I cannot stop going back to this beautiful country! This was our third visit to Italy and this time we chose the lakes region in the north. After looking at the different lakes we settled for Lake Como as it was easy to get to from Milan.

Jump to

• Lecco
• Bellagio
• Varenna
  1. Villa Monastero
  2. Varenna old town
• Menaggio

Day 1 – Birmingham to Bellagio

We caught an early morning Ryan Air from Birmingham and reached Bergamo airport mid morning. We caught glimpses of the lakes, Italian countryside and pretty towns with their medieval town centres from the air as our plane circled to land at Bergamo airport.

Our bus ride from the airport to the train station set our mood for the next three days. We managed to catch impressive views of Bergamo’s Citta Alta on our short journey. Bergamo has a beautiful fortified old town but with our short visit we did not have enough time to stop there. As always the weather had called for rain on our first day in Italy. It had been raining for the past few days and I was praying it didn’t ruin our short visit.

After purchasing tickets we boarded a train to Lecco. When the ticket checked came along to check our tickets he asked if we were tourists. We said yes wondering how that impacted. Apparently we had forgotten to stamp our tickets before boarding which is a norm in every Italian city! We had forgotten this as the last time we had been on an Italian train was 9 years ago!

The train made it’s way past pretty towns and gorgeous countryside before we got our first glimpse of Lake Como. Lake Como is shaped like an inverted Y with Lecco at the bottom on it’s right arm. The starting point of the lake ferries in the right arm. 

Lecco

Almost every town on this lake has a character. The old town at Lecco was no different. It was lunch time and with our ferry leaving just 45 minutes after the train arrived we did not have time for a sit down meal. As we strolled through the old town we realised just how beautiful Italy is! We stopped at a restaurant that was busy with lunchers asking if they could give us a pizza to take away. Being enthralled with the surroundings and with the pressure of time I could only ask for a Margherita though there were a lot other vegetarian options on the menu, which I saw only later. We walked over to the lake front, got our tickets and had our delicious pizza with a lake front view! Though pizza is originally from Naples, it just seems to taste better anywhere in Italy than other parts of the world!

It was still cloudy at this point but we decided to sit outside on the ferry and watch the beautiful towns the ferry made a slow journey to Bellagio.

Bellagio

Bellagio is considered the prettiest of all towns along the lake. The mid lake region is considered the most beautiful part of Lake Como with the trio of Bellagio, Varenna and Menaggio being the most visited. Though I had looked for accommodations all across the mid-lake region I could only find an Air bnb in Bellagio within our budget. 

Bellagio is accessible only by a ferry or by a bus and is well connected to all parts of the lake. Our ferry from Lecco reached Bellagio mid afternoon to glorious sunshine after stopping at pretty towns along the right arm of the lake. The first sight of Bellagio was breathtaking. The afternoon sunlight shining on its signature buildings behind which green mountains rose, dotted with quaint villas and cypress trees was quite a sight to behold! As our ferry stopped and we filed out we were really glad we chose to stay here! 

Our Air bnb accommodation was just off the famous steps of Bellagio – Salita Serbelloni. It was a beautiful accommodation with a Juliet balcony that looked out into the Salita Serbelloni and had partial views of the lake. 

Initially we had planned to walk to the supermarkets about a mile away to grab some basics and breakfast but we decided that we’ll eat out all the days we were here. So went to the “Lungolago Europa” along the waterfront that offered views unparalleled views of Bellagio, the lake and the pretty towns across on the other bank. We spent considerable time here snapping pictures and just enjoying the scenery. At the misery of repeating myself, it was breathtaking! There are some spots to get down to the water and a lovely path lined with flowers and flowering trees. This is where those postcard pictures are taken!

After freshening up our first stop had to be gelato! Though it was touristy we only took the Salita Serbelloni every time we went out of our apartment! We stopped at one just at the bottom of the steps called Smooth operators and bought some limone and pistachio that were utterly delicious! Never in our lives had we tasted such ice cream! It was biting into the real thing!!

