Bergamo with toddler

[ToddlerinItaly]

Just booked flights to Milan Bergamo airport for next month. Looking for any recommendations on places to stay/things to do with our almost two year old. We will hire a car and ideally be within 1.5 hours of the airport, budget is upto £1000 for a week. We would like to have some cafes/restaurants in walking distance and some outside space for the little one to play. A pool would be great! Open to hotels/b&bs/self catering.

I'd drive up to lake Como and stay in one of the little towns along the lake. The lake will definitely be too cold to swim in but an outdoor pool might be warm enough by then. As you've rented a car you could do some daytrips up into the Alps to go for walks (get a sling/backpack carrier for this).

There is an attraction on lake Lugano called Swiss Miniature which has moving scale models of trains, cable cars and mountains which our young dc loved. Boat trips on lakes Maggiore or Como. There is a water fountain park near the lake in Como. Small animal park above Stresa reached by minitrain.

Hotel Villa Marie in Tremezzo on Lake Como, or Hotel La Palma in Stresa, Lake Maggiore. Both have pools, lake views etc. Boat trips galore. Lake Como you can visit Bellagio and Villa Balbianello (featured in Star Wars and James Bond). From Stresa, trips to Borromean Islands, Alpy Land, wild animal park as mentioned above. Both have lake front playgrounds, mini trains etc. Gorgeous scenery. Stresa has more places to eat.

Thank you all! I’ve seen some nice accommodation around Lake Iseo, does anyone know this area?

I know it well. It's lovely and less touristy than the other lakes. I'd base yourself in Iseo which has a little more going on. You can take a little ferry to the island which is fun!

How about travelling a bit further and going to lake Garda. Still within 90 mins if you stay in the south and loads of stuff for kids.

Thanks all!

@Verite1 we will have a car so happy to travel to Garda etc for day trips but we have very early flight times so hoping being based closer to the airport will make travel days easier! Any specific recommendations for things/places to visit on Garda?

@Pantouflarde thats great to hear, the accommodation I’ve seen is sort of half way between Bergamo and Iseo. Happy to have a more rural base and travel around. Ferry sounds good, my little boy is very into any sort of transport so he’ll love it. Does anyone know of any farm type places? He loves animals so keen to do something around that

I would also have a look at Eurocamp around lake Maggiore. They will have an on-site pool and restaurant and play area and we found it brilliant with young children. If you’re going outside of school holidays it’s also very reasonably priced.

Iseo is lovely. I also love Como & Garda but I don’t think I’d take a two year old, given the choice, I think it’d be quite stressful. I also wouldn’t want to do too much driving with a rear facing toddler in the heat. The roads round Como can be somewhat challenging 😅

@YouveGotAFastCar hes actually pretty good in the car. We carefully picked the location so no journeys will be very long. Plus it shouldn’t be too hot at the end of May. We travel with him plenty and whilst there’s stressful moments, it’s all worth it in my opinion.

Stay in Bergamo town itself. It's fabulous. There is an upper town and an upper-upper town (two funiculars). Everything you like about Italy, a 3-Euro bus ride from the airport. We stayed at Locanda Mimmo which was beautiful (although we were very slightly disappointed by its restaurant) and would definitely return.

That’s great to know @samarrange! We have decided to stay on the outskirts of Bergamo so we have some open space for our 2yo to burn off energy! We’ll be on the bus route and about 15 mins out of Bergamo so plan to explore it lots! Any restaurant recommendations?

Any restaurant recommendations?

It's Italy so it's hard to go wrong. Prices are reasonable. There is an amazing foccacia/pizza slice shop in one of the side streets in the upper town that you won't want to miss (but I've forgotten the name🤦‍♂️)

Photo shows our aperitivo one evening last August...