Varenna with teenagers

It is getting a bit late for July; this is a very popular distination. But did you try asking about the apartments at Albergo Milano? They have 2, Casa Gialla and Casa tre Archi; either one will sleep 4 people. They do not have a direct lake view but all you have to do for that is go outside.

There is also Orange House B&B (you would need two rooms, but it is still affordable), or if you have a car, this B&B way up on the hill operated by Ristorante il Caminetto: http://www.ilcaminettoonline.com/beb_e.php

We stayed at Villa Cipressi the night before and the first 2 nights of a RS tour in 2003. We had an enormous room with twin beds downstairs and a King bed in the loft. Lots of room for the whole family. The only problem we ran into was no AC and we were there during a heat wave. The heat in the loft was almost unbearable. I think they were in the process of installing AC while we were there, so it may no longer be an issue. Have fun. Lake Como is beautiful.

Karen, was that one of the suites? It is hard to tell from the website that they have a room set up like that; they have photos (nice ones) but little in the way of description.

I think it must have been considered a suite. If you look at all the pictures of room options, you will see some with stairs. That leads to the loft and King bed. I can't really remember what the room cost, mostly because we decided to add the night before the tour started at literally the last minute (that morning, as we were driving from Neuschwanstein Castle and realized we could make it all of the way to Lake Como & not have to change hotels again) and of course the other nights were included already in the tour. It is a beautiful property with lovely garden, very convenient to town and the ferry dock. The room had a beautiful view of the Lake.

Just checked the website again and the room we stayed in is pictured under the Deluxe rooms.
http://www.hotelvillacipressi.it/english/de_luxe_rooms.html The second, third and fourth photos look like what I remember our room looking like. It was very spacious and we had ourselves and three teens in the room for the first night.

Niki, A few suggestions for you..... Try contacting Albergo Olivedo. Even if the Hotel is full, they also manage Villa Torretta next door so may have some rooms there. You could also try the Royal Hotel Victoria which is in the main Piazza, across from the Church. It's a beautiful Hotel and a bit on the "pricey" side, but with July getting so close, you may have to take what you can get. There are other listings in the Guidebook that you could also try. Albergo Milano will probably be booked, but you could try Eremo Gaudio or Villa Cipressi. Good luck and happy travels!