Just about sunset we walked up the road along the waterfront all the way to the church square. The sun was setting and the sky was golden! Our dinner was at Bistro Antichi Sapori, a restaurant that had considerable vegetarian options and wasn’t too expensive. Most of the mains in this part of the world cost between €13-20. Good service and friendly staff. We then walked back to the waterfront to take in the night view of Bellagio. Being a Friday it wasn’t much lit up but it was still lovely!

Day 2 – The mid lakes

The excitement of being in Italy woke us up early! First stop was the top of Salita Serbelloni which was empty and deserted! We then took a walk along the streets around the area having the whole town to ourselves.. One of the privileges of staying in the middle of town!! Our breakfast was at Cafe Bar Sport in the church square. The town was waking up and the sun was starting to show its prowess. We chose an outside table to watch this pretty little world go by with traders parking their vehicles to unload goods for the shops in the area and cars and pedestrians making their way about. We found a grocery store along our way back to the hotel and grabbed some fruits, snacks, juice and water to take back to the apartment. 

One thing I insist in all the trips we go to is to leave early and beat the crowds but being a holiday no one listened to me and we were down by the pier only at 10 in the morning, the peril of which we would realise later! We purchased a day ticket for four of us for the mid lakes regions. The children were old enough to be considered adults in this part of the world and for the ferry!

Varenna

We took the ferry to Varenna. By this time there were people everywhere. As we got off the ferry and took the scenic Lover’s Walk into the town of Varenna we realised the colours in this town were very different to Bellagio. The colours of the buildings were brighter and more earthy. The Lover’s walk wound along the eastern side of the town along the lake and took us to the old town which had access to a pebble beach. We took one of the steps to climb up to the old town with its large piazza and a church towering steeple.

Villa Monastero

We had decided we would visit only one villa and we chose Villa Monastero over the more popular Villa del Balbianello simply do its easy access. There was a queue outside the villa to purchase tickets and I was wondering if I should have made the booking online but then it moved quite quickly. It was quite hot (for us Brit residents) by now and the walking and climbing caused us to nearly empty our water bottles! We realised we should have carried more water! 

The first view of the gardens and the lake left us stunned! It was from just outside the ticket office and huge arched windows gave us this stunning view of sloping green mountains meeting the shimmering and glittering waters of Lake Como. We had purchased tickets only to the gardens and not to the villa. So we made our way down the brilliantly manicured gardens of the villa that offered unrivalled views of the lake from its terraces. It was hot and we were grateful to find shade along many parts of the garden to stop, sometimes sit and take in the views of the lake and the mountains.

Varenna old town

After enjoying the elaborate gardens we made our way back to the entrance and up to the viewpoint over Varenna. The family were unhappy. It was past noon and the sun was beating down mercilessly. But I insisted and with a lot of complaints and whining we made our way up Via Roma to the look out. At one point the family decided to stop and I started walking up by myself and managed to get some beautiful pictures of Varenna and the lake though I never actually reached the viewpoint. I decided my comfort was more important than the perfect view!

We made our way down to the waterfront with our empty water bottles! Of course we had to have some gelato! This time we stopped at Riva ice creams and each of us got a double scoop. Lemon, pistachio, cantaloupe, tiramisu and mango were some of the flavours we tried. This gave us some energy and we walked down to the pebble beach to dip our feet in the cool waters of the lake. After chilling for a while we took a ferry back to Bellagio for lunch.

We picked up pizza by the slice at Bellavita at the top of the steps. By now it should be obvious the steps mean Salita Serbelloni! We took it back to the apartment and decided to follow our lunch with a short siesta to beat the heat. Despite having no air conditiong the apartment was cool.

We waited until 5:30 to get back outside hoping the sun would have gone down but nope it was still beating down hard and what was worse was that the pier was unbelievably crowded! A lot of day trippers were leaving Bellagio and the ferries were so crowded that we had to miss 2 before they would let us board! We spent over an hour at the pier waiting for a ferry to take us to Menaggio.

