Short Visit to Lake Como

Lakeside town of Bellagio, Lake Como

This write up continues on our summer holiday touring Switzerland and Italy for day 6 and day 7, around the region where Milan and the Swiss border towns are. Over the short 2 days at Lake, we based ourselves in the most touristy village of Bellagio, and the spend the 2 days visiting the nearby village of Varenna and Menaggio. We spent the reminding afternoon after arriving at Bellagio to explore the little lakeside village; and the next full day exploring further on Bellagio and crossing back to Varenna in the afternoon and visiting Menaggio for the rest of the late afternoon.

Exploring Bellagio

View of Bellagio town from the pier

View on Bellagio on another sunny day

Our hotel stay for 2 nights

One of the 3 towns that form the middle lake towns in a triangular path with ferries plying between these 3 towns frequently. You can get there by land transport by bus or self drive or taxi. But for foreign travelers like myself and many, it will be the train.  A train ride from Milano Centrale cost little and takes about an hour to reach the beautiful lake side town of Varenna and from there a 20mins ferry to the town of Bellagio. Cost of ferry was Euro $4.60 for one way from Varenna to Bellagio.

The town is labelled as one of the more touristy town with lots lake facing hotels and restaurants. It seems that everyone that comes to Lake Como would make a stop at this little lake town.Ferries were running very frequently and tourists would come and go in loads and cars being ferried across the lake.

Little cobbled stone alleyway

Love the little alleyway with shops and restaurant like hidden gems

Italian Vespa on an Italian alleyway.

Within the small town itself, there are little stones floored alleyways to walk up to with restaurants and shops decorating these romantic and calm alley ways. The typical Italian building with flowers and balconies hanging over these alleyway makes it a good photography place to be. The place doesn’t sells branded stuff for leather goods like bags and wallets, but locally made goods of pretty good designs. There are a few artwork shops selling water etched paintings showing the scenery of the lake and the town of Bellagio.

Touristy town but still has it quiet spots to enjoy.

There are many lanes leading up the upper levels of the main street (cars passable)

At the town square near the church of San Giacomo

We stayed at the town for 2 nights at the Hotel Du Lac that is located just in front of one of the ferry points ( but ferry from Varenna is another landing point a short 5 mins walk away). This is a small town with just a few lanes of walking route for tourist which usually I think 2 hours for visitors to the area will be enough to explore all the hidden lanes. Being a more touristy town, it offers many choices of restaurants where most of them sells the same type of food. There isn't any Asian food and no fast food. So it is Italian and some Mediterranean  food. I guess being Italy you can find shops selling gelato everywhere. No need to compare price as all are usually he same. The price model encourage you not to just go for 1 scope which cost Euro $2. 2 scopes cost $2.50  and 3 scope cost $3.

Not just Bellagio, but all the 3 towns have the same price range foe food. It is actually not that costly to have a simple decent meal.  A simple pasta costs only euro $9 or around that range. Seafood will.cost a little.more but usually less than $20. It is the cover charge that sometimes make the whole spending higher. Sparkling water cost more than juices and soft drinks, so if you just want a drink and not to disappoint the restaurant owner, you can consider ordering the latter. Still water is what many customer will.order and it cost sometimes the same as soft drinks and beer. But do check the price as some.places their still water cost more than beer or juices.

Sunset at Bellagio 

Waiting for sunset at Bellagio

Ferry docking at Bellagio

Sunset at Bellagio

The restaurant where we had our pizza and pasta. Modern deco, food okay.

Alleyway to the quiet pier for ferries

Around Bellagio

Villa di Melzi

Besides shops and restaurants, there is not much attractions to visit that is within walking distance. The only one that we visited was the Botanical gardens called the Villa di Melzi. It is a beautiful villa with the garden dated back to the days of Napoleon. The villa is of neoclassic architecture with an long strip of garden space along the lake, with statues and lakeside terraces. It cost about euro $6 per person for a nice walk and good photo taking in the garden. Quite worth the amount and you get to see how the architects of the past build and design the gardens for Napoleon back in the old days.

Road that leads into Bellagio, Entrance to Villa Melzi

A sitting statue

The most photographed spot of the Villa

Clean and neat small trees lined along the walk path

At the lakeside terrace with steps down to the lake for boat taxis

Another statue

Zoom in on the grasses within the compound.

Housing for the caretaker back in the old days

La Punta

At the most northern tip of the land of Bellagio has a small garden area called the La Punta which has those little trees that you find on their website. There is a restaurant there for customers to sit and dine with the view of the lake junction. Standing on the walls that serve as the boat parking area you can see the meeting point where the 2 sides of the lake join at this location with the backdrop of tge distant mountains. In winter the view would be very scenic as the mountain peaks will be covered with snow.

La Punta (building structure is the roof of the restaurant.

La Punta 

Church of San Giacomo

At the upper levels of tge town sits a stone church of San Giacomo, which is located at Bellagio Square. Usually the town square is a place where people gathers, business thrives. But for this place, there are only a few shops and restaurants there. The bulk.of the tourists usually hang around the pier area and where those hotels facing the lake stands.

