Hi,
I'm going to Lake Como next week and I'm trying to figure out how easy it is to get from town to town. We'll have a car but we'd rather take the ferry. Does anyone know how realistic it is to have a full day of events at one end of the lake, say in Bellagio, and then go to the other end for dinner, in Como or Cernobbio? And to go from Bellagio to a restaurant off the beaten track in Tremezzo or Lenno, I assume you have to drive around the lake, which seems like quite a trek. Any tips? Thanks!

Travel in the Central Lake (centro lago) area is easy by ferry. They run frequently and will make all major sights accessible.

Not sure what you mean by off the beaten track - most everything is close to the lakefront regardless of town. Taking the ferry and then doing a little walking will get you to 99% of what you probably want to see and do.

The only thing you need to be aware of is when the last ferry runs. Plan carefully.

There is a ferry schedule on the web that can help you plan
http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/

We had a car in Bellagio - used it to get to Bellagio and then to leave. Ferries for everything else. That being said, one reason I picked Bellagio as a base was because of the abundance of good restaurants. Didn't have to do a lot of ferry riding late at night.

Hi Alfie - You can find ferry timetables on:

http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/eng/com/nlc_ora.html

There is also mid-lake car ferry which may be convenient. If you don't want to drive, there are also buses connecting the lakeside towns, of course.

You can find Lake Como bus timetables on:
http://www.sptlinea.it/

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Thanks for such detailed responses. I was reading about La Fagurida restaurant in Tremezzo and it sounded like you needed a car to get there. Does anyone know? I appreciate all the help!

Often people recommend that if you will be using your car a lot, that you stay in Menaggio rather than Bellagio--better driving along the west side of the lake.

Alfie,

Crossing the lake after dusk (9:00pm) is problematic.
There is a water taxi service from Bellagio under the name of Barendelli (sp?). They probably have a website for contact info.

We have walked (jogged maybe) from Tremezzo to Cadenabia to catch a boat, so that is one option as well. Cadenabia is a stop for car ferries, which run to dusk as well. If you arrive early and tell the restaurant that you need to make a specific time for your boat, then I would imagine that the restaurant would help speed things up.

Finally, my boat schedule from summer 2008 showed an 11:00pm ferry on Saturday evenings. If this boat will be running in 2009, then that might be your ticket.

Yes, you would be better off reaching La Fagurida by car. It is in Rogaro, which is a district (frazione) of Tremezzo located up the hill away from the lake. It would be an uphill walk from the lake; there are buses to Rogaro but I am not certain that these run at night.

When we visited Bellagio from Menaggio, we left the car at our Menaggio hotel once, and another time, we used the car ferry and then proceeded to drive down the shoreline to Como.

The only glitch with using the car ferry would be to find parking.

You could certainly have a full day on the lake and then use the car to get to the restaurant, but you need to double check to see how late the car ferries run.

I think I'll stick with Bellagio restaurants at night and maybe try the more distant ones for lunch. Thanks!

what hotels did you stay? I was thinking of Hotel Centrale. thanks, [email protected]

We stayed at the Hotel Belaggio. It is mid-way up the hill, so it is impossible to avoid having some stairs. Inside there is an elevator (small). Our lake view was marginal, but there were at least two floors above us.

Don't especially know the Centrale.

I stayed in an upper floor room at the Hotel Bellagio with great views of the lake. Hotel also has air-conditioning which we needed as we were there during a heatwave. Have reservations at the Hotel Florence in September.