Questions about Via dell' Amore in Cinque Terre and Villa Carlotta on Lake Como

I enjoyed Villa Balbianello much more than Carlotta , and the house tour in Balbianello is much more interesting.
Also, once you get off the ferry at Lenno, take the motorboat to/from the Villa instead of walking. The private motorboats give you a unique view of the Villa , and is very inexpensive.
Carlotta , to me, was fine but not spectacular. Perhaps you don't not buy tickets in advance, and wait until you know the weather.
Enjoy beautiful Lake Como and have a great trip!

The grounds of Villa Carlotta are huge. I don’t think you will have any trouble. The house is fine but no great loss if you miss it. It is in luddd though as I recall in your ticket.

We weren’t able to see the interior of Villa Balbienello because all the tickets were sold out. We were able to get into the grounds. But if the interior is important to you (and it did look intriguing), I would make a reservation.

Pat and BethFL, thank you so much for your helpful information. I will book our tickets for Villa Balbienello in the next couple of days. There are only 2 days we can go because it is closed on Wednesdays, so our choice is Tuesday, June 3 or Thursday, June 5. On the 3rd there is limited availability for the 11:15 slot, which is what we prefer. And on the 5th, the first 2 time slots are fully booked. So I guess this is a very popular site.

Now that brings me to a question about the ferries. I looked up the ferry schedule, and the timetable ends on May 31. Does this mean there will be more ferries available starting on June 1? If I am reading the current timetable correctly, boat #805 departs Varenna at 9;30am and arrives in Lenno at 10:15am. There are boats that depart Lenno at 2:10pm and 3:25pm for Varenna. There are 2 later boats but we wouldn't be interested in those. Just want to make sure I am understanding the schedules. How do we know if this is a fast boat, slow boat, or ferry?

According to my research, there is a one-day pass. I thought I read somewhere you can buy a pass for multiple days, but I didn't see that on the website.

I apologize for the extra questions. Just want to make sure I have a good understanding about the ferries before we arrive, so we don't waste time trying to figure things out.

Thank you!

Hi Karen, same as you we will be in CT in May. I did extensive research in the logistics for that area. The following website explains how the VDA works.

https://www.parconazionale5terre.it/page.php?id=481

I also emailed their TI to confirm the following: you cannot buy VDA on its own, has to be lumped with CT card, either trek (hikes only) or treno MS (train plus hikes). The VDA add-on is 10 euro, if your lodging qualifies as eco and you get a code from them then it's 8e (residence price). You can buy the CT card online and book the time slot, but as a residence, you can enter VDA free after 5pm without reservation, from either Rio or Manarola. Note that this only works on the day your CT card is valid. You can use VDA web to see how it's being booked when you have better forecast.

We like to have a paper card, so we plan on buying 2days treno MS when we arrive and use it for the next two days. If timeslots are not favorable we'll walk after 5.

Gdtoknow, thank you so much for your detailed information. I will contact our hotel and ask if they qualify for the Residence card.

I booked our tickets for Villa Balbienello last night. For those who are planning on visiting this villa, you should probably make your reservations about 2 months in advance. Luckily, I decided to check back on their website just before I went to bed, and the 11:15am time slot I wanted on June 3 only had one ticket left, and we need 2. Just a few hours earlier there were 2 or more tickets left. So I booked the 12:15 time slot on June 3.

Regarding Villa Carlotta, I think we will wait until we are at Lake Como and decide if we want to visit another villa. This is part of a 5-week trip, and we have sightseeing reservations in Milan, Florence, and Venice, so we don't want to be overly-booked. We like to do things spontaneously sometimes. And I still need to book our Varenna mosaic tickets.

Gdtoknow, I contacted my hotel in Manarola and they gave me the code. They also sent me detailed instructions on how to use the code while purchasing the Treno Card Plus which includes the Via dell' Amore. If you haven't already contacted your hotel, I think you should do that. There are quite a few important instructions.

For example, they say "The discount code can only be used for online purchases on Cinque Terre National Park website." So it sounds like you can't get the discount and benefits if you purchase a paper card. Perhaps ask your hotel? And they also say "for all days of the stay have the right to access Via dell' amore during the entire opening time slot, without limits on direction or booked time." So it sounds like we don't have to select a timed entry? I will find out when I purchase our cards. Haven't done that yet.

Villa Carlotta is beautiful for the gardens where you can easily spend a whole morning or afternoon, more than for the villa itself. We spent a whole day there in April when the azaleas are in flower and it was stunning:
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2024/04/a-day-out-at-villa-carlotta-lake-como.html?m=1
In June I would think there would be the roses but if you look at the Villa Carlotta website it tells you what is likely to be flowering according to the time of year

Thank you, Tinac, for your lovely description of the Villa Carlotta gardens. I looked at your photos, and they are gorgeous. I have Villa Carlotta at the top of my sightseeing list. My husband doesn't want me to make reservations because we have many reservations for other places, and we do like some spontaneity. If we have several nice weather days while in Varenna, we can decide at the last minute to visit Villa Carlotta. We might forgo the villa but visit the gardens, which is one of our favorite things to do when traveling.