04/27/2022: Varenna and Bellagio, Italy

You can’t be this close to Lake Como and not go spend at least a day in one of the little villages bordering the lake. We did catch a glimpse of the lake from the train when we traveled from Luzern to Milan, and that glimpse made it a certainty that we would do a day trip.

We walked back over to the train station this morning, only a 5 minute walk from the Airbnb. This time, it didn’t seem so overwhelming as there were fewer people in the station. It’s still a madhouse, but we had a better idea of how to navigate. We found our platform and settled in for the hour ride to Varenna. Once out of Milan and closer to the mountains, the scenery from the train was really great.

To be honest, I picked the train to Varenna based on a Rick Steves video about the Italian Lake District. He said this village was one of his favorites and he suggested that from here the thing to do was ferry hopping to other villages. We walked down the hill in Varenna to the ferry dock and boarded the ferry to Bellagio.

Lake Como is just stunning. On one end is the view of the snow-capped Alps and on the other green mountains and all along the shoreline little villages dot the landscape, some of which climb up the steep mountainside. It’s just breath-taking. Across the lake from Bellagio the enormous rock clearly shows a stripe of granite diagonally across the mountain showing just how forceful the push upward was to create these mountains.

Lake Como is shaped like a big upside down Y and Bellagio, referred to as the Pearl of Lake Como, sits on the promontory at the crotch of the Y. It’s a very quaint little village, touristy of course, but nonetheless, just beautiful. It has a long promenade along the lake, beautifully landscaped. There are numerous cafes and restaurants where the views of the lake are wonderful. Like all the villages along the lake, there are no cars in the village proper and no real streets, just long steep stairs up and down the levels of the village.

We sat for quite a while along the beautiful promenade just drinking in the surroundings. It was all eye candy! The flowers along the promenade made everything that much more beautiful. And watching all the classic wooden boats that are mostly water taxis skimming across the lake really made you feel that you were at Lake Como. We found a nice garden nearby and strolled through that. The azaleas were blooming as well as flowering trees.

We had a lovely lunch on the terrace of a hotel’s restaurant right over the water. Again, just stunning to be in the midst of such a gorgeous place. And I hope you noticed from all the photos just what a great weather day we had, upper 60s and sunny. A perfect day for a day trip to Lake Como.

We ferried back across the lake to Verenna and strolled on the so-called Walk of Lovers. It’s a metal pedestrian walkway that is cantilevered over the water and it offers wonderful views.

Varenna is similar to Bellagio with lots of steep steps up alleyways and brightly colored houses. There are many lovely cafes and restaurants right along the lake. Varenna has a very small area, called a beach, where people come of hangout and sunbath and will swim when the water gets a bit warmer.

We then had to make our way to the train station, uphill naturally, and return to Milan. It was an easy trip to make, just an hour by train. We counted ourselves very lucky to have had such a great weather day to enjoy this absolutely stunning place, but really we feel blessed to even be taking this trip. What a wonderful day we had at Lake Como.