Nice days at Italian Lake Como

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Guest writer: Pernilla Ekholm

On this trip, my husband and I were going to explore Lake Como. After some googling on how to get around, the options were car, bus and/or boat connections. We decided to use car hire and boat. This is because my husband knows me, there is often a lot I want to see or experience and a car enables many stops. Travelling by boat between villages proved to be very convenient and it was also possible to take the car on the boats.

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In this post, I will write about Lake Como and not about the fact that we travelled with Ryanair. Nor about the start of our trip with many delays, the promise of an overnight hotel, staff from Ryanair who never showed up, no reimbursement, a hotel night that was washed in Bergamo and which meant a night lying on the hard floor of Kastrup airport waiting for a new flight time.

It didn't start well, but it was a great trip anyway. It's a bit like travelling that it doesn't always turn out as planned.

Lake Como

Located in northern Italy, Lake Como is the third largest lake after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore. Lake Como is one of the deepest lakes in Europe with a depth of 400 metres. Around Como there are many cute little Italian villages that I have long wanted to visit.

It was not an easy choice to decide which villages to visit and which to stay in for a while. We visited many villages, but in the end chose to stay in Varenna and Bellagio on Lake Como, but also managed to stay in Milan and finished a night in Bergamo before flying home.

Varenna

Varenna, was our first stop, and I was so enamoured with the cute village along the waterfront and the surrounding mountains. We finally had Italian pasta on an outdoor terrace with chequered red and white tablecloths and the lake and mountains as a backdrop.

Here you can walk on the Walk of lovers, which is a promenade along the waterfront. If you want to get up the hill to look out over the lake, you can walk up to Castello De Vezio, which is a medieval castle located high up, about 30 minutes one way.

Lake Como is also known for its fine villas and their beautiful gardens (usually with an entrance fee). We had planned to enter one of the popular Villa Cipressi or Villa Monastero. It was not one of those villas as we had thought as they were closed for weddings.

A wedding in a lovely garden with Lake Como and mountains as a backdrop must be a magical experience in my opinion. We were impulsive and stopped on the way at Villa Carlotta. We walked around the garden and inside the Villa, which was included in the ticket price.

Bellagio

Bellagio, we found to be one of the most popular villages, there were many tourists here. But we can also understand why it is so popular, it is still a cute little village with small alleys, colourful houses and a small main street that runs through the village.

Como

The city of Como, located at the southern end of Lake Como, is a larger city and more vibrant. Here we mostly walked around and ended the evening with a cable car up to the village of Brunate, to have dinner with a wonderful view.

Actually, I know that it gets colder when you get higher up over the sea. Which is easy to forget when the sun shines during the day, so there was a slightly cool moment at dinner.

Bergamo

Bergamo's old town of Citta Alta is very cosy to walk around with old well-preserved houses, churches and the two squares of Piazza Veccia and Piazza del Duomo.

We were there for a week in September, and now you may wonder what the weather was like? The first day was autumn with cold and some drizzle, then it was spring with blue skies and sun, so lovely in the sun. The last days it was summer and so much more enjoying being outside on all the lovely Italian outdoor cafes.

Viva Italia! /Pernilla

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Magdalena and Pernilla

Magdalena Hjortzberg and Pernilla Ekholm run Travelsis.se and live in southern Skåne. Both are social workers whose main leisure interest is travelling with their family, but they also enjoy making things and travelling with friends and parents. They want to share the things they do that enrich their lives to inspire others.

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