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Please help us plan Northern Italy/lakes trip 6/19
We are just starting to plan a 10 day trip with another couple to Northern Italy--the lakes region, and spend the last few days in Switzerland. Instead of spending a couple of days at each of 3 lakes, we are thinking about 3 days at two of the lakes. (maggiore and garda). Are these the two you would choose? and are day trips to the others easy to navigate? Also any suggestions for lodging with a view would be welcome. airb&b?
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In the fall of 2017, we went to Lakes Como, Iseo and Garda and northern cities (Turin, Milan, Bergamo). We did a 2-part trip report. In short, we liked Garda best (just less touristy, at least American touristy). However, Como was breathtaking.
https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...tober-1649643/ https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...tober-1649644/ Last fall, we stayed on Lake Orta and did a day-trip (a return for us) to Lake Maggiore. I think we preferred Como and Garda but that may have been that we relied more on the car when at Maggiore. We much preferred the ferry transits we used on the other lakes, but that as I understand it, Maggiore also has some great ferry service. https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...ember-1659620/ We also did a brief but perfect (thanks largely to good weather) couple of days in Switzerland in September. Here is that trip report: https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...esome-1659589/ |
Thank you whitehall. The more I learn, the more my ideas of what to do changes. Your info will be very useful. I'm sure i'll have more questions.
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Lake Garda forms 1 area and the 3 lakes of Maggioere, Lugano and Como form the other one.
Day trips from Lake Garda to the other 3 lakes is not a good idea IMO. Lake Gasrda is a good base for trips to Verona, Trento, Vicenza, Mantova and the Dolomiti di Brenta, however. Lugano is in the center of the 3 other lakes, with trains to Como (Lake Como) and Locarno (Lake Maggiore) every 30 min as well as train connections to Lucerne/Zurich (2 hrs journey) at least every hr and to Milan (1 hrs journey) at least every 2 hrs. If you stay in a hotel on the Swiss side of Lake Lugano or Lake Maggiore, you will most probably get a regional travel pass for free. |
Our favorite lake is Maggiore, with a side trip to Orta most times we go there. We always stay in Stresa. If I had only 3 days I wouldn't go lake-hopping. I'd pick one and settle in.
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Originally Posted by StCirq
(Post 16860882)
Our favorite lake is Maggiore, with a side trip to Orta most times we go there. We always stay in Stresa. If I had only 3 days I wouldn't go lake-hopping. I'd pick one and settle in.
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Well, Orta for me is just a daytrip from Maggiore.
But yes, I see she wants to spend 3 days each on two lakes. In which case I'd say Maggiore and Garda. |
Maggiore and Garda would be fine - my two favorite lakes but Como is nice too. You going by train or car? Trains would be fine as once on the lakes boats go all over all the time.
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Other than Garda, where I've returned, I've only been to Maggiore and Como once each.
I'd pick Como and Garda. I liked the scenery better, and the food too. Just my own take on your questions. |
Ah that is very helpful information. Thank you! So does it make sense to spend 3 nights near Lake Garda, and the other 3 nights at one of the other 3 lakes maybe Como,, then take a day trip or two to see the others.
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Como and Garda would probably be enough. We needed 3 nights in each and thought that was a minimum, and we enjoyed perfect weather in each. The biggest attraction on Iseo is the island of Monte Iseo, and that isn't an easy day trip. I guess you could do a day trip from Como to Stresa on Lake Maggiore and take a ferry to Isola Bella, but that probably would be at he expense of time you might need on Como. If you opted for Maggiore instead of Como, a day trip to Lake Orta is easy (only really worth seeing Orta San Giulio there).
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Originally Posted by PalenQ
(Post 16860965)
Maggiore and Garda would be fine - my two favorite lakes but Como is nice too. You going by train or car? Trains would be fine as once on the lakes boats go all over all the time.
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As I told you in post 4:
if you have no car, want to see all 3 lakes (Como, Lugano, Maggiore) and to proceed later to internal Switzerland, Lugano is the best place. From no other place, you can reach the 2 other lakes every 30 minutes by public transport in 1 hr or less and from no other place you have direct trains from Lake Garda (only once daily, however) and to Zurich/Lucerne (at least every hr, 2 hrs journey). |
thank you tuscanlifeedit We have Garga for sure and are deciding on the other one. Which town around Como do you suggest?
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Thank you necker This is the first international trip i've planned myself and the thing I'm the most nervous about is the transportation. So any and all tips about that really helps.
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So it sounds like Como might be a better choice than Maggiore? A tough decision. Which town in Como would you sggest?
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May be it would be helpful if you could tell us to which place in Switzerland you plan to proceed after the lakes. Some places along Lake Como are real cul-de-sacs.
