Italian Lakes Novice- talk to me
Discussion
Thinking of 10 days in the Italian lakes this May or June. Never been, so after any advice as to base location, must see places and driving roads you've driven.
Plan was to hire a car and get out and about, last year we went to Zell am See and drove the Grossglockner in a hired Abarth 595 which was fun.
Obviously aware there are a few bases we could stay on Garda, Maggiore, Lugano or Como, we'd be probably looking for a nice lakeside hotel on one of the above with parking etc.
fire away if you can help!
many thanks
Plan was to hire a car and get out and about, last year we went to Zell am See and drove the Grossglockner in a hired Abarth 595 which was fun.
Obviously aware there are a few bases we could stay on Garda, Maggiore, Lugano or Como, we'd be probably looking for a nice lakeside hotel on one of the above with parking etc.
fire away if you can help!
many thanks
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2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:
just looking at your trip now, will have a proper study later!rcspeirs said:
Beautiful scenery. Vile traffic in most places, zero driving enjoyment along the lake shore, because of traffic.
thinking of a base where we can do a few boat trips, shops, lounging about and perhaps hire a car for 3 days perhaps to drive any famous mountain passes etc, rather than sat daily in traffic touring. We have stayed on Lake Garda several times and thoroughly enjoy it. The north around Riva del Garda has the best scenery. We did the Stelvio pass last time we were there, quite doable in a day, although it is a long day. Drove from Limone to Stelvio and back in a little Punto hire car. Stelvio was everything we expected and some more. A small car on Stelvio is best as the bends are extremely tight. We were lucky and had a relatively clear run up.
Bellagio is the most convenient place on Lake Como to be based due to the multiple ferry routes available from there....use Google to get a copy of the ferry route map. Can recommend The Metropole Hotel, must have a lakeside view. Fab scenery. Could take a seaplane trip from near Como itself if you wish to do something a bit special.
R.
R.
The Leaper said:
Bellagio is the most convenient place on Lake Como to be based due to the multiple ferry routes available from there....use Google to get a copy of the ferry route map. Can recommend The Metropole Hotel, must have a lakeside view. Fab scenery. Could take a seaplane trip from near Como itself if you wish to do something a bit special.
R.
That sounds cool !R.
200Plus Club said:
The Leaper said:
Bellagio is the most convenient place on Lake Como to be based due to the multiple ferry routes available from there....use Google to get a copy of the ferry route map. Can recommend The Metropole Hotel, must have a lakeside view. Fab scenery. Could take a seaplane trip from near Como itself if you wish to do something a bit special.
R.
That sounds cool !R.
So spent an hour on Google maps looking at routes and base locations. Bellagio looks great as does Varenna as mentioned. If I'm committing to a stelvio pass day ( and I probably would want to drive it having gone so close to it) then it's showing 3hrs plus from Bellagio using a ferry to the bottom of the pass itself and an hour less from Varenna. That's going to be a long day driving but doable I suspect.
Riva Del Garda looks similar length driving and equally nice. I think it's narrowed down to these 3 areas but I need to do some reading on trip advisor around hotels etc now
Riva Del Garda looks similar length driving and equally nice. I think it's narrowed down to these 3 areas but I need to do some reading on trip advisor around hotels etc now
Although we love the Metropole in Bellagio it doesn't have parking on site. The Hotel Belvedere does and that's nice too. The Metropole is overlooking a busy location and the ferry stops, personally I like the location but the Belvedere is certainly quieter.
Crossing to Varenna or Cadenabbia is easy, from Varenna the Moto Guzzi factory/museum is just down the lake at Mandello del Lario if that's of interest (but check times). I've only attempted to drive in that area once, and once at the hotel we abandoned the car and used ferries for everything. That's partly because of the uncertainlty of parking anywhere of interest and partly because of the narrow winding roads.
Another thing I'd recommend in the Varenna/Bellagio area is the cooking class at Restaurante Il Caminetto, we've been twice now and enjoyed both days. Moreno picks the guests up from the Varenna ferry and then drives a switchback road where on some turns you can look down on impossibly tiny ferries on the lake below...
Crossing to Varenna or Cadenabbia is easy, from Varenna the Moto Guzzi factory/museum is just down the lake at Mandello del Lario if that's of interest (but check times). I've only attempted to drive in that area once, and once at the hotel we abandoned the car and used ferries for everything. That's partly because of the uncertainlty of parking anywhere of interest and partly because of the narrow winding roads.
Another thing I'd recommend in the Varenna/Bellagio area is the cooking class at Restaurante Il Caminetto, we've been twice now and enjoyed both days. Moreno picks the guests up from the Varenna ferry and then drives a switchback road where on some turns you can look down on impossibly tiny ferries on the lake below...
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