Lake Como

Rick's favorite location on Lake Como is Varenna. It's a beautiful little town on the East side of the lake, but not at the north end, it's about half-way up, an hour by train to Milan. It has easy ferry connections to other towns across the lake such as Menaggio and Bellagio. Rick's Italy guidebook has several recommended hotels there. I suggest the Albergo Milano - www.varenna.net or the Villa Cipressi - www.hotelvillacipressi.it

The train is only on the eastern shore.
Most people here go to Varenna because Big Brother Rick said so in his guidebook and no one dares going anywhere else.
Varenna is not in the south of the lake, but in the Centro Lago, or center lake.
There are 3 branches (rami in Italian) on the lake: Lecco branch, Como branch (both pointing south) and the Colico branch, or Alto Lago (pointing north).
The local Lariani say the lake is shaped like a man. One leg in Como, one leg in Lecco, the nose in Domaso, and the arse in Bellagio.
North of Varenna, on the same side of the lake, you might like also Bellano, along the same rail line.
To me the most beautiful side of the lake is however the Como branch, from Menaggio on the Centro Lago (especially beautiful) all the way to Cernobbio, passing through Tremezzo and Laglio (George Clooney has his villa in Laglio).
I don't care much for Lecco and surroundings. On that side I like Varenna and Bellano. Bellagio is kind of overpriced if you intend to stay there, but a good place to visit.

Don, you'll find that Roberto loves to engage in a bit of hyperbole when it comes to Rick's recs, but he is a veritable font of extremely helpful info about that beautiful country.

Varenna is a good balance of charm and accessibility, hence the Rick rec. We stayed there two nights and really enjoyed it. We were recovering from jet lag, though, and couldn't quite get our arses on the ferries, but the ferry landing in Varenna couldn't be more convenient.

Michael, just curious, you said you didn't get on the lake during any of your 2 days in Varenna, so what did you do?

Well, with two nights, you really have only one full day. We wandered up and down the little streets soaking in the atmosphere and went to Villa Monastero where we wandered around the gardens. And we did the lakefront walk. A jetlag nap also took up a chunk of the day. We left the next morning.

This is why I've learned to try to avoid doing only two nights in one location.

Thank you everybody -- very helpful suggestions. I am going to order Rick's Lakes Area mini-book.