Menaggio, Italy for a family vacation without a car??

Ken, Thanks for this info. My first choice was to find an affordable apt or villa in Varennahowever all the 3 bedroom choices near Varenna so far....all seem to require a car and be a distance from the villagehence thinking about Menaggio. Perhaps others will weigh-in with suggestions in Varenna (to accomodate 7 people) without a car!
Thanks Ken....

I have not stayed in Menaggio but have stayed in Varenna. An advantage to this town is that all of the lodging choices seem to be within walking distance of the ferries and the train station. This gives you two modes of transportation for any daytrips you'd like to take (Milan is an hour away by train). It is a quaint, attractive town, recommended by Rick Steves in his Italy book. I'm not putting down Menaggio; we used the fine swimming pool there. The ferries can take you all over Lake Como from Varenna. Menaggio seemed more like a working town where as Varenna has more of a village feel to it.

Hi Lynn. Folks on this site like Varenna, and for good reason. But Varenna is pretty much all tourist oriented, whereas Mennagio seemed like it was more diverse, with both locals and tourists. There is no train to Menaggio, but there is good bus service and ferry service. I think for your longer stay, Menaggio might work fine.
Enjoy your trip!

I was in Menaggio a few years. I was impressed with the number of hotels available. The ones I saw were grouped around the piazza Garibaldi and were walking distance from the ferry dock. The town has grocery stores, restaurants, etc. I didn't rent an apt, so don't know about them.

I just got back from Lake Como and my wife and I stayed in Menaggio with no car (for only 2 nights though). I liked the town a lot. It's true, it's not as quaint as Varenna, but it's still a nice little town. It's completely walkable. There's a great bakery, deli, and produce store all on the main street, really close to the main square Piazza Garibaldi. The square is nice, there's a great view of the lake, and the ferry stops right around the corner. I wouldn't hesitate to use it as a base. I'd much prefer it over Bellagio, which we didn't like as much, although Varenna is probably the #1 choice, Menaggio would be a close second to me. Sort of off topic, but we really enjoyed our meal at Osteria Il Pozzo on Piazza Garibaldi too.

One problem I ran into while staying in Menaggio was that the ferry didn't start running early enough in the day for me to catch my train in Varenna. Schedules may have changed since I was there, but consider the time required to travel to catch a train. I ended up moving to a hotel in Varenna for a night so I could catch my early-morning train.

The ferries start pretty early now. 6:40am according to this schedule (through Sept 30). Yes, I know it's the "car ferry" but that seemed to be the one we always ended up on. (they take regular passengers as well at the same rate) Here's that schedule:
http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/c_download/NLC_Traghetto_estate12.pdf Also there's this schedule as well, which is the passengers only schedule, and while I somehow never ended up on any of these ferries, I saw them on the lake so I believe they exist as well. (combine with the other schedule): http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/c_download/NLC_Navetta%20CL_estate12.pdf I realize they're not the easiest thing to decipher, but really the ferries leave about every 20-30 minutes. It's pretty convenient. The two above are only for mid-lake service (Menaggio/Varenna/Bellagio). There's whole other time tables if you're exploring beyond that. Here's the whole ferry service website if you want to explore: http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/ The prices did go up a little compared to Rick's book. We paid 4.60 euros a piece for a one way ride. Still, it's a pretty nice boat ride.

I toured the area not that long ago. Veranno is nice but quaint. Not a lot of choices of resturants and you can really see the town in a half day. I would stay in Menaggio or Bellagio. Those places are a bit bigger with a more choices.