To Lake Como
Big drive today from Florence…3hrs 40 direct to Bellagio on Lake Como but we planned a halfway stop in Parma.
Thankfully the motorway driving on Sunday was MUCH quieter than on Thursday and there were none of the constant stream of juggernauts overtaking each other and pushing us into the crazy outside lane.Much more relaxing drive plus it was more scenic than the Po valley with lovely if distant views of the snowy Apennines.
Got parked in Parma easily, in an inexpensive underground car park near the city centre.It was an ok stop…the medieval Battistera of pink stone our Green Guide had talked up was a bit underwhelming though overall, it was a pleasant , small city centre of pastel coloured buildings.
Enjoyed a very cheap café stop in a nice wee place near the Duomo…café lattes were 2 Euros and my croissant was 1.50.We’d left Tuscany prices behind!
There followed an uneventful drive to Bellagio and our first view of Lake Como bathed in sunshine came beyond Lecco…wow, some great mountain scenery already! Just beautiful! So excited to reach the lake at last with such a different landscape.
Our apartment in Pescallo, a 20 min walk to Bellagio, was really attractive – felt comfortable in it right away.
It was in a pretty development planted with flowers with a large balcony and excellent views of the lake and mountains.
We also managed to park our car for free a short distance away on via Aureggio. It was a very safe area, quiet, upmarket and residential.Pescallo had made a big impression on us many years ago when we’d stayed in Il Perla Panoramica, a wonderful hotel set above Bellagio with a shuttle bus service down to the village.The views were tremendous.Several times, we walked to Pescallo which had , in those days, been quite a quiet wee fishing village with yachts in the bay.
It’s a bit more developed than that now and has a huge car park which people use to then walk to Bellagio.The lake front is also largely blocked off re full access by private apartments.But it feels quiet and a bit more off the beaten track.
Cups of tea for us both then , excited, off we set for Bellagio, a mostly downhill walk. The famous village was mobbed and we joined the crowds strolling along the front.
Strangely, there were no cafes that looked particularly appealing , most were well set back from the lake or lake views were blocked by the multiple Boat Landing stages or the considerable building work that was going on.That said, several nice cafe terraces right on the water were still closed for the season.We were a bit early to see the pretty village with its beautiful outlook, quite at its best – but it still looked gorgeous!
Checked out the pinned up timetable for tomorrow’s planned sailing to Varenna which differed wildly from what was advertised on Navigazione’s website! This was a common occurrence re timetables over the next few days…they seemed to be between seasons.
Walked to the end of the peninsula, admiring the fantastic scenery in the warm, sunny weather.19C…gorgeous spot! It certainly lived up to my memories of how beautiful it all was.
We’d brought a Cool Bag so all our various supplies were now safely stored in the fridge and did for dinner…the usual fare (which we never seem to tire of) – cured ham , tomatoes, Emmental, olives, decent bread.Chris had also bought me a Lindt Easter Bunny, a great surprise he had hidden in his bag.Delicious.Had a glass of Prosecco out on the balcony and drank to the Lakes part of our trip.
The forecast, I noticed, was good until tomorrow; after that, rain was due to set in for several days.Aargh!
We were really tired tonight, so continued the habit of collapsing around 8.45pm and up bright and breezy at 5.30am.
Varenna to Bellano walk and Villa Carlotta
I’m a fiend about reading the online headlines with a cup of tea first thing in the morning and the terrible news before we left had been Princess Kate’s cancer diagnosis.This was in my mind often during our trip.So awful for such a young, fit vibrant woman, the picture of good health and elegance, to be in the midst of such a battle.
Today we were doing a well known shortish walk from Varenna to Bellano via Castle Vezio, billed as 6km with a bit of a sloggy ascent at the beginning.
Walked to Bellagio and onto the 8am ferry to Varenna.Varenna is gorgeous, perhaps even lovelier than Bellagio and smaller.Coffees and a chocolate croissant were in order! We’d previously visited the beautiful lake front gardens at nearby Monastero but not today.
