Hopping through the Lake Villages - Lake Como, Italy
With the wind in our hair, the sun on our faces, we went hopping through the Lake Como villages!
Lake Village Hopping
Within the Lake Como area, one can spend entire days ferry hopping between the various beautiful lake villages. From our AirBnB host and google research that we could easily visit three key and cute villages - Varenna, Belliano, and Menaggio.
Regardless of the google map times, Italian ferry schedules, and even the somewhat English schedules, finding the right ferry times can be difficult! While I cannot offer much more help, I used this handy website to find the ferry times from Bellano.
Pro Tip: While getting the entire lake pass may sound like a great idea, start nice and slow to really enjoy these beautiful Italian villages.
Pro Pro Tip: Each village appeared to have its own version of the ferry pass. Bring cash as card was not widely accepted!
The Start
After our late night arriving in our sleepy village, we slept in and caught up with my parents. Our AirBnB has a fantastic view of the surrounding lake and mountains. The AirBnB includes small snacks for breakfast but I wanted to see what the cute lakeside cafes had to offer!
Because my parents said the walk up and down to the village was arduous, we drove to the lakefront. I think they did this because they weren’t the ones driving on the tiny Italian streets! Once we arrived by the lake, the village had a little market and we found awesome little flavored breadsticks! We chose pizza, rosemary, and onion and raisin (yes, it was good!).
Visiting Varenna
For our first stop, we visited Varenna, a beautiful lake village well known for the idyllic church and lake setting. There are two ferry stops on either side of the village. We decided to walk through the village and bask in the sun! There really isn’t much activity going on the water front other than cafes and tourists (yes, including us!). As we walked, we noticed many, many staircases leading up the mountain.
With half the village up on the mountain, we decided there are essentially three levels. The water level is for tourists as they usually step off the ferry, take a few pictures, maybe grab an expresso or lunch in the cafes, then head off on the next ferry.
For those who want an authentic experience, I highly encourage going to the second level! We discovered this is where all the good restaurants are off the beaten track.
Finally, the third level is very local and traffic. We saw the village people walking with their groceries and found the hotels and everything else!
Il Cavvatappi
Because we were getting a little hungry, I quickly researched if we should settle for the standard cafes on the water level or venture back up the second level for restaurants off the beaten track. Because google maps can’t really display levels, it took us some time to find Il Cavvatappi.
Our lovely little restaurant is the perfect example of the amazing little Italian eatery. With only 7 or so tables, space is at a premium, but you can still see and smell the delicious things coming out of the kitchen! Because this would be my parent’s first true Italian meal, we decided to go slightly big.
Because we had four people, we decided to order a bottle of wine local to the region. Our waiter recommended a very light and fruity wine, Sassella 2014 and we began with our Italian favorite - burrata! My parents really enjoyed it as they hadn’t had one before in the US!
For our mains, we each ordered our own pasta as we were really hungry after having a light breakfast and a big afternoon ahead of us! Plus, all the pasta sounded fabulous! I ordered a very tasty fettuccine duck ragu and MF devoured her spinach and ricotta cheese ravioli. Both of my parents ordered the traditional spaghetti, but I think my pasta won the meal!
Scenic Menaggio
After rolling ourselves down the hill and onto the ferry, we ventured too Menaggio. Whilst a quick ferry ride to Menaggio, we enjoyed the sunshine and scenery as we were in the middle of Lake Como. The surrounding mountains and villages were postcard perfect!
After we arrived in Menaggio, we were quickly put to shame as a super marathon was going on today. Over 50 miles through the Italian Alps! To make ourselves feel better, we all ordered gelato at one of the two gelaterias. It was very tasty - while walking runners nearly collapse at the finish line!
Similar to Bellano, Menaggio is very small. Even with our gelato stop, it did not take long to explore the lakeside and the village center. One of my favorite spots was the rocky pebble beach as we could see the village and the mountains as well as folks enjoying boats! If we thought ahead, we should have rented a private boat, but the ferry does just fine!
Belliago - Pearl of Lake Como
For our last stop on our lake village hop, we ferried to the pearl of Lake Como - Belliago. Sitting at the crux of Lake Como, Belliago is the base for many tourists who make the train journey from Milan. With many popular restuarants, hotels, and activities, Belliago would be a perfect weekend destination!
For my parents, however, this meant their worst nightmare! We arrived and instantly regretted coming at the 5pm peak time! There was an absolute crush of people either trying to make their way back to Milan or going to another village. As we tried to escape the ferry dock crowds, we just kept finding more crowds! Thus, we did a very quick tour of Belliago before getting on the first ferry back to Bellano.
Quiet Bellano - the true Pearl of Lake Como
By the ferry dock, there is a lovely lakeside restaurant where we ordered a few snacks and aperitifs before our actual dinner! We sat in the cool and quiet shade whilst basking in the sunset!
For all of us, this was a terrific cap on our busy day! From the scenic Varenna to crazy Belliago, we have successful hopped across three beautiful lake villages.
Sunset in Bellano
For dinner, we did not have too many options in Bellano. I believe I found a grand total of 5-10 restaurants with most of them the cheap cafes for bikers - both motorcycles and cyclists! To celebrate our successful day, we went to a pizzeria that boasted sunset views. Whilst the sunset wasn’t going to be spectaurlar today, it provided a beautiful view!
For dinner, we just split pepperoni pizzas! For my dad, this was a dream come true as he tasted the lovely Italian pie. The crust was very tasty and light! Can’t get much better than this!
The UnChartered Summary
Lake Como and the surrounding villages are extraordinarily beautiful on a sunny day! The green mountains provide a lovely backdrop for the sandstone colors of the houses. Plus, the lakeside views from the ferries are fantastic!
- Know your ferry times and be realistic about your plan! Wandering through three villages will take most of the day!
- Varenna is probably my favorite village has it had enough bars, restaurants, and views!
- Bellano provides a very great base for exploring the lake villages, especially if you want to escape the crowds.
- Go to Belliago very early in the morning to avoid the crowds. Had we realized this, we probably would have been on the first ferry there and then visited Varenna and Menaggio.