Places to stay in Varenna Italy

We enjoyed our stay at the Orange House. It is an easy walk from the train station and close to the ferry. It is a 2 room B&B. We stayed in the upstairs room with an ensuite bathroom. The downstairs room has a private bathroom across the hall. There is a living/dining area upstairs where breakfast is served. The owners are wonderful. They live off site. The price is very reasonable.

If you are looking for something fun to do while you're there, I highly recommend the cooking class at Il Caminetto. It's very reasonably priced and a lot of fun. It was one of the highlights of our 3 weeks in Italy. They will pick you up and drop you off in town. They generally do this at the ferry landing, but they picked us up at the Orange House. If you want to do this, reserve early. The classes book up well in advance.

Here are two suggestions we have in our current Italy guidebook you might consider as well.

Villa Elena - www.villaelenavarenna.it
Hotel du Lac - www.albergodulac.com
I hope this helps some.

We had a lovely room at Hotel Olivedo, overlooking the lake (balcony). While the ferry landing was busy -- and interesting -- during the day, it was serene at night. Very close to the train station.

Becky, In 2013 we stayed at Albergo Beretta which is located just down the hill from the train station and above a bar. The room was small and very clean, with bathroom. Breakfast was included and was simple but adequate. It is close to the ferry. The price was very good, probably because it is away from the center of town. But the town is tiny so its not very far to restaurants and more. The Beretta was in the RS Italy book that year.

You might consider Albergo Milano: http://www.varenna.net/

You can stay in the hotel or choose an "apartment" adjacent to the hotel (price includes breakfast)

We stayed in "Casa Gialla", a charming, quiet, 2 bedroom apt. with small living room & kitchen.
If you don't need the 2 bedrooms, you can reserve the apt. & request the use of only one of the bedrooms.
This apt. did not have a lake view, but they have others that do.

Another small hotel to consider is Albergo Del Sole. It's located on the piazza in the center of Varenna. Because it's a few steps from the church, you start each morning with church bells ringing and each evening you can sit at an outdoor table in the restaurant below and watch life in happening in Varenna. On our 5 night stay in Albergo Del Sole we watched a beautiful bride in a gorgeous gown dance across the piazza, we watched children kicking a soccer ball while their mothers chatted under the trees. This was an Italian town as I wanted to see it. Many tourists take the ferry to larger towns on the lake at the end of the day leaving Varenna and the piazza to the locals. You cannot see the lake from this hotel but it's just a few minutes walk away. All the streets off the piazza lead to the lake and the train station was an easy 15 minute walk away.

I agree with Andrea on her recommendation of taking the cooking class at Il Caminetto. For a very nominal fee, you are educated, entertained and fed for 6 hours in a family restaurant located in a lovely hamlet above Varenna. It was fun day!!

Second vote for Albergo Milano. We stayed in the Casa Rossa apartment a little walk away from the main hotel and had a great view of the lake from the balcony. The apartment was recently reno'd (our trip was 2008) and was in really good condition. We had several suppers on the balcony of the main hotel that were a real treat. I had couple of lengthy conversations with Egidio (the hotel owner) about his previous hotel experience and his history and was surprised at how frank he was and how he was willing to spend so much time with me. Now that I'm writing this I'm thinking about great it would be to re-visit Varenna.

Hello, I would love to sign up for the cooking class in early June but I can't find out how to do so. I tried emailing the restaurant directly and didn't get a reply. Can someone tell me how you signed up please?
Thank you!
Linda

Book Albergo Milano, and book early. This wonderful location is run by a lovely couple. She is Swiss and runs the house and he is Italian and runs the restaurant. The man can really cook so when you book your reservations, book dinner at least one night of your stay. Dinner is served on their patio over hanging Lake Como. Usually features a local fish, a veal, a choice of desserts. Very nice experience Try to get a room on the front (with patio) or a room on the 3rd floor with a patio view from the wing of the hotel. We had to leave early our last morning to catch our flight in Milan and they made a special breakfast for us.