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Bologna vs Lake Como

Posted by on

Hi all,

We have the opportunity to take a trip to Italy in late May. We have been multiple times and wanted to try a new location on this trip. We are thinking of flying into Milan and out of Rome. My plan would be 5 days (including our arrival day- excluding travel) in northern Italy, one day for travel via high speed train to Rome, and then 3 days in Rome before flying home.

We don’t like to move around frequently so I would like to have a “home base” though we would consider a day trip or two. Just the two of us and we love wandering around, a few museums or churches, enjoying the architecture, history, and good food. Venice is our favorite place, but we have been there on our last two trips. I had been thinking about Lake Como, but noticed a number of comments on here recommending Bologna. Both look easily reachable from Milan. That said, flights are flexible.

Having not visited either area before, I wanted to see what recommendations you all may have for either location. Open to suggestions in terms of locations as well as any “must do” activities.

Thanks in advance!

Posted by
37 posts

Havent been to either. But our trip in April to Milan offers an easy train ride to Varenna- everything Rick S says, and all I have read, suggest the lakes area is wonderful. And so, that is our plan, going to Varenna for 3 days. My guess is that Bologna is an entirely different duck, vs Lake Como area. Varenna and surrounds get filled, so book early.
Good luck.

Posted by
1226 posts

These are wildly different places so it's not even apples to oranges it's more apples to eggs.

Lake Como (upper lake is what most people are talking about) are a series of small lakeside towns clinging to the cliffs with some larger towns - Bellagio - also in the mix. These towns are not about museums or churches they are about lakeside beauty, villas and gardens for exploring all while moving around the lake via ferry. It is as beautiful as advertised but is very much a "vacation" destination without much to do aside from explore and enjoy the lake.

Bologna is an ancient university town of almost 400K people. It is considered the culinary capital of Italy and is surrounded by towns with world famous products in their name like Modena and Parma. The old core of the city is actually pretty small - easily walkable - but it is surrounded by upscale stores, cheap coffee for college students and amazing produce and food products.

Another possibility could be Verona which is half the population of Bologna but the core of the old - based on the old Roman core - feels even smaller and more intimate. It has an arty, chic, cafe culture feeling and has some of that "elegant decay" feeling that Venice has since it is part of the Veneto area. It has an intact Roman arena and theater that are still in use.

My $.02, there are many places you could go but you'll need to narrow it down because right now your suggestions are polar opposites in terms of size and activity.

Tip - most people here track the number of nights you have somewhere instead of days because it is more organized counting and let's you keep track of where you need lodging for those nights.

Have a great trip, the whole of upper Italy is open to your planning,
=Tod

Posted by
1764 posts

hiredman, thank you for your concise and beautiful descriptions of Bologna, Lake Como, and Verona. We will be staying in all 3 places (Varenna on Lake Como) this May. You should be a travel guidebook writer!

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