Bongiourno!
We are thinking about a 3 week trip to Italy next fall, and need advise on Lake Como vs. Maggiore, or both, and where to visit in the Dolomiti. We enjoy easy/moderate hiking & spending 3/4 nights per place.
We've been to Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre & the hill towns.
Grazie!
Patsy
Lake Como is very nice. Good for 3 nights, IMO, although if you want to explore the whole lake maybe 4. We have not been to Maggiore, but it is beautiful when we go by on the train. I do know th Dolomites, though. Our favorite area is the Val Gardena, a one hour bus ride from Bolzano. (It's a very nice bus!)
The lifts to the majority of the hiking close down by early October, some even in September, so plan accordingly. Here is a useful site with lift dates for 2015. We stay in Ortisei a lot and would highly recommend it for 4 or 5 nights. We spent two weeks there in July and never ran out of great easy/moderate hikes. See also the Val Gardena homepage here
PM me if you need some recommendations on accomodations.
You live in Tahoe Vista, so you must definitely like lakes. So visit all, including Lake Garda, near the Dolomites. Lake Maggiore needs more time than Lake Como. There are more things to see and, since you are there, you might as well visit the smaller, but beautiful, Lake Orta, in particular the village of Orta San Giulio. The best base for lake Maggiore is probably Stresa or surroundings. That would put you very close to the Borromee islands, a must see, which can be reached by boat. I also suggest you visit the village of Cannobio, more to the north of the lake, near the Swiss border. On the Helvetic portion of the lake is Locarno. From there you could take the scenic Cento Valli (100 valleys) train to Domodossola. Then from Domodossola you can take the train back down to Stresa. If you go to Lake Maggiore, you will need at least 4 nights (3 full days).
For the Dolomites I also recommend the Val Gardena (Gardena Valley).
