Italian Lakes

[LondonMummer]

Some of our best family holidays have been spent in Italy (Tuscany, Umbria and Sicily) and next year I'm thinking of the Italian Lakes for a fortnight - last couple of weeks of July (kids are 12 and 13).

Looking for nice quality accommodation but not crazy money/Como chic.

Has anyone stayed in great agriturismos or villas with pools - any other advice?

If you've been at that time of year what was the weather like?

Ooh. Interested to hear more! We've never done Italy with kids @LondonMummer but would love to this coming year! Watching this one! 😁

My DC have been desperate to go to Italy ever since I started doing the Joe Wicks dvd which he filmed next to one of the Italian lakes! But I'm not sure where to start so I'm following for ideas too.

Garda is the largest and liveliest, Maggiore scenic and Como the more sophisticated. Garda can get really hot and busy late July/August, and be prepared for mosquito bites. Would you be hiring a car?

Yes would definitely hire a car as we like to explore town and villages. Kids are unlikely to want to swim in the lakes so would want a pool.

I went to Maggiore pre-kids for a few days and absolutely loved it. Breathtaking. I did find much of the accommodation seemed quite old fashioned though and I'm worried that we'd get a lot of rain. Mosquitoes are incredibly annoying but we could live with that.

I've stayed and eaten at this agriturismo near to Lake Garda agriturismolamontina.it/en/

Hotel Filario on lake como was great - not loads of kids but enough for them to make friends without it being chaos. They have a pool but you can also walk straight into the lake. It’s reasonably priced for como.

www.filario.it

The weather is generally great with the occasional thunderstorms that don’t last long at all and dry up very quickly.

Lecco is my favourite town on Lake Como, not sure about accomodation. Consider Lake Iseo too.

Lake Trasimeno may not be up there with the likes of Como but worth consideration in my view. Castiglione del Lago is a lovely little town by the lake, a short drive from Cortona (beautiful) and very convenient for trips to Rome, Florence, Siena and a host of other lovely places. Good variety of accommodation from campsites by the lake, Agriturismo sites, villas etc.

@Shivermetimbers0112 thank you so much. We actually spent a lovely day on and around Trasimeno during an Umbria holiday a couple of years ago. Whilst it does indeed have lots to offer I'm really keen to share the beauty of the Northern lakes this time.

@Adventurisoutthere WOW that hotel looks incredible.

It does seem surprisingly hard to find any modern accommodation around the lakes. So much of what I've come across is fussy, old-fashioned (not in a good way) and eye-wateringly expensive. Or not for kids. I'm not sure if we can afford this in July but it literally ticks all the other boxes. Thank you so much for sharing. It's super tempting.

www.hotelvillamarie.com/en/home/ We stayed here on Lake Como - a family run place which was fabulous. 5 mins to the ferry and tourist train and restaurants. We had a room in the Annex with a great view over the pool and the lake. Lovely atmosphere in the evenings having drinks on the terrace. Lake Maggiore, we stayed in Stresa a couple of times but at the Hotel La Palma which is not cheap in the summer - though very lovely. And Desenzano on Lake Garda which is really good location (train station too) but we stayed in a hotel with no pool.

@MissAmbrosia thank you SO much for your post. After a ton of research and considering numerous Airbnbs I think we've decided to stay at La Palma in interconnecting rooms. I first came across it thanks to your mention of it here so sincere thanks. It looks gorgeous.

Any tips for us? The boys are 12 and 13. Were there kids around the pool (the lake one over the road I assume more than the rooftop one). What are the main nationalities (the kids speak Dutch as well as English).

Anything we should know about the hotel or Stresa itself? Did you go out on day trips at all?

Thank you again. This is Mumsnet at its best x

Yes - kids around the pool. I think the main languages were English and German. My daughter loved the lake pool, but my favourite spot was lying next to the roof pool with a cocktail. There's a bar next to the lake pool too - but mossie spray needed in the evening. The boat dock is about 5 mins walk along the front. We did trips to all 3 of the Borromean Islands - all slightly different and also to the Botanical gardens on the other side of the lake at Villa Taranto. There was a cable car going up to Park Mottarone (there's a go ape place) - but it crashed a couple of years ago! There's a chair lift up to Alpyland with a bob sleigh. Last time we drove round to Lake Orta - also gorgeous. We also walked to Parco Pallavicino which has gorgeous scenery and an animal park. Next time I want to do the round trip - train via Domodossola to Locarno and back by boat.
Stresa has some nice (very reasonably priced) restaurants along the front and centred round the main square.

