stricky

Hello Michael- thank you for this recommendation. II checked the website - t seems to be very popular with cycle enthusiasts. An e-bike tour is very appealing to us. Did you participate in any of these activities? Also, how far a walk is it to the lake. It's hard to judge from the photos. thank you.

Michael

It's a long walk to the town, downhill going there and all uphill coming back.

From my trip report:

Our Italian driving was generally not scenic. We took the autostrada as far as we could from Bologna to Bellagio, did not trust the mappy directions and therefore found ourselves going around Milano, losing quite a bit of time. We wanted to get to Bellagio fairly quickly so that we could tour the gardens of the Villa Melzi. They are very nice, with beautiful vistas over the lake, but not overwhelming (I recall the garden of Apremont sur Allier as more impressive, and most definitely Vasterival in Normandy). We stayed at Il Perlo Panorama above Bellagio, and I highly recommend the place. Ours was not a room fronting the peninsula but still gave us a view of the lake. It had a little balcony with two chairs and a tiny table, but the better view was on the veranda in front of the hotel. Drinks are reasonable (2 euros for a glass of white wine) and we sat there inhaling the scenery. Cost for one night: 85 euros, including a buffet breakfast. Our evening meal was at Silvio. We ordered from every course and were not disappointed. The pasta came with a fish egg sauce that was a little too strong, but the waiter had warned us and we decided that we had to try it anyway. All the fish dishes are based on fish caught in the lake and delivered directly to them. There are essentially two kinds of fish: a type of trout and a type of sardine or smelt. When it came to pay, they told us that the credit card machine was broken and that we had to pay cash. Fortunately I happen to have it on me; around 110 euros if I remember correctly. The next day we left for Switzerland, stopping by to see the gardens of the Villa Carlotta. They are much more impressive than the previous day's, and would have been even more had we been there earlier in the spring. The terraced gardens are lined with azaleas and rhododendrons as hedges and must be absolutely spectacular when in bloom. Not to be missed in the right season.

stricky

Thanks. I look forward to reading your trip report in full...

Wendy

bvlenci

If you're interested in cycling, I highly recommend the area that includes the Park of the Ticino and the Grande Naviglio. We took a three-day cycling tour in this area once. The Grande Naviglio is a canal that was the main "highway" in this part of Italy for centuries. Wealthy families in Milan built villas along the canal, especially in the 19th century. Some can be visited. We didn't find any open, but at one villa, the owner saw us and invited us in. It turned out she was a good friend of a cousin of my husband!

https://www.in-lombardia.it/en/cycling-along-navigli
Cycling along the canal paths is very easy, with no traffic, bar other cyclists. There are also many cycling routes in the Park of the Ticino, and some of these are more challenging. Here is one of several websites about cycling in this area.

https://italy-cycling-guide.info/tra...cino-cycleway/

We stayed in Abbiategrasso, at an agriturismo that catered to cyclists. They also had a shop that sold local organic products. It's been about 10 years since this vacation so I can't offer any recent advice. There were lots of good restaurants in the area. This is the place where we stayed.

https://www.leprotti.com/it/

There are lots of interesting places to visit in the area. If you are interested, I can dig out more information.

The area around Como is very hilly, so I would think you should have a high level of conditioning to cycle there.

stricky

BVLenci- You are very kind to provide me with this info - I wasn't aware of the websites you pointed me to. We aren't serious cyclists, but have found cycling day trips - more recently using e-bikes- to be the highlight of our travels. I'll do some further research to see what we can include in our plans. Thank you again.

annhig

As others have said 4 weeks or so sounds like a long time but it can soon be eaten up with logistical problems if you aren't careful. One of those problems is whether you want a car or not, and if so for how long? You wouldn't want one for Milan, Venice or Bologna, let alone Florence so one way round it would be to put all the cities at one end of the trip and then the driving, or to see a couple of cities, then hire a car for the middle, and return it to end your trip in a couple of cities again.

You asked about Bologna and IMO it is very worth visiting for at least a week, though I appreciate you may not want to spend so much time there. As well as having a great deal to see there are also innumerable places that you can visit, including https://www.santuariodisanluca.it [mentioned by someone here] which you can reach by tourist train from the main square in the middle of Bologna. Venice also makes a surprisingly good base for day trips to places like Padua and Vicenza.

good luck with your planning. As ever deciding what to leave out will be the hardest thing.

stricky

Thank you annhig. I have no intention of renting a car. It seems that the trains are going to be convenient and easy for us. And we will be traveling for closer to 6 weeks, not 4. So far my itinerary after flying into Milan is to go to Venice (4-5 days), then to Florence (6 days) and Lucca (4-5 days). Then we will go to Cinque Terre and Genoa continuing on the train along the Ligurian coast to Nice, where we will meet up with friends. We will end our trip in Paris for a week - 10 days (my home away from home). I'm debating whether to add a few days in Bologna (and Ravenna) before Florence. I've been told by several travelers - including you - how much they liked Bologna. As long as I can find reasonably priced accommodations, I can extend our trip. All TBD. Thank you for your advice.

sbrian100

One suggestion to get you back to September is the Asti Palio--this year on Sept. 6. Activities last the entire week before. We loved it. Oldest continuous Palio in Italy. And Piemonte is a delight.

stricky

ooh - thanks for that reminder. I'm going to check that out. I keep adding stops to my itinerary - I may have to add another week or two!

bvlenci

If you're not serious cyclists, I think the cycling tour along the canal paths, or some of the easier itineraries in the Ticino park, would be best. Abbiategrasso is only 15 minutes from Milan (S. Cristofero station) by train. You might even be able to do it as a day trip from Milan, but it probably would be more fun to stay in a B&B or agriturismo in Abbiategrasso, and maybe do two cycling days. Also, it would give you a local resource for tour itineraries and bike hire.

We didn't bring our own bikes to Abbiategrasso; we were a group of six or seven and we went in a van belonging to one of the group, and had no room for the bikes. There are plenty of bike rental places in the area. I think the place you stay could probably help you with all the logistics. As I said, I hesitate to recommend specific places, because this trip wasn't recent, but we really did like the place where we stayed (link in my precious post). I'm not sure how good they are with English, because I only see an Italian version of their website. I think most lodgings now have someone on staff who speaks English.

stricky

Thank you. Great information.

jan47ete

Your original trip posting sounds like what I am doing in November. I now always travel November and March/April. Trip was originally set for Nov 2019, then 2020 and now this Nov with 5-6 days in each city.
Milan with side trips to Pavia, Lodi, Cremona and Montova.
Turin with side trips to Avigliana, Pinerolo
Genoa going to Camogli or maybe Portofino
Bologna with trips to Ravenna and Parma

Although I almost never do RT, will go back to MIlan as from my time in Bologna and to Milan, the Christmas Markets will have started and I am a huge fan.