North Italy Choices
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Milan, lakes, or mountains part 2: Romantic Lake Como
North Italy's charms come in three packages: urban Milan, romantic lakes, and Alpine Dolomites. All are within three hours of Venice, Florence, and each other.
The Italian Lakes, at the base of Italy's Alps, are a romantic and popular destination for Italians and their European neighbors. The million-euro question is: "Which lake?" The answer: Lake Como.
Lined with elegant 19th-century villas, crowned by snow-capped mountains, buzzing with ferries, hydrofoils, and slow passenger-only boats, this is a good place to take a break from the intensity and obligatory turnstile culture of central Italy. Lake Como is Italy for beginners. It seems half the travelers you'll meet on Lago di Como have tossed their itineraries overboard and are actually relaxing. The area's isolation and flat economy have left it pretty much the way the 19th-century romantic poets described it.
While you can easily drive around the lake, the road is narrow, congested, and lined by privacy-seeking walls, hedges, and tall fences. This is train-and-boat country. Regular train departures whisk you from intense Milan into the serenity of Lago di Como in an hour. The lake is well-served by pricey little boats. When you consider the included scenery, the $3.50 per one-stop hop isn't quite so expensive.
The town of Bellagio, "the Pearl of the Lake," is a classy combination of tidiness and Old World elegance. If you don't mind that tramp-in-a-palace feeling, it's a fine place to surround yourself with the more adventurous of the soft travelers and shop for umbrellas and ties. The heavy curtains between the arcades keep the tourists and their poodles from sweating.
One hop away by ferry, the town of Varenna offers the best of all lake worlds. Easily accessible by train, on the less-driven side of the lake, Varenna has a romantic promenade, a tiny harbor, narrow lanes, and its own villa. It's the right place to savor a lakeside cappuccino or aperitivo. There's wonderfully little to do here, and it's very quiet at night. The passerella (lakeside walk, unlit but safe after dark) is adorned with caryatid lovers pressing silently against each other in the shadows.
Finding a room on Lake Como is tight from July through September, and wide open most of the rest of the year. Varenna's Hotel Olivedo, facing the ferry dock, is a romantic Old World hotel with antique furniture and classy parquet floors. Most of the rooms have tiny, glorious lakeview balconies. It's a fine place to practice the art of la dolce far niente and watch the children, boats, and sun come and go. The brisk, hardworking manager Laura doesn't smile a lot, and runs a very tight ship (prices vary with season and views: S-€60, Db-€140, half-pension required May–mid-Oct—see below, cash only, no elevator, air-con, closed mid-Nov–mid-Dec, tel. & fax 0341-830-115, www.olivedo.it, info@olivedo.it). Laura's excellent dinner (€22 per person, required for guests May–mid-Oct) adds €44 to the price of double room per day and doesn't include drinks.
Albergo Milano, located right in the old town, is graciously run by Egidio and his Swiss wife, Bettina. Fusing the best of Italy with the best of Switzerland, the place manages to be both very well-run and romantic. Most of its eight comfortable rooms offer extravagant views, balconies, or big terraces (Sb-€115, Db-€150, €5 extra for view terrace, €5/day cash discount, no elevator; from the station, take main road to town and turn right at steep alley where sidewalk and guardrail break; Via XX Settembre 35; tel. 0341-830-298, fax 0341-830-061, www.varenna.net, hotelmilano@varenna.net). For €27 per person, enjoy a three-course dinner made of seasonal produce and fresh lake fish (Mon and Wed–Sat). This place whispers luna di miele — honeymoon (see their website for a three-night honeymoon deal).
Or try Menaggio, directly across the lake from Varenna and just eight miles from Lugano in Switzerland. Menaggio feels more like a real town than its neighbors. Its hostel — La Primula Youth Hostel — is tops, offering lots of fun activities, good food, and the only cheap beds on the lake. Run by Alberto, it caters to a quiet, savor-the-lakes crowd. Located about 300 yards south of the Menaggio dock, it has a view terrace, games galore, Internet access, and a washing machine, as well as bike, canoe, and kayak rentals (€15/person in dorm bed, €16/person for 4- to 6-bed room with private bath, €3 extra for nonmembers, includes breakfast, sheets and towels extra, cash only, easy parking nearby, reception and bar open 8:00–10:00 & 16:00–24:00, rooms closed 10:30–16:00, hotel closed Nov–mid-March; hearty dinners with drinks for €12 — reserve dinner by 18:00, served at 20:00; Via IV Novembre 106, tel. & fax 034-432-356, www.menaggiohostel.com, menaggiohostel@mclink.it). Ask Alberto and Claudia for ideas about hikes and bike rides in the area.
Updated for 2008. For lots more information, check out our best-selling Rick Steves' Italy guidebook — or join us on one of our free-spirited tours in Italy.