It's certainly a beautiful hotel, but I wonder about the lack of external views. If I ran a hotel and the outside looked like the place Steve pictured, I'd surely put a picture (or several) on the website.

It gets a terrific review on TA, that mentions a 5-minute bus ride to Portofino! (Also gets a bad review but I would take that one with a grain of salt) I "saved" it on my TA list!

I think it looks fantastic! Good job, Byrd!

I don't think it's the same, Byrd.

Under 'Info' your website has a map showing the location of that hotel at one end of the beach.

My pic is another 200m along the corniche road towards SML if I remember ...

Steve

I agree. This does not appear to be quite the same location.

This whole area looks so beautiful! We've been to the Cinque Terre, but not to the places described in this thread.

But I think that is about to change!

Byrd

It's not that Genoa is a bad place, it's that you are so close to several spots that are really spectacular.

Genoa is an industrial town. The only thing your friend will see of the port is a bunch of towering cranes.

Several trains service Malpensa from the Lakes region, but a car is a good idea. A trip divided between the Ligurian Coast and the Lake region should be wonderful.

As I said above, I would stay in either SML or Camogli (not both) for 4-5 nights and spend the rest of the time at the Lakes...that would be a great trip.

We have just returned from a trip to Italy: Rome, CT, Verona and a cruise out of Genoa with friends where we spent a night + Salzburg and Munich. We enjoyed Genoa very much. It has a very nice shopping area, medieval streets, and a lovely harbor to walk along. Not just cranes. I would compare it favorably with Naples or Palermo. We liked it much better than expected. We stayed at the Hotel Soana. Nice people and good location. Reasonable price. You can walk there in less than ten minutes from Brignole train station along the pedestrian street. A little farther away is Station Principe.

I know people feel the CT is over crowded but I would serously consider staying there to have access to the trails and atmosphere. It is very different from taking a train for an hour or so through tunnels. We stayed at La Torretta in Manarola for 3 nights. A beautful if small room with a terrace overlooking the Med. for 110 Euros a night. A great breakfast on the common terrace. We were there at a very busy time between liberation day weekend and May day but evening in Manarola was not at all busy if anything a bit quiet. We loved it and would return.

Thank you for the responses. I think we are committed to staying 3 nights in both Camogli and SML but I will present the idea to my friends of substituting the Lakes for Genoa. If we did do this, I would like to find a town in which we could drop the car and then take public transport to Malpensa... I was looking at Stresa...would staying there give us a good idea of the Lakes area?

Stresa has its fans here. I'm not one of them ...

Have you been to the lakes before, Eks? If not, personally I'd recommend Como (- or Lugano) rather than Maggiore.

Steve

Steve I have never been to the Italian Lakes but I've been, long ago, to the Lakes area in Switzerland. I have flown over Como, etc and they certainly look gorgeous from the plane!!


I am going to do some reading about Lake Como and also talk to my friends this weekend. Could you give me an idea of why you do not like Stresa and why Como would be better than Maggiore. Can I get any sort of local feel in this area or is it totally oriented toward tourists? I am not sure why this area never really piqued my interest...but of course I have much to learn!!

Well it did not take me long (reading Cadogan guide to Lombardy and the Lakes) to get the message that Lake Como, rather than Maggiore, is the place for visitors who have limited time. The town of Bellagio certainly sounds lovely!

ekscrunchy, the Italian Lake country is completely beautiful and very relaxing. Lake Como is perfect, especially the three towns in the middle which you can navigate among by lake steamer--Bellagio, Menaggio, and Varenna. There are lovely estates with gardens to visit and promenades along the water to walk along and quaint little bars to stop and sit at under arcades and wisteria.

We have stayed at Grand Hotel Victoria and GH Menaggio in Menaggio and at the Du Lac in Varenna. All are fine with the latter two possibly being a bit nicer than the former. The Bellavista (I believe in Bellagio) has its supporters as well. And the upscale grande dame is the Servelloni in Bellagio which is where Liz Taylor stayed while she was in town.

The Hotel Florence in Bellagio is lovely though a bit more old-fashioned than the others and without AC in some rooms, but it has a beautiful bar and a wonderful restaurant. Bilacus in Bellagion also has a loyal following. I love the high-ceilinged dining room of the GH Victoria and the mid-priced Bellavista in Menaggio has a decent restaurant where I first had my favorite Italian meal--pesto pasta and osso buco. enjoy.