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It would be useful for you to see which towns are served by ferries and buses. The ferry website is currently showing the winter timetables, so you can check routes and trip durations now and return to the site in March/April to check frequency of service.
Navigazione Laghi | Lago Maggiore | Lago di Garda | Lago di Como Navigazione Laghi | Lago Maggiore | Lago di Garda | Lago di Como Bus service: https://lakecomotravel.com/bus-servi...enaggio-colico Bus timetables Lake Garda | Visitgarda |
Bus lines Lake Como:
https://www.asfautolinee.it/content/...te-extraurbana Bus lines Lake Lugano: Lubano - Gandria Lugano - Menaggio Lugano - Campione d'Italia Lugano - Carona Lugano - Morcote Lugano - Tesserete - Valcolla Lugano - Sonvico - Valcolla Lugano - Arosio - Breno - Miglieglia cableway Lugano - Cademario - Novaggio - Astano - Sessa Ponte Tresa - Castelrotto - Novaggio Ponte Tresa - Fornasette - Luino Ponte Tresa - Ghirla - Luino Ponte Tresa - Porto Ceresio - Varese Ponte Tresa - Ghirla - Varese Porto Ceresio - Brusino - Capolago Capolago - Arogno Capolago - Mendrisio Mendrisio - Serpiano Mendrisio - Serpiano Mendrisio - Chiasso - Como Mendrisio - Muggio - Scudellate Bus lines Lake Maggiore: Locarno - Ascona - Brissago - Cannobio - Intra Locarno - Ronco Locarno - Bignasco - Fusio Locarno - Sonogno Locarno - Spruga/Vergeletto Magadino - Indemini Magadino - Ranzo - Sant' Abbondio Maccagno - Biegno Luino - Dumenza - Agra Luino - Brezzo - Musadino Luino - Varese Stresa - Gignese Arona - Colazza - Gignese Cannobio - Malesco Cannero - Trarego Intra - Premeno - Piancavallo Intra - Pallanza - Omegna Train and cableway lines Lake Como: Milano - Monza - Lecco - Varenna - Colico Como - Lecco Milano - Seregno - Como Milano - Saronno - Como Como - Brunate Arcegno - Pigra Train and cableway lines Lake Lugano: Bellinzona - Lugano - Capolago - Como - Monza - Milano Varese - Porto Ceresio Lugano - Ponte Tresa Capolago - Monte Generoso Lugano - San Salvatore Lugano - Monte Bre Brusino - Serpiano Miglieglia - Monte Lema Rivera - Alpe Foppa Train and cableway lines Lake Maggiore: Bellinzona - Locarno - Domodossola Bellinzona - Magadino - Luino - Laveno - Sesto Calende Domodossola - Verbania Pallanza - Sesto Calende - Milano Laveno - Varese - Saronno - Milano Locarno - Cardada - Cimetta Intragna - Costa Verdasio - Comino Verdasio - Rasa Piero - Monteviasco Laveno - Sasso del Ferro Stresa - Mottarone |
Thank you so much for all of this info.
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That I don't know yet. I am thinking 4-5 nights in Switzerland. We were originally going to stay in a couple of towns but looking at the size of Switzerland, do you think we could plant ourselves in one town and take transportation to the others we want to see? It looks like Interlaken might be a good base. I haven't done much research on that part of our trip yet. What do you think might be a good base town?
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Interlaken is very popular with touristsf from overseas and you can easily spend 2 weeks there if you want to experience all cog wheel railways, gondolas, boats and post buses of this area.
But Interlaken is a kind of cul-de-sac with long journey times to other places of Switzerland: 2 hrs to Lucerne 2-3 hrs to Lake Geneva 2 hrs to Neuchatel 3 hrs to Matterhorn Paradise 3 1/2 hrs to Titlis 4 hrs to Rigi add 1 hr if you plan to go to remoted mountain villages like Muerren, Wengen, etc. If you are happy with the mountains,lakes, caves, gorges and waterfalls of the Interlaken area, go to Interlaken. If you want to visit other areas of Switzerland, like the highest mountains, the longest glaciers, medieval cities, castles and cathedrals, roman theatres, all kinds of museums (from Red Cross and Human Dignity via art galleries up to the smuggler museum) you must check other bases. |
Without having done much research on Switzerland yet, that is very useful information,neckervd because we do want to go to other places. I assume with the great transportation system there that Interlaken would be the best base. What other town would be more transportaton friendly to other places?