San Giacomo at Bellagio 

San Giacomo

The town square just beside the church of San Giacommo

Town square fountain

Exploring Varenna

On the ferry leaving Bellagio

Skies clearing up

On the ferry

Back at Varenna pier (weather getting sunnier)

The small marina area with the restaurants

Today from Bellagio, we took the morning ferry back to Varenna. Taking the morning ferry across the lake was pleasant and the sun was just breaking through the clouds. Weather was good and water was calm.  The view from the lake as we were docking into the pier at Varenna was beautiful. The view of the small houses  that were built into the rocky slope of the land area. The landscape and the village itself was totally different from that of Bellagio. Upon landing the shores at the pier, we turned to the right, walking along a boardwalk platform that hugs the rocks leading to the small marina area for small boats and where the restaurants and cafe had their tables and chairs all facing the small marina. The view was quaint and pretty. Not the busy hustle of city life. It was real tranquil for the morning when we were there.  There were small stone floored alleys leading up to the residential area, and if one has the time to explore, you will be amazed by the little gems of shops, views that you can find.

Narrow walkway leading from the pier to the more pictureque side of Varenna

The first shop we came across already captured us and it was off a quick stop for looking at their items. There are arty stuffs and things that were really local to the village itself. We took our time to slowly explore the small lanes of the town, finding any unventured lanes and would just go through and see what was on the other side.. Some led to boat docks underneath buildings. This are for those that takes the water taxi within the lake and can request the boatman to drop them off at these points of the villages.  We found one under a hotel and a small metal jetty near the Hotel Victoria. It was very interesting to go around exploring he little village built on the slope rocks.

Narrow alleyway at Varenna

Art shop of drawings and paints.

From the alleyway stairs view of the lake

The small marina at Varenna

Colourful chalkboard drawings of the menu

Beautiful painting and artwork on the wall on the street

Restaurant with alfreca dinning along the narrow stepped walkway

We snaked around the little quaint town and came up from a flight of steps on the main road of the town just in front of the ST George Church (Chiesa di San Giorgio). This church was build back in 1313, a parish church of the 14th century of Lombardy architecture. The church is located at the town main square which has a road running between the main square and the church.

Looking at menu for lunch later

Exploring around the small town.

A typical store within town.

Exploring the little lans

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Looking out little shops along these narrow stone walls

Near the lakeside around Hotel Victoria

Town church (St george Church)

From the main square we continued on the road to the Villa Monastero. To us without doing any homework, it looks like a big botanic garden with greenery and a great view of the lake.  After some research, the it was actually an ancient female Cistercian monastery  built in the 12th century which has change hands over many owners over the ages.

At the Villa Monastero

The garden below after the ticket entrance (stretches all the way in)

Plants on a pond

When we entered the compound, by the way you need to pay for entrance fee into the garden and the museum and we chose just the garden only,  the building where we just left the ticket counter, I don’t what you call the area, but it was part of the building and like a porch area of something. IT offer grew of the lake and with the blue skies and the shade and the arch shaped opening, it was like some movie scene from Star Wars. By the way , there is a villa in Lake Como which was the film site for the stars wars movie for episode 2 at a villa by the lake, the Villa del Balbianello. This is the same site for movies like Casino Royale as well.

Within the villa grounds

Lotsa plants and trees to see

Villa boathouse

Private terrace steps to the lake for private boats

At the garden outside the villa's museum

Stone bench for visitors to enjoy the calmness view of the lake

Fountain right outside the villa's museum

The kiosk structure right at the end of the villa garden

View of the kiosk towards the town of Varenna

Insides of the kiosk

The Villa Monastero is quite a big place to walk around, or should I say walk along. It runs along the lake for quite a distance. There is a museum near the entrance and we explored further right to the end which stands a small kiosk like structure with a dome roof. Within the garden there were huge aloe vera plans, like gigantic breed type. We also found osmanthus tree with its little flowers that can be use to make osmanthus flower tea which is my favourite.

At the Vareena town square infront of St george church

We walked to the village’s marina area to look for a good place for lunch. Before the trip, we had planned to visit the Castello di Vezio, but walking there from the village square takes about 50mins one way. With plans to visit the next lakeside town of Menagio, we decided to give it a miss. One can of course maybe take a bus or taxi to the castle. And so we headed back to the marina area, looking at the menus of what the café and restaurants offered. There were some cafe that has tables lined to one side of the stoned steps alleyway. Kinda interesting and relaxing, but did go for that as a quick peek into the restaurant showed zero customers. So we continued to walk around the alley way that we found one terraced restaurant within a hotel and it was not overly crowded but with just a few customers.

Quiet and nice setting for a less crowded lunch

View of the Varenna marina from our lunch spot

My lunch

Table with a view of the lake

We got ourselves a table at the edge of the open air area just nice overlooking the marina below us. As we enjoyed our food, we could see the people below us walking to and fro from the jetty to the small marina area. It was quite of different experience we wanted for lunch, away from the tourists that crowded the few restaurant at the marina area where all tables facing the lake were taken and the staff were hurriedly like rushing their servings. Up here, we had the peace and quietness to ourselves, sharing the dinning area with just a few other couples.

