Do's, or don'ts in Lake Como

Varenna

Stay in Varenna and take ferries to the other towns on the lake, esp. Bellagio. Buy a good guidebook. Consider the RS Italy book if you don't have it yet.

Ditto Varenna. Get a room with a balcony facing the Lake at Albergo Milano. Last October we stayed and had a large balcony with two chase lounges and a table with chairs. Have dinner at their restaurant facing the Lake. Have breakfast on your balcony. It was a wonderful first night in Italy after arriving in Milan and taking the train to Varenna. You will not forget it.

Varenna is lovely but I have to put in a vote for Bellagio

Varrena cooking class

I believe David is referring to the cooking class at Il Caminetto. It was so much fun. Definitely one of the highlights of our 3 weeks in Italy!

Bill, I definitely agree with the others - stay in Varenna! It's a great location for visiting other locations on the lake, including Bellagio. It's a smaller town with a wonderful ambience, and a great place to just enjoy Il Dolce Far Niente. The Italy 2012 Guidebook has good information on lodgings there. It's difficult to suggest something without some idea of your budget. Albergo Milano is a big favourite with many here. Happy travels!

I can definitely help you, I live in Como. Ballagio, Cernobbio, everything is a must-see. Depends on how long you're planning on staying here.

In my opinion, Bellagio was GORGEOUS, but all shopping. Great for a nice lunch and a nice walk... but if you are not into knickknacks you might be dissapointed. By all means go!! But keep your expectations in check.

I would stay somewhere closer to life rather than Varenna. It's a bit far out because it is not connected to the other hot spots on the lake, as it is on the east coast of the lake. I would rather stay on the west coast so that you can have dinner in some other town, not being tied to where your hotel is. Ferries don't work at night. Even during the day, I would prefer somewhere reachable by ground transportation. I mean if you miss the last ferry to Varenna from wherever else, that would be a problem!!

It is interesting to listen to different ideas. Cristina is saying there is advantage to stay close to life. But consider we will travel via Milan to lake Como, with no rental cars, where would you recommend we could stay? And Cristina, could be explain the part of getting more life out of a 3-dat stay at lake Como? THANKS!

One of the main reasons to stay in Varenna is the easy access by train from Milan.

My preference is to use Varenna as a "home base", as that's got quite enough "life" for me. Day trips to Bellagio (or wherever) can be done when the Ferrries are operating, but it's nice to be back in Varenna at supper time. There are adequate restaurants there so I've never had any desire to try other towns. This is mostly a matter of personal preference and individual circumstances. Cheers!

We stayed in Varenna, in part because of the ease of getting there by train. We took the ferry to other locations on the lake. We had no problem eating dinner in Bellagio and taking the ferry back to Varenna. We enjoyed staying in Varenna very much.

Mike, you can get to Como with train from malpensa. Going to Varenna if your getting in in malpensa would mean: Option 1: train malpensa express from malpensa to milan, getting down in saronno, change train in saronno and get the one to como. Then in como, get the bus to bellagio, C30 and from bellagio to Varenna the ferry boat. Option 2: train malpensa express from malpensa to milan, get down in milan cadorna. Take the metro to Milano centrale and then in Milano centrale getting the train to Varenna (which I didn't know existed, you are telling me now). The two options take pretty much the same time, I would say about 3hours, considered you should wait for train-bus etc. If you'd like to, you can stay in Varenna.. Still you're missing walking around como at night, which is beautiful. I don't know if you're interested, but there's a new spa resort in blevio called Casta Diva http://www.castadivaresort.com/it/default.aspx?start=1 a bit expensive but maybe you can get good deals. If I was a tourist, I would probably choose to stay on the west coast of the lake. All towns have nice promenades lakefront.
If on holiday, I always wanna try new restaurants so staying on the other coast would allow you to see even como at night. If you stay in Varenna, you'll be too far out to do that. And you'll miss a lot in my opinion.

Can I ask: why not stay in Como? Personally, that would be my preference and I would visit all the other places as day trips, some villages along the lake are pretty small so you could even do 2 or 3 a day! (All depending on your pace and preference of course). I like a larger city as a home base, it's just my personal preference.

We like staying in Bellagio. The first time, we took the train from Milan to Como City and then the ferry up the lake. It isn't as fast as taking the train to Varenna and then the ferry, but the voyage up the lake was a great introduction to the area. Most people find it nice to stay mid-lake (e.g Varenna, Bellagio) because then you are geographically in the middle. If you stay in Como City, you will likely spend a lot time on ferries up and down the lake getting to all the sites mid-lake. In my experience, Como City doesn't have much to offer tourists - it is the commercial capital of the area.

Are you flying into Milan, or traveling by train from somewhere else? We took the train from the Cinque Terre to Milan, then changed trains to one that took us directly to Varenna. It was very easy. I was happy to not have to then take a ferry with my luggage to another destination. We enjoyed the ferries as a way to get around the lake.

andrea is right, i would prefer staying in the city with more options about what do do/eat at night and as i said before, city is beautiful by night. for what concerns the train, again, andrea is right. getting to varenna it's easy when using trains to get to milan, but if you're getting in by plane, it's a mess! expecially if you're not planning on stopping in como.
plus, remember when getting in from the states, there's the jet lag which is a killer coming here as you lose a night (instead, when going back to the states, you won't feel it if you'll get home by the time you eat and then go straight to bed).

Actually, I don't it find it to be much of a problem getting to Varenna after arrival at MXP. It's only a short train or Malpensa Shuttle ride to Milano Centrale, a brief layover in the station (the trains depart every two hours if my memory is correct) and then 1H:03M to Varenna. Even with jet lag, it's really not too difficult!

Maybe Cristina misunderstood what I was trying to say. I stayed in Varenna. It is very relaxing and picturesque. It is easy to travel to other places from Varenna by ferry. We arrived by train from Milan and it was an easy walk to our B&B. If you are looking for nightlife, maybe Como would be the better choice.

We are visiting July/August. Staying at Tremezzo. have we chosen the wrong area? Will have a hire car so will be able to drive and take ferry. Anyone recommend good restaurants in Tremezzo area?