30 March to 2 April (easter 2018).

Summer is not the best time to visit the Lake since it get really busy

30 March to 2 April (easter 2018)

• I bought the "The Italian lakes" from Lonely Planet. I didn't like it that much.

1. It is the deepest lake in Italy and fifth in Europe
2. Musolini was captured in the village of Dongo by the partisans

Without being the largest it is possibly the best known of all the lakes in Italy. Famous for its villas (second residences of the aristocrats of yesteryear) and for its famous  neighbors, this lake has a perfect enclave with the alps bordering the lake. Its proximity to Milan makes it a perfect destination for a short break of a few days.

We arrive in Como coming directly from the Malpensa airport, the journey is not more than 40 minutes by car.  The first thing we did  in Como was  to take take the cablecar to  go  to  Brunate , even though we knew that the views were not going to be the best since the day was cloudy. The journey is quite steep, and the ticket costs about 5.5 € return ticket. 

In Brunate we took a little walk, we did not want to go to the lighthouse because the walk was about 30 min. We decided to visit the founte Pisarottino,  we thought it was going to be a waterfall (because of the design of the sign), nothing could be further from reality, it is a small fountain, was a bit disappointing but next to the fountain was a viewpoint with stunning views.

After going down we have a lunch in a lovely place where you can only choose between 3 or 4 plates, and walk around the city a little bit before heading our next destination. We tried to get in to the Dom but because is was Easter Friday visitors were not allowed 

Osteria del Gallo: Via Vitani, 16, 22100 Como CO 

http://www.osteriadelgallo-como.it

Littlel restaurant where the owner announced the specials for the day and made recommendations. Only 3 or 4 things to choose but really tasty.

This small town was probably the one that I liked most about the whole trip. It has a waterfall in the middle of the town (from our Airbnb we listened perfectly to the water) that ends up draining into the lake. 

Going down a few / many stairs (5 min walk according to the locals, we took a lot longer), you get to a beautiful medial bridge (Civera Bridge), the most photogenic point of the whole trip. 

Different tracking routes leave from the village or you can climb to the source of the waterfall. Is a really nice place to spend a couple of days.

We book (Airbnb) the Amazing Mulino di Cornella. (www.massograsso.it)

Small village with narrow and steep streets is one of the most known points due to its perfect location right in the middle of the lake. From here you can take a ferry to continue your trip on the side to Varena or to the other Menagio or Lenno.

The village is very touristy but pleasant to walk. We stayed a couple of hours and from there we went to Varenna with the ferry  ( 20.10€ 3 adults + car)

You can park for free in Bellagio, just look for the white lines  on asphalt and you can leave you vehicle here free of charge, even for several days.

The view of Varenna with it's pretty, multi-coloured buildings when approaching on the ferry is unforgettable, it really looks like a miniature. This small twon is really easy to reach by boat from Bellagio or by train directly from Milan.

This  fishing village has a more relaxed feel than Bellagio and is far less chic and pretentious also has a nice walk "Paseo del amor" bordering the lake, we could not enjoy it as much as we would like to because it started to rain a lot. Because of the rain we didn't try to get to the castle of Vezio which is about 4 kilometers away, up in a hill.

Albergo del sole: Piazza San Giorgio 17, 23829 Varenna, Italy

It became our spontaneuos choice for lunch, really nice food.

From Varenna we went by car bordering the lake to Mennagio, I honestly do not recommend it, the road is boring and longer than it seems (we get lost a couple of times...)

If I were to make the trip now, I would probably leave the car in Bellagio, visit by boat, Varenna and Bellano (a town where we did not stop because of the rain), go back to Mennagio and from there would have taken another ferry with the car to Mennagio.

After two cloudy days, the same came up, so we spent the morning in Menaggio in a terrace drinking appeal sprit. After a walk through the promenade and visiting the city center,  we show a flyer about an exposition in another village and we decide to go there.

We came to this place just becase we sow a flyer of an exposition in the Gallio Palace. We start our visit eating a huge ice-cream, just because we show a lot of people making a line in a place. After that we walk along the waterfront till Santa Maria del Tigli, a church from early middle ages. 

If I have to choose I prefer Gravedona better the Menaggio.

Our last day around the lake we went to Lenno to visit Villa Balbianello, after a nice walk through a park. At the end we dind’t got inside because the entry fee was expensive in our opinion (20€)

Our next stop was Laglio, fameous because is where George Clooney has his villa(probably the only one seguridad, but the best of Laglio was Da Luciano Bottega a family run small restaurant with good quality products, a lot of locas having here the aperitif.