Varenna to Bellano walk
I’ve detailed the walk with photos, in the link here:VARENNA TO BELLANO WALK (Lake Como)
Thoughts on it: it was great to get a walk in and the views were gorgeous (albeit they were the same views) but it was quite a wearying walk and felt longer than 6km.Also, lots of uphill, even after the 20 min slog up to Castle Vezio; best views of the day were from here.Took us 2 hours of walking all in, not including stopping time and castle visit ( a must for the location/view.) A half day walk all in.It wasn’t too hot late March but I wouldn’t fancy it at the height of summer though there were quite numerous woodland sections.Not a wild walk as such, lots of houses/gardens on route. Bellano was an unexpected delight.
Varenna is gorgeous.Would I do it again? No.But visiting the castle, Varenna and Bellano again – most definitely yes.
Villa Carlotta
A ferry was just arriving as we wandered down to Varenna’s jetty.Perfect, as it was also stopping at our next planned explore of the day – Villa Carlotta.
Pretty Menaggio was the boat’s first port of call and I looked up at the lovely little church of San Martino as we approached.Reached by an easy walk from Breglia, which in turn was reached by bus from Menaggio.What a spot!
We elected to do the ‘long’ tour of the villa’s terraced gardens as we both love a good garden.Wonderful Camellias were out but mostly it was palms, fir trees and general greenery; we may have been too early to see it at its best.The thing was the lovely views.
Towards Bellagio
Inside, the house was disappointing.The rooms were very bare and of little interest.Last visit, we had visited Villa Balbianello which was superb and so interesting inside with stunning garden grounds (also used in Casino Royale, the Bond remake with Daniel Craig.) But Carlotta was not of that quality, inside or out.(We are also so spoiled at home in terms of stunning castle and country house interiors and gardens.)
The ferry back to Bellagio was cancelled but the helpful guy at the pier told us to walk 1km up the lakeside and pick up the Traghetto(car ferry) from Tremezzo which was heading our way instead.In fact, we could see it approaching already at a great rate of knots! A bunch of us all set off at a furious pace but we made it ok.
Approaching Bellagio…
A 20 min mostly uphill walk back to our apartment! The old legs were feeling it a bit now as we were approaching 29,000 steps for the day.We also needed to get to a supermarket which we knew was fairly near our accommodation.Had a go at finding it on foot but got lost in the maze of streets that is Pescallo. Got the car and found it in two mins via good old Google Maps.
Just as well we took the car as I would not have fancied lugging those groceries all the way back (and uphill) to the apartment.
Showered, had a glass of Prosecco, sat out on the balcony before the evening chill descended, enjoying the last of the sun.Rain tomorrow!
Lake Lugano Day Trip
Woke to a misty, damp morning.Decided we’d get coffee and my much needed chocolate croissant in Menaggio then get the 9.30am bus (the C12) to Lake Lugano which would take an hour.First time visit to Lugano.
Once more, online info wasn’t reliable and in reality, the bus was at 10.40am.Bought tickets and sauntered back to the quayside, a lovely area where we found an attractive café below Hotel du Lac. Good Decaff Lattes, toast for Chris and I tried their Tiramisu.Fairly forgettable.Never found a good one yet in all our Italy trips but I keep hoping.They never seem to soak the sponge enough in liqueur, I suppose part of cost cutting.
That said, Chris presented me with a surprise Lindt Chocolate Bunny for Easter…that made up for the rather bland dessert.
Menaggio has a really delightful, scenic setting and is overlooked by the beautiful little church of San Martino.Given the infrequency of buses and the miserable weather, the walk I fancied to see it up close, just wasn’t going to fit in well with a day trip to Lake Lugano.
It was quite an interesting and at times scenic journey to Lugano with some big, steep mountains looming above the lake though the gloomy weather meant we weren’t seeing it at its best.Narrow road in places, as below!
Lugano itself was very much a sprawling, large city rather than the small, pretty, pastel coloured towns or villages we loved on Lake Como; it felt very urban, full of traffic and most of the buildings were modern too. There was an older, more attractive section by the lakeside but even that was fronted by a very busy main trunk route.