Exploring Menaggio

After lunch, we headed to the ferry to take the next available ferry to the lakeside town of Menaggio. Menaggio is the town that is located on the opposite side of the lake from Varenna. A quick 25mins ride from Varenna, one can reach the much more busy town of Menaggio. Menaggio has roads running through the town and the main road is the one that runs along the edges of lake Como from the south city of Como all the way up north.

On the ferry crossing the lake from Varenna to Menaggio

The town of Menaggio

Arrived at Menaggio

Menaggio pier

The town's marina

Menaggio Marina

The town has most of the tourist popular area near the lake side where the jetty lands. But to get to the more elegant lake promenade, one has to walk to the main road and uses that to cross the stretch of hotels to reach the promenade area. Down there,  there were stalls of boat rental.  Some of the rentals does not required any license and many said that seeing the towns from the lake offers a totally experience. I was very tempted to do that as it reminded me of the fun we had back in our self drive trip in Norway where we rented a boat in Geiranger.

At the town square main street where the Santa Marta stands

Narrow street lane of Menaggio

Gelato with 3 scope of different flavors

Menaggio Town Square

At the town square, as usual, the commercial aspect takes over. Shops, cafes, restaurants  lined the main old street and on one side stands the Church of Santa Marta. It was quite warm for that time of the day and so we sat on at one of the gelato shop’s tables that were laid along the main street, and ordered some gelato. It was quite pleasant to sit there watching the world goes by. Minus the smoke from cigarette from other tables would be best. But in Europe, seemed like smoking is a norm for many of age and gender.

After our short gelato break, we continued on the promenade walking up north to the end of the walkway. We were walking into the residential area of the lakeside and with nothing much ahead of us, we made the U-turn back to the jetty to catch the next available ferry back to Bellagio.

Walking along the Menaggio Promenade

Along the Menaggio Promenade

Menaggio Promanade

Returning to Bellagio

Taking this ferry back to Bellagio

Seeing Bellagio from the lake again (La Punta at the extreme left tip of the land)

The crowded pier at Bellagio, just in front of our hotel.

Once we were back at Bellagio, it was back to shopping mode and some further walks to the same stoned church above the town of Bellagio. From there we continued on to the tip of the Bellagio village, the La Punta. A small garden area located at the northern most tip of the landmass of the town of Bellagio. ON map its says the La Punta Park, but to me is just a small area of trees and grass, more like a garden area than a park. There is a small marina area as well and a restaurant just in front of the marina. From the walled structure, we were standing at the point where the 2 sides of the lake merged in front of us, with Varenna on the right and Menaggio on the left.

La Punta Restaurant

At the northern tip of the land at Bellagio. Varenna on the right and Menaggio on the left

The small La Punta garden area with the trees

On map it seemed very far, but in actual fact, it took about maybe 10mins of walk from the Bellagio church of San Giacomo to reach the marina of La Punta.  For dinner, again we roamed around the same old familiar alley ways looking at different menus and picking the right place for dinner. We settled dinner at the La Fontana restaurant in town. Getting around the town via all the narrow alley ways has become our skill set.

After dinner it was a late night walking around before calling it an end back to our hotel rooms to prepare for the next day of long travel from Lake Como to the UNESCO site of Cinque Terre.

Review of Hotel Du Lac at Bellagio

Hotel Du Lac (Bellagio)

We stayed at the hotel for 2 nights after our arrival from Zermatt. The hotel is located very prominently facing the lake where all the ferries arriving at the Bellagio pier docks. There are a few landing and boarding piers at Bellagio and one of them is just in front of the hotel. From Varenna, the ferry docks farthest away but a shirt 3 mins is good enough to get you to the hotel door steps. The hotel has many rooms to offer, from those that has balconies facing the lake and of course the ferry and the crowd below to those that faces the narrow iconic alley ways where you can just stand on the balcony and watch the people goes around walking up and down the alleyway.  From the narrow balcony you can still catch a small opening to the lake and the number of visitors queuing tickets for the ferry.  The hotel has a good restaurant that has quite a good ranking on travel websites. For guest you can a 10% discount if you have your meals at the restaurant. Breakfast was good and comes with our room. In the morning you can get to have breakfast at the terrace looking out to the calm lake and peaceful street view in the morning. Well the streets gets a little congested with people crowd later in the day.

Our room with a balcony (not lake view)

No lake view but has an opening to see the lake

Lovely balcony view of the narrow walking lanes

Morning breakfast view from the hotel restaurant 

Breakfast, and the croissant is good

One of our lunch at the hotel restaurant. Taste good

Rooms are clean, toilet is spacious. It is not the modern decor type of hotel you will find. But it does bring out the Italian flavor for guest like us coming from a n Asian country.  The hotel comes with some amenities of modern world like free wifi and a lift to save guest carrying heavy bags like us. Wifi speed is good and fast. So you can watch your own entertainment of you cant find anything that you understand from the TV. Almost all the channels are non English. The only one is CNN.

Other than this minor shortcoming for us, everything is good.