Our Family Trip to Italy Itinerary: Lake Como
I hope you’re enjoying this virtual trip as much as I am as I retrace some steps we took through Italy with our family group of 7! In case you’ve missed it, we have shared our stops so far here…
And now we’re ready for the next stop: Lake Como. We left our beautiful stay near Lake Garda and drove 3 hours to the town of Menaggio on Lake Como.
Once we arrived at the lake, it was a beautiful drive around on winding roads through the picturesque towns bordering the water. There are so many breathtaking views so see as you glimpse the lake from the hills and towns. Menaggio is one of the most popular towns on Lake Como, situated in the middle of the west side. This is where we spent 3 nights as we explored the area. We discovered as we visited the other towns that Menaggio is probably the easiest to navigate by car, even though our VRBO stay was up some very winding roads!
When we arrived in Menaggio, we could not stop staring at the beautiful water and mountain views.
We ate lunch right across from the water and Lily says this was the best lasagna she’s ever had in her life!
The town of Menaggio was nice because it felt spacious and less populated and easy to walk around with a beautiful park-like shoreline. There were not quite as many shops here as there were in some of the other towns, but we did feel like it was the best town in which to stay.
There was also a very fun mini golf course right on the water which we loved!
Our VRBO in Menaggio had some pros and cons, so I’ll share it all with you! It was just a 5-minute drive or so from the shoreline up the mountain and once you got there, the views were amazing! There were two levels of patios with lawns that looked out over the lake onto Menaggio below…
In this closer shot, you can see the docks below near where the above pics were taken.
And there was a beautiful shared pool, just to the side of our unit…
The funny thing was that this building stood out clearly among everything else because it was an extremely modern industrial style among the old world charm, which felt a little out of place.
There were 3 bedrooms and 3 baths, which was the main reason we had chosen this place, but there were some quirky things about it that we didn’t love. The kitchen was very minimally stocked and a few mechanical issues had not been dealt with and there was not enough hot water to accommodate even a couple of showers, so it was a hassle a few times. Soo– having said that- it wasn’t our favorite stay of the trip, but the views were soooo nice so that helped to make up for the problems.
As I mentioned, we stayed 3 nights as this was our base for the day trips, and the 2nd day in Lake Como, we took the passenger ferry across to visit Varenna and Bellagio!
As we approached the dock at Varenna, we saw that it was a beautiful shoreline dotted with colorful buildings.
The streets here were a little more steep and some had several steps, but Abby and Beau still maneuvered fine with the stroller!
While in this town, we toured the Villa Monastero with its gardens, which was, again, breathtaking! There are numerous villas along Lake Como. This was a nice choice because it wasn’t super crowded, was a reasonable price (I think 12-15 euro) and was about an hour or so to tour the house and gardens. There was no need for a reservation. We just bought our tickets at the entrance.
Ironically, there were a few places around Lake Como that reminded us of Hawaii! This view was one of them!
We caught the ferry from Varenna to Bellagio after lunch and it was another fun stop! There are more choices for shopping here and the streets are all almost straight up the hill from the main shoreline, so a stroller is do-able, but most of it is not flat.
We had a beautiful dinner at a hotel on the water with lovely views and started noticing clouds coming in, so we made our way to to the dock to catch a ferry back to Menaggio.
Within minutes, a hail storm came through and we were running for cover! After a few minutes, it passed and it was a great laugh as we boarded the boat soaking wet!
It was another fun day in Lake Como. The next stop is another fun adventure to tell you about! Stay tuned!