Decided to walk from the bus terminus (beside the main station) to the San Salvatore funicular which would give us a great view over the lake and city.It was a 25min walk and looking ahead to the small mountain we were making for, I couldn’t quite believe the steepness of the funicular route….it didn’t look possible!
The station was very quiet and we stepped immediately onto a carriage and were taken slowly up the hillside. It stops half way up and for the second half, you step into a different train and are hauled up at a 61 degree angle which looks vertical!
At the top, a short walk took us to various viewing areas, including a very precarious – looking little metal staircase attached in two places to the outside of the church itself.
I avoided looking down the sheer 600m drop as I walked up!
Great views though…on a clearer day, the superb Monte Rosa massif in Zermatt is visible.
Had a stroll along the front of Lugano, lined with upmarket shops.
Magnolias were in flower, always gorgeous…
Panic as we decided to catch our C12 bus from a different stop rather than go all the way back to the terminus again.But – which stop and where?There were hundreds of bus stops!
Walked for quite some way, pretty much out of the main part of the city centre until we found where our Menaggio bus stopped opposite a big supermarket chain. Luckily, it arrived within 10 mins.It was lovely to arrive back at Lake Como, even in the rain.Much nicer all round than Lugano.
A Drive round Lake Como in the Rain
Our last day, Wednesday, dawned wet and miserable and stayed that way all day and night. Quite cold too.
What to do? Decided to drive round Lake Como, heading down to Como first via Lezzano then up via Agregno and Menaggio.
At first, to Como, the route was high above the lake with some tantalising glimpses of little villages hugging the shore with steep access roads.Very slow, tortuous going however as the road was narrow and twisting.
Took about an hour to reach Como.
It was a relief to find ourselves on the much better road on the west side of the lake past Como and meandering quite fast via Laglio(passed George Clooney’s villa.George, that gable end wall needs a bit of TLC! ) Villa Oleandra looks lovely in photos but in reality sits hard on the main road and Laglio itself seemed quite nondescript.We got a look at it from a pull in area in the village.its the villa with three upper story windows and tall cypress tree.
Stopped for coffee at Agregno where in summer there is a cable car up to Pigra. Found an excellent wee hotel, Villa Belvedere, with free parking and right on the lake.Even though raining it was a lovely stop. We were served home made biscuits with coffee and they were such nice people.
The village seemed less touristy and really quite a pleasant wee place.The main road does goes through it however, an issue with a lot of the villages on this side.
Off through Tremezzo again, then Menaggio, now really chucking it down.We tried and failed to operate the parking machine on the front near Hotel du Lac’s café.Several people also tried and failed! Luckily, we found a white line single space just round the corner.
The café is in a really nice position in this pretty village with its lovely lakeside pedestrianised area.Most of the traffic heads through the middle of the village so the lake front is very relaxing.
Unfortunately my Penne Pomodoro was not great, clearly made with a lot of tomato purée.It tasted like the concentrated tomato paste on the base of a pizza.Not nice.Unlike in Bellano , where we had waited quite a while for our food, it had arrived within two or three mins of ordering so the pasta was just reheated.
Chris’s ham pizza was ok.We had really enjoyed the cafe for coffee but wouldn’t return for food.
Got the ferry back to Bellagio and just snacked on bits and pieces and relaxed in the apartment watching the non stop rain streaming down the windows.Nice to drive to our accommodation rather than have that uphill walk back(especially given the weather!)
A shame to have only one sunny day in this beautiful area but ‘them’s the breaks.’ It’s a stunning lake with some gorgeous villages and must be one Europe’s loveliest places.
Tomorrow: To Lake Garda, Verona and Trento.
Previous Days: Bergamo -DAY 1 of a 13 Day https://annestravelsandhikes.com/2024/04/27/tuscany-lakes-como-and-garda-road-trip-map/TUSCANY and the LAKES: Florence , Siena, San Gimignano
annestravelsandhikes.com 
5 thoughts on “LAKE COMO and LUGANO”