Lake Como Itinerary

do you have any ideas regarding an itineray in the Lake District? We will depart cruise and fly into Milan. We would like to spend sometime in the Lake District. Would also any hotel recommendations are greatly appreciated. Do you suggest a particular length of time there and any other places to visit China n vicinity. We will have a car.

New stayed at Hotel Florence in Bellagio. It was a few years ago, but we loved it. Right on the lake.

Vicki:)

Thank you. I made an error in my post I meant to say in the vicinity (not China).:D

I was wondering how China got into this!

Como is a very long lake with two branches at the southern end - the one to the west is known as "lago di Como" and the one to the east as "lago di Lecco". If you want to spend time around Como here is a suggestion -

Stay in Como town or Bellagio for a couple of nights. You probably don't need a car for that as you can use lake boats. Then with the car drive to Lecco (which is a very nice town BTW) and up the eastern shore to Chiavenna. Maybe stay there for at least a night because you can very easily go by bus from there to the Upper Engadin in Switzerland which is beautiful. Then drive down the western shore, maybe staying in Mennagio or hop over to Lugano in Switzerland and spend a couple of nights there. Lake Lugano is beautiful too.

I think we stayed at the Best Western. It was OK but certainly nothing special. It was a Hotwire win. In Milan we were fortunate enough to get the Westin Palace on a low bid Priceline win.

As I recall, we had a wonderful day cruising up the lake on the ferry. Stopped in Bellagio for serveral hours.

It is a beautiful area.

Thanks for the suggestions. Any thoughts on itinerary for Lake Maggiore?

I would suggest staying in Varenna, as the train from Milano Centrale stops right there. We stayed at the Hotel Eremo Gaudio in Varenna. Great views from the hotel and a very convenient place to catch ferries to Bellagio and other places on Lake Como.

We had a car and stayed just outside of Bellagio (Borgo Le Terrazze) it is a wonderful hotel. They do offer a shuttle service to Bellagio so once you get there you just need to park the car and do not need to worry about driving around after that. The views are amazing! The rooms are wonderful and the service is very good! Next time we are in Lake Como we would definitely stay there again.. very good value for dollar.

We did the ferry to Varenna and hiked up to the castle and one day we rented a small boat in Bellagio and toured around Lake Como.. that was one of the highlights from our trip! They are small 48 hp boats (do not need a license) and we felt very safe.

Enjoy!