Place to run in Varenna?
 

We will be staying in Varenna for a week and are wondering if there is good place to do a 3 to 5 mile run? How long is the path by the lake?

Thanks!!

like hills? otherwise you COULD take the ferry over to Menaggio and run there..much flatter

Only the highway would give you that distance.

OK, I'm curious. As a runner of many years experience in all sorts of cities, countries and situations (although less so, now), isn't there always a "place to run?" Granted it is always different but what the...? If you can walk it, you can jog/run it!
I would be willing to guarantee there is a path, trail or road along the lake in both directions out of Varenna. Have fun.

macanimals i hope you're right. i'll let you know how it turns out!

We've done some walking and cycling along the lake from Varenna, and it's safe in most places and dangerous in others. Go to maps.google.com and search walking from Varenna to Bellano (north) and Varenna to Fiumelatte (south). (This means clicking on the pedestrian symbol instead of the default automobile symbol; otherwise, you're directed to the highway.) When the route appears, click on the yellow man within the map window and drag him to somewhere on the highlighted route. You can move along the route (arrows on the road and arrows in the north-south-east-west circle) and see what the conditions are like. In most places, there is a narrow shoulder on one side of the road, but the shoulder pretty much disappears when the road goes through a tunnel (and there are tunnels). This is where I think it is dangerous because the drivers are moving from bright light into shadow and you have nowhere to go but the traffic lane.

Having said the above, I will point out that the locals are very courteous to cyclists and pedestrians, so I think you'd only have to take particular caution in the tunnels. We didn't use earphones for music, and I think that would be a very bad idea.

If you like hills, search Varenna to Perledo. The roads are very narrow, but traffic will be light and going slow in most places. Amazing views.

Run from the ferry station to the train station. It's only a 10 minute walk at the most so you'd have to do it a couple of times. Not much of a slope.

Well we had a wonderful time in Varenna!

Thought I'd give a report on our running endeavors. Our apt was on the square most every day we ran down the main road (on the sidewalk) to the Fiumelatte river (beautiful views along the way), turned around and ran back to the train station, then ran down to the Ferry station, along the to he end of the Passiarelle(sp?), and then back up the hill to the apt. It was about 3 miles, just hilly enough for a good workout, and worked out great.

One day we took the walking trail up above the road from Varenna to Fiumellate, which let us mix in a little "trail running".

Thanks for the suggestions!!

Thank you for the follow-up. I'm glad it worked out well for you and that you enjoyed Varenna. I maintain that there is always a place to jog/run and you discover all sorts of things.

Glad it worked out, bug. Yes, let's have a trip report of the walking and ferrying times!