanks to JulieV for taking the time to post this, and to answer my many questions on the Ligurian Coast thread!

Topping this for any further ideas, especially in Menaggio..

Taking another look at this helpful thread, started by JulieV.

I am wondering if anyone here has dined at the restaurant, Crotto da Gusto, in Carlazzo, outside Menaggio. It looks promising.....

Does anyone have any further recommendations for Menaggio?

How feasible would it be to dine in Como (or Bellagio) and travel back to Menaggio after dinner by ferry, in late September?

I think that your best late night option are the Bellagio, Menaggio, Varenna triangle. The reason is that the last few boats across the lake are usually the car ferries.

You really need to consult a schedule. I can't find mine at the moment.

Thank you so much for this information. Bookmarking for a future trip.

Yes, I will check the ferry timetables...thanks.

Julie: Would you recommend Isola Comacina on the basis of the food alone? From the website it does look a bit gimmicky...(??) And kind of costly..(?)


Here is another area specialty that I have been reading about:

Missoltini, a type of shad that undergoes a long preparation process before cooking...

Sorry I can't help with your find outside Menaggio. And I know we've never stayed in one place in the triangle and done dinner in another for fear that we'd miss the boat back, but we're a little anal that way. Could be that you can do it handily. Just check with your hotel.

On Isola Comacina, YES, go for the food. Because we'd parked in a no parking zone (and possibly impeded the investiture of a nun) we couldn't even stay for the fire and story business, so for us it was all about the food. It's rustic, basic and incredibly good. The true flavors come out of everything. Our son in law didn't park so poorly when he went and enjoyed the story as well. It's all good.