2 weeks Northern Italy Planning Ideas. Lake Como to Venice next May

I own a condo at Lake Como and have travelled throughout Italy. I am not an expert but here are few thoughts....
When leaving Lugano, take a bus to Menaggio and stay on the west side of the lake instead of crossing the lake to Varenna. Take the ferry when you are ready to pick up the train to other points.

There is so much more to do on the west side, unless you want to use the ferry for frequent trips to Bellagio and Menaggio. Varenna is quiet unless that is your plan. If you are a hiker there are trails on both sides of the lake, but more on the west side.

Milan is a nice city but not sure if I would stay there for 4 nights...that's just me. Verona is a nice little place with a mini colleseum which is a great music venue. We have gone to concerts in Milan and Verona. You could also check out the FC Milan, if you like soccer/football and Monza is not far away if you are into racing.

We have been to Venice a few times and one time we stayed in Verona and just trained it into Venice for the day....it's a one hour train ride and other times we have stayed right in Venice. Venice is very commercialized however, you need to be a part of the Venetians. There are also more obscure intimate places to go as well. No car needed in Verona or Venice unless you want to pay a parking fee.

We always stay in boutique hotels that we book from Booking.com everywhere we go in Italy.

Have fun planning!

Other places of interest along the rail line between Verona and Venice are Padua and Vicenza. I thought Padua made a good base for seeing Vicenza, because there is more to do in Padua. You can also visit Ferrara (which draws positive comments here) from Padua. And Verona would be in range as well.

Four nights sounds like a long time in Milan with all the other great places to see in northern Italy. It's a major business center, so weeknight hotels are likely to be expensive. You might get a good deal on a weekend. I'd really dig into a good guidebook to figure out what I wanted to do in Milan. I doubt that you'll end up with more than a 2-day list, and perhaps not even that.

Bergamo is a good day-trip from Milan. It has train service but is on a minor line, not the same one as Verona, etc.

There are more interesting places to stay with more dining options on Lake Como than Varenna. I agree with poster above. Fewer nights in Milan.

Great ideas
We have never been to lake Como so it’s hard to understand the flavors of the area from books and travel sites
We want to be able to explore a town by walking and have restaurant options not be so secluded but not too busy either
I am reading travel books and travel web sites.
Still no clear picture of what city to stay.
First We though Bellagio would be great but the crowded tourist reviews turned us off. So then we were thinking Menaggio since it’s on the ferry route easy access to other cities to explore
What hotel or AirBnb With lake view nice 3 or 4 star hotel.

Please share what city ideas to pick and accommodations choices Como
we will probably make Milan a day trip. And stay longer in another city near Venice
Thanks

We were in Bellagio a few weeks ago - our second visit. Whilst it is indeed busier than the other lakeside villages, we don't find the crowds too bad and the compensation is the much greater variety of cafes and restaurants available.

OTOH, Menaggio is also lovely - nicer than Varenna in my opinion.

We use AirBnBs almost exclusively and, so far at least, we have had no problem finding accommodation that suits us. Both times, we stayed in apartments on Salita Plinio, right in the heart of town. Bliss!

On our previous visit we took the slow boat down to Como for a stroll around the old town. That uses up pretty much a whole day and you get to spend a fair chunk of time on the lake. There is a 'fast' boat, too.

I concur with the poster who suggested four nights is too much for Milan. Nice though it is, two full days is sufficient unless you are the sort of person who would need a full day just for the duomo, not that I would blame you for that! You should also check out the much smaller, but fascinating, Basilica di Sant 'Ambrogio. We 'found' it by accident but loved it.