We are traveling from Zurich to Como via train (October 2005). I am just trying to confirm that this route will take me to the Lake District.

While in the Lakes, can anyone give me their recommendation for a wonderful hotel? Don't know where I should stay. Como, Bellagio?

Any thoughts?

Thanks... first timer to area as you can tell!

The train will indeed take you to the lake district in northern Italy. The train ride is very pretty, so try to do it during daylight hours. It takes about 4 hours, no changes required.

October is a bit out of season, especially toward the end of the month. There will be cool weather, so be prepared. You may of course get the odd warm day, but more likely it will be fall weather.

Como is not that charming a town IMO, Bellagio is certainly much more charming. Como has a great cathedral, and of course is easy in terms of getting off the train and right to a hotel, rather than having to get on a ferry with luggage etc. However, I would still choose Belaggio. What is your budget?

Thank you Cicerone for this information. Does a train stop in Bellagio from Zurich or must one go into Como and backtrack? What site do you recommend for train connections, etc? Thanks

I don’t think Bellagio has a train station, I think the nearest one is in Varenna; however Como and Varenna are not on the same line, so to get from one to another you have to go down to Milan (about and hour) and then backtrack up another hour to the lake again. That is why most people take the ferry. There is also a bus from Como to Bellagio, I don’t know anything about that. I imagine the ferry ride is much prettier so in good weather I would choose that. Also the ferry takes a half hour and I believe the bus would take over an hour, lots of twisting roads.

A lot of people on this board also like Varenna, so if you want to take the longer train ride via Milan, that might be a good option.

I think the best rail site is the Swiss Rail site at rail.ch. It shows trains wholly within Italy, but often does not recognize the English name of the town, so you might need the Italian or German spelling. The website for Italian Rail is trenitalia.com which I find somewhat hard to use.

If you don't already have one, a guidebook would also be useful to you, as it would provide transport info.

What is your hotel budget?

Cicerone: Thank you for your information. Will be staying at either the Florence or Belvidere and will just take a ferry/hydrofoil in and out of Como as we need to fly to/from Zurich. Will stay at either the Florhof or the Kindli. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

While I have not seen the rooms, the parts of the hotel I have seen are very charming and the hotel has an excellent restaurant, if you don’t stay there definitely have a meal there. It is in the heart of the main old town in a lovely pedestrian-only area with lots of good shops and restaurants and little cobblestone streets to get lost in. I don’t know the Florhof at all other than I know its location and I just went on their website. Its location is across the river from the Banhofside of Zurich (where the Kindli is) just above the part of the old town which is on that side of the river. It is quite near the university. Not quite as convenient a location, IMO, and involves some walking uphill, but it looks very nice. The area is not as charming as the Kindi, but is only a block or two from the rigth bank old town. It would be very convenient for the Kunsthaus museum if that is one of your main sights you want to see. In October you won’t have street noise issues (because it will be cooler and people don’t stay out so late in the non-summer months), so either would be fine from that point of view. Either would be a fine choice I would think.

I don’t know either hotel in the Como area, but the Belvedere gets good reviews here. On tripadvisor, the Florence and Belvedere are numbers 1 and 2 respectively, so I don't think you could go wrong there.

Sorry, the hotel I am referring to in the first part of my message is the Kindli.

Cicerone: Thank you again. The Kindli sounds like a better location to me as well and is available so will stay there.

Cicerone:
Can I get to Varenna from Como by ferry?

Laner - Yes.

It takes about an hour on the fast COMO-COLICO service. Here's the link:

http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/itali...indicecomo.htm

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Since you are flying out of Zurich and possibly staying in Bellagio there may be an easier alternative.

You could take the ferry from Bellagio over to Varenna and take the train from there back to Milan and then transfer to a train for Zurich.

You could also take a ferry back to Como and take the train from there.

The third possibility is taking the ferry from Bellagio over to Menaggio and from Menaggio taking the very short bus ride to Lugano and taking the train from there.

From Lake Como we will train to Venice. I understanding that I need to transfer in Milan.

There is so much to learn about the country... I am glad for forums such as this.