The staff at La Palma are all fabulous. Proper pot of tea at breakfast. In the summer they open up the whole front so that you can have breakfast outside. The sky bar is my new happy place! The scenery is truly stunning. Will you drive? There is parking at the back of the hotel. We've done it with and without the car. There is a shuttle bus you can book from Milan Malpensa direct to Stresa. The first time we went, we arrived about 9.30 am on a rainy Sunday morning after an early flight. They sent us to have some breakfast and afterwards our bags had been taken to up our (upgraded) room. We got an upgrade last year too - as I booked 2 rooms, it looked a bit pricey to have the lake view ones, so I booked the standard ones - but we got 2 lake view rooms anyway :) I want to go back again now. I will see if I can find some pics.

Omg you've sealed the deal! Yes we will have a car and are 100% planning Centovalli rail and back by boat as my son is a train nut and it will be the highlight of his trip. Also planning to drive to SwissMiniatur by Lugano as they love model villages (and model trains!).

My husband and I love wandering through the slightly less touristy villages and I've got my eye on Lake Orta for that.

We are also in Classic rooms. Have you been in mid July? I'm slightly worried about the prospect of a week of rain (though we are heading to Liguria for a week afterwards so that should be a higher chance of sun). The odd day or evening should be manageable though.

Go Ape sounds fab. My kids love that kind of thing but hasn't realised the cable car accident was there. Aagghh how awful. Has it reopened? I'd feel slightly sick knowing it was the one that broke.

Def want to do island boat hopping.

Gosh super excited now. Thank you again for your tips. I can offer you advice on Kefalonia, South East Sicily and some other random places in return. I also run a fairly prolific blog about Amsterdam/The Netherlands particularly for families so if you ever think about going please reach out and I can give you a ton of tips.

We've been at Easter and early/mid July. Both times we had a couple of brief torrential downpours but otherwise good weather. Even at Easter it was nice enough to have lunch outside. Whereabouts are you going in Liguria? We stayed in Sestri Levante last September and did trips to Portofino and the Cinque Terre villages. I love Italy. This year Ischia and Naples in May and possibly Puglia in September. I want to go back to the Hotel La Palma too now, just to sit on the roof.

Some more pics

We adore Italy too. Highly recommend Sicily. Have a read of this post I wrote about our holiday there last Summer if interested.

affordacool.wordpress.com/2022/07/27/sicily/

We're staying at this Airbnb in Liguria which has amazing reviews:

abnb.me/lifHLqKqtwb

Planning on all the places you mention there and more.

Ischia and Naples should be wonderful. Annoyingly my eldest son is there on a school trip in Feb so I ruled it out for the Summer. I'm taking my younger son to Rome for a few days over half term whilst he's there. My husband also owes me a long-postponed trip to Venice this year.

As you gather I'm both holiday and Italy-obsessed!

I can heartily recommend the northern end of Lake Garda near Limone and Malcesine. A lot less pretentious than Como, absolutely gorgeous and not crazy money.

That AirBNB looks fantastic! We stayed further up the hill in Fivizzano years ago. Can really recommend Lerici, Portovenere and the Bay of Poets. Driving/parking in Cinque Terre and Portofino is nigh on impossible. I would park in La Spezia or similar and visit by boat/train.

In case you haven't quite finalized, I can also wholeheartedly recommend this little resort on the Italian side of Lake Lugano: www.parco-san-marco.com/en/home/.

Excellent food, very relaxed family friendly atmosphere- there's even a donkey family there to feed! Couple of pools plus they've got their own stretch of beach. Half hour drive to Lake Como.

Ooh I am saving this one as we haven't done Lake Lugano. Looks lovely.

@MissAmbrosia we are in Hotel La Palma tonight for our first night and I wanted to upload a stunning photo from the Skybar just for you to say thank you - but my Mumsnet app won't let me upload any pictures!

The thought was there. Thank you so much for your recommendation. It's fabulous to finally be here

@LondonMummer Oh - lovely! I am not all jealous! I hope it's not too roasting hot and you have a great time! We're off to Sicily in September so I will have a re-read of your blog post. 😍

So can I! Malcesine us gorgeous. Lots of lovely shops, cafes and restaurants. You can do a boat trip from Malcesine to Limone. It costs very little.