Short notice Italian Lakes trip in mid September without hiring a car

[Pandersmum]

Can anyone help me plan a short notice trip to the Italian lakes in mid Sept this year?
Where to stay / which airport to fly too?
Wasn’t planning to hire a car.
Romantic, couples relaxing stay - 4 nights / spa hotel 4/5 star
Thanks!

I can recommend Resort & Spa Parco San Marco on the Italian side of Lake Lugano. Super friendly staff, great food, and they've got their own bit of beach as well as a couple of pools. They'll arrange pickup if you fly into Lugano

I’ve travelled around there with young children using the bus and some hotels have bike hire too

lake Garda!

Milan or Rome - Milan is an hour from Como by train and Rome is amazing in and of itself

Fly to Milan then get the train from there to Lake Como. When you're there, use the very regular ferry service to dot about the lake and explore that way. It's so easy - I wouldn't take a car.

Hi op.
Not the Italian lakes - well, sort of in one part of the lake, Lugano is very easy to get to without a car.

Fly to Milan Malpensa and there's a coach that goes to Lugano from the airport.

Its a lovely lake and one end is Italian.

There are tons of bus services to Como etc too.

I think a lot of it depends on whether you’re happy to sit on a bus with a book, enjoy the scenery & listen to conversations.

Some stuff is admittedly far easier solo than with kids.

Thanks everyone for the really helpful feedback. Neither of us has been to this area before and it sounds like wherever we go we’ll have a great time.
We’ve decided today to do the trip by train and boat this time as a taster trip for a longer trip in the future.

Lake Como - fly to Milan, train to Como town then you get the public transport ferry everywhere around the lake (and there’s a bus too). Easy, done it twice.

Same but I'd get the train (still from Milan) that goes up the east coast of the lake and stay in Varenna or similar. Then you're much closer by ferry to the other main towns around the lake, like Bellagio and Menaggio.

My week in Menaggio was early September & the timing was perfect.

I have lovely memories of evenings dangling my feet in the lake while drinking red wine or eating gelato.

If you do the Como funicular, which I strongly recommend, make sure you get there for the first run because it gets busy fast after that.

We stayed in Lezzeno (Hotel Aurora), small but lovely.

https://www.hlapalma.it/en/sky-bar/ Hotel La Palma in Stresa, Lake Maggiore. You can get a shuttle from Milan Malpensa. No car needed. Boat trips.

Over the years, we’ve been to Stresa, Como and Desenzano by train so it’s quite doable. Not done much in the way of spas but also consider Bormio, which can also be reached by train and bus from Milan. I love the spas there.