Julie I was looking at the Hotel Florence in Bellagio. The price seems reasonable and they get excellent reviews on TA...

Do you think Bellagio would be a good choice?

It is only 3 hours driving time from SML to Bellagio according to ViaMichelin... I will do all the research and then present the idea to my travel companions..

Wow. Just checked their site and looks like they've done some remodeling since last I looked--though not the wonderful bar which was perfect just as it was. If you're not worried about the possible AC problem--and I'd certainly take a chance in late Sept.--I'd say go for it. The location can't be beat and Bellagio is a delightful place. Your travel companions should be delighted.

Thanks, Julie! I will see them this weekend and discuss our options...you have been a big help!

Because of the proximity of all the towns along the coast, I would choose either SML or camogli. Last year we stayed in rapallo and took the ferry to Portofino and SML. Loved SML-and then walked up the hill through beaches and a wonderfulo resort area and hopped a bus back to Rapallo. Did a day trip to cinque terre (did not want to miss this- and glad I did not)Fininshed up with a train trip to Milan and day trip to the como and bellagio. flew out of malpensa. I think we may have enjoyed Liguria even more than the amalfi coast. wonderful food great climate-very laid back. I wanted to include genoa but did not have time. I think now I would have included a day in turin, since it was along the train route. enjoy!!

..thanks, Misscarol. I am sure that our plan seems silly to most poeple, but we have finally decided to just split the stay on the coast between two hotels in the two different towns.

I booked the Cenobio dei Dogi for the first three nights and will book the SML hotel next week. It should not take us too long to pack up and move since the towns are so close and we would like to have the experience of staying in both places..I was driving myself crazy trying to decide and finally decided.. to make no decision between the two choices!

So now I can devote my time to deciding upon the merits of staying in:

Genoa

OR

Bellagio--(Hotel Florence????)

OR even

Lenno..(Albergo Lenno????) (Less crowded than Bellagio??)

Thanks to all of the informative responses here, we have all but decided to forego staying overnight in Genoa (we can visit on a day trip) and drive to the Lakes after 6 nights on the Ligurian coast.

I am looking into hotels in Bellagio and have written to the Hotel Florence. I also read the thread about the tourist crowds in Bellagio...should I be concerned? Would Lenno be a better option (Albergo Lenno??)

..or Hotel Belvedere in Bellagio?

With much helpful advice from posters here, we have a near-firm plan which will substitute the Lakes for overnighting in Genoa. (Will plan to visit Genoa on a day trip from SML):

3 nights Camogli..Cenobio
3 nights SML--Miramare (day trip to Genoa; day trip to CT)

4 nights Italian Lakes. Now considering Hotel Belvedere in Bellagio which is 5 minutes walk from town and will hopefully offer the quiet that my friends desire.

Question: Is Bellagio really the best place to stay in the Lake Como environs? (I liked Amalfi better than Positano if any inferences can be drawn from that...) (Looked at Lenno and Varenna very briefly....) My friends would like a fairly upscale hotel (not in the 5-star GL class, though)

The Hotel Belvedere has availability for a lakefront double for my friends and they will put me on a wait listg for a single room.....
Many thanks to everyone who is providing so much great advice!

Eks,

I only visted Lake Como for a day trip out of Milan. Unfortunately, it was a partly rainy day with low clouds and I didn't get to really enjoy the scenery.

Vernazza was tiny and charming, quiet. A flavor of a real local lake town. Bellagio was beautiful, but I thought very touristy. Not as touristy as Positano, just on a smaller scale. It seemed to be ALL tourists.

I think I would enjoy staying there IF I was out of town a bit, but not at one of the hotels right in thick of things.

FYI - some good friends visited the lakes during their 3rd trip to Italy last August. When they arrived at their hotel in Limone, they promptly cancelled all the rest of their reservations (Tuscany - where they had visited before) and stayed right there for the rest of the 10 days left. They said it was paradise - and almost NO tourists except for them.

They are a couple who likes to stay in small, nearly unknown towns and who speak Italian fairly well.

I don't know how much there is to do at that end of the lake. They spent most of their days doing some serious road cycling.

Hope this helps!