Italian Lakes

[LillyP88]

We are planning a 4 night trip in April and steering towards Lake Como. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to stay? The hotels we have seen so far look awful!

Any suggestions on itinerary, activities, restaurants etc - all welcome 😊

We stayed in Argegno, up the coast from Como.
it’s a small village/town away from the hustle of the main sites. We stayed at “villa belvedere Como lake relais” which is one of the few hotels we found right on the banks of the lake rather than behind the road which runs around it.
We paid for the luxury rooms at the front of the property (lake views) which had the most stunning outlook. The hotel had a nice breakfast and had its own pier which we have a private boat tour pick us up from. Dinner wasn’t great, we ate elsewhere in the village the second night.
Argegno also has the Pigra furnicular which is a fantastic viewpoint away from the crowds in Como. We really enjoyed our stay. We did a private boat tour of the lake (well bottom bit of the lake) and got them to drop us in Como where we spent an afternoon. We then got the passenger ferry back afterwards. We didn’t stay long enough to explore any of the other places as we were just travelling through. Fully recommend splashing out on the private boat tour if you can though, memories of a lifetime!
although I will say April your weather might be very dicey. We went start of June and it was raining the first day we got there, but then was 30c the next day. The rain had caused a lot of debris on the lake which caused issues with some of the boats.

We spent 4 nights in Lake Maggiore in Stresa. Stunningly beautiful and the lake has the Borromean Islands, with their lovely gardens and palaces. I think our hotel was called Las Palmas. Pretty, right on the lake, good restaurant.

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Hotel La Palma in Stresa, Lake Maggiore is amazing. Lovely roof top bar and pool and lake front pool too. There is a shuttle from Milan Malpensa - about 45 mins. Boat trips to Borromean Islands, Botanical gardens, possible to do a train journey up one side of lake and return by boat. We also stayed in Hotel Villa Marie in Tremezzo on Lake Como. Probably need a car for that. Close to Villa Carlotta and Balbianello (in James Bond and Star Wars) boat trip to Bellagio.

Sirmione on Lake Garda is lovely.

I stayed at the Hotel du Lac in Menaggio. Nice traditional hotel in a good location.

if budget allows then also recommend Grand Hotel Tremezzo just a little down the coast.