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I would not stay in Interlaken rather in the beautiful mountain towns nearby- Grindelwald, Wrngen, Murren. We like all the larger Italian lakes and have been to them all several times. . Lake Garda probably would be more difficult to combine with Switzerland. When we combined the lakes with Switzerland we went Milan, Lake Maggiore, Lake Orta (which we didn’t enjoy), Switzerland- Grindelwald and Pontresina- then easily drove back down to Lake Como, and finally flew out of Milan MXP., a large circle that worked well, Lake Garda combines well with the Dolomites, Verona, Venice. |
Ah that makes lots of sense. So you think its fitting too much in to go to Garda. Everyone seems to recommend it. This will probably be our one and only trip there. We will be spending 12 days or so between the lakes and Switzerland. Are you recommending that we base ourselves in Grindelwald or Pontresina? We want to stay in a town which makes it easy to take public transportation for a couple of day trips to other places.
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Lake Como and Lake Maggiore
If Switzerland is in your plans, I would also suggest to leave Lake Garda for another trip. Our favorite is Lake Maggiore with its excellent ferry service, which connect with the Swiss part of the lake as well as with the Italian part. Stresa is a very popular place on Lago Maggiore, but we preferred to stay in lovely and less touristy Cannero Riviera at the charming “Hotel Cannero” with amazing restaurant and ferry stop right at the doorstep. You can take a ferry to Isola Madre and Isola Bella... hard to find places more beautiful... If you want a good connection to Switzerland, then you can stay in Menaggio on Lake Como and take a busy to Lugano. We did stay in Menaggio because we had a car, but much better place to stay on Lago Como is charming Varenna (there is a direct train from Milan to Varenna). Ferries are readily available and you can easily get to Bellagio (very touristy). I would also recommend taking a ferry to Lenno to see stunning Villa Balbianella. I cannot help you much with Switzerland because we had spent two weeks there driving around and I am struggling with advising you where to spend your five days: too many gorgeous places to choose from. We did have two weeks and did not have any time left for the Italian part of Switzerland, which we will go to when we return to Lake Como. We stayed in Interlaken, and on Lake Geneva, and in Zurich... visited Lucerne, Bern, Gruyer, magnificent Chateau de Chillon near Montreaux, Geneva, Lakes Thun and Brienz... You will be spoiled for choice... Switzerland has the most gorgeous and unique natural beauty which will leave you speechless😊 |
Once again:
Lugano is in the center of the 3 big lakes north of Milan, with trains to Como (Lake Como) and Locarno (Lake Maggiore) every 30 min as well as train connections to Lucerne/Zurich (2 hrs journey) at least every hr and to Milan (1 hrs journey) at least every 2 hrs. If you stay in a hotel on the Swiss side of Lake Lugano or Lake Maggiore, you will most probably get a regional travel pass for free. So, if you want 1 base for daytrips to the 2 other lakes, Lugano is the best solution. As to a base for the mountains: if you are happy with the mountains, lakes, caves, gorges and waterfalls of the Interlaken area, go to Interlaken. If you want to visit other areas of Switzerland, like the highest mountains, the longest glaciers, medieval cities, castles and cathedrals, roman theatres, all kinds of museums (from Red Cross and Human Dignity via art galleries up to the smuggler museum) you must check other bases. Good transport hubs like Bern, Thun, Spiez, Visp, Brig, Lucerne are the contrary of isolated mountain villages like Gimmelwald, Muerren, Wengen, Grindelwald, Zermatt, Pontresina, Scuol-Tarasp.... You must make a choice, you cannot have both. |
Originally Posted by cathee
(Post 16862587)
This is the first international trip i've planned myself and the thing I'm the most nervous about is the transportation..
For the early phases of trip planning, I find it most useful to get just a general sense of times and options. For that, you might want to consult rome2rio.com -- just be sure not to take it as the "final word" on anything, as it isn't sensitive to seasonal variation in schedules. For every bit of information you could possibly want about public transportation within Switzerland, consult sbb.com. For international trains, take advantage of the wealth of information on seat61.com A good guidebook or two might also serve you well -- for me, when trying to get a sense of what all these places were (and where) I found having just one or two books that I could mark with sticky tabs proved extremely helpful -- far more than long lists of possible routes. If you don't already have some, consider getting a few (maybe the Rough Guide and/or Michelin Green Guides), or consult them at your local library. I'm sure you'll end up with a plan that allows an absolutely wonderful experience. Hope that helps! |
kja We read your trip report. What am amazing 30 days! We are using some of your experiences it to plan ours---but only 6-7 days is impossible to see it all. I want to read about other places you've gone as well. Happy traveling and thank you.
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@ cathee: I'm glad you found some value in my old trip report! Even with 30 days (and they were amazing!), there was a great deal that I had to skip -- Switzerland holds a wealth of opportunities. If my trip helped you narrow down your choices for 6 or 7 days, it will have served a purpose. BTW, note that I travel hard -- on the move until there is literally nothing else I can do on a given day, with few if any breaks, so take that into consideration as you plan your time in the area.
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