The mid lake shuttles at this pier were vehicle ferries and the only connection between Bellagio and Varenna. At this time of the day all the ferries that left Bellagio stopped at Varenna before going to Menaggio. As most of the vehicle and foot traffic was to Varenna, we had to wait before a considerably empty ferry arrived.

The sun was along the horizon and cast its golden rays on Varenna as we approached the town on the ferry. As the ferry approached the pier, we watched the buildings getting larger and were gaping like we were seeing it for the first time, though we had seen it only a few hours ago!

Menaggio

As the ferry made its way along the widest part of the lake from Varenna to Menaggio the sun too was making its way down quickly behind the mountains. So by the time we reached Menaggio it was starting to get dark. The pier was located a good walk to the old town unlike the other two towns we visited. We walked to the central piazza and all we had time for was a gelato from La Fabbrica del gelato just past the main square. It was dinner time and the square was busy with diners in its numberous restaurants with outdoor seating. 

The last ferry from Menaggio was leaving soon and we walked back to the ferry point after gaping at the lake from this side with views of both Varenna and Bellagio in the distance. There were only a few of us at the pier and the ferry did not make an appearance. We were worried if we had missed the ferry but the staff assured us it was coming. It was completely dark by the time the ferry arrived.

Bellagio seemed a little more lit today but sadly the my dSLR had run out battery due to all the extreme ISO pictures and all I had was my iPhone.

Dinner was left over pizza from the afternoon. Though I had only gotten a slice of pizza each the portions were huge! Our feet were aching from all the walking we did and were happy to finally rest!

Day 3 – Leaving the lake for Milan

This was our last morning in Bellagio and we again stepped out early in the morning to claim our privilege of seeing an empty and deserted town before the hordes of tourists arrived! This time we chose to get take away for breakfast as we had some final packing to finish. SC went down to Cafe Bar Sport to get some croissants and to Pastecceria Castelli for some yummylicious pastries! They weren’t open the previous day and I was glad I got to try them before we left Bellagio. They were so good that I went back to them after breakfast to grab more delicacies! Had a tough time deciding what I wanted as everything looked delicious but decided to stick to the central theme of the trip – pistachio and I picked everything that was green!

We checked out of our accommodation after taking one last look at the beautiful view outside our balcony and went down to purchase our tickets to Como, the namesake town that was at the bottom of the left arm of the lake which had direct connections to Milan. What I did not realise when I purchased the ticket was that I had misread the timetable. The 10:40 ferry from Bellagio appeared to go all the way to Como but it apparently stopped at Lenno. Only later I realised the bottom part of the time table was different to the top unless there was an arrow going down. So I purchased a supplement for the fast ferry that was going to Como at 11:30. With time to kill we went back to the steps to get some souvenirs and more gelato from our favourite Smooth Operators, which we enjoyed for one last time along the lake! 

The fast ferry arrived on time and there was a huge line with returning tourists and their luggages to board the ferry. I would have certainly preferred a slow ferry like the one we arrived on from Lecco but we had plans for Milan and we didn’t want to miss them. The ferry was full at Bellagio and did not stop anywhere along the route. We admired the pretty towns and the stunning villas along the lake for one last time before arriving at Como at 11:50!! This gave us ample time for all our plans at Milan.

We walked to Como San Giovanni as the train from there reached Milano centrale. The train from the lake station went to a different part of Milan. The station was deserted and there was no one in the ticket booths. Only one of the automated machines were working and there was a long line to purchase tickets. The trains to Milano central were hourly and I didn’t want to miss ours. So I walked over to the tabacchi to purchase our tickets and walked on to the platform. There was some confusion over the platform and we went to the wrong one before finding the right one. We also remembered to stamp our tickets this time! We got into a gleaming new train, found ourselves seats and settled in for the 45 minute ride into Milan. We were far into the town and there was no lake to watch from our window, I realised, as we bade farewell to the lake region with a heavy heart!