My wife and I are staying in Varenna for three days in early May, and I have a few questions:

First, is Hotel Du Lac worth $210 a night, vs. $150 to stay in an annex of Hotel Milano (Casa Rossa)?

Also, any must-sees on Lake Como outside the obvious boat trips to Bellagio, etc.? We'll have a car, so we're mobile for short trips.

thanks!

RobbyDee

I stayed there in July of 2004 but it was only 95€ a night (single). It was a nice hotel but I wouldn't spend $200 to stay there.

The boat trip to Bellagio from Varenna is very short. The villages are beautiful from the water so I would try to take a longer boat trip. I took the boat all the way up (and back down) from Como but I didn't have a car. You should at least look into an hour or two long boat ride.

There's a lot to do on Lake Como - so much that I have actually done little of it! If you want a view from an Alp, you could go to Lecco and take the cable car up the Resegone, as described on http://www.beginningwithi.com/italy/travel/lecco.htm

And there are lots of great restaurants around worth driving to - see the food section of my site.

We took a boat that left Belaggio before lunch and went to Lecco. This boat ties up in Lecco and the crew takes their lunch hour. So it leaves appx an hour after it arrives in Lecco. For us this was a convenient way to see the scenery and spend a little time walking around another Italian town.

For nice ties and scarfs (Silk), shop in Como. If motorcycles interest you then MotoGuzzi factory and museum is in Mandelo del Lario.

Can't comment on your hotel choice (we stayed at Villa Cipressi), but we loved the entire town of Varenna, so I'm sure you'll have a great time no matter where you stay.

Try to visit the ruins of Castello di Vezio on the hill above Varenna. It's a little steep (not TOO steep), but it's a relatively short hike. Very nice views from up there.

http://www.castellodivezio.it/index.php