Search hotels in Varenna

I was in Varenna for a long weekend at the beginning of November. I stayed 3 nights and had 2.5 days. Varenna itself is easy to explore if you're ready to walk hills and if you want spectacular vistas. I did everything on foot and climbed many feet and walked many miles. It's quite small and many visitors simply do a day trip by ferry. The locals are not particularly friendly, but this is true of many tourist destinations.

Beautiful town with stunning views of the lake. The castle is worth the steep climb but is presented more in terms of themes rather than its history. Great little walks around the town, for example the "Patriarchs" walk. The town itself is very attractive and draws a lot of tourists. Easy boat trips to other Como towns. Would have seen Villa Monastero but it was closed for unstated reasons.

Varenna is small enough that you can enjoy the whole place in a couple of days, but big enough that there are restaurants and shops and villas to go to and enjoy. You can walk everywhere. There is a cute little "Lover's Walk" for photos, and the place is just so picturesque that you could sit for hours just watching people, drinking cappuccino and basking in the loveliness! We ate one night at the #2-ranked restaurant, and I wasn't blown away at all - not worth the $$. We ate great pizza one night at the glass-enclosed restaurant in the main square - much better and much less expensive. There's also a cute place where you can go just for wine - something like In Vino Veritas.

Varenna and surrounding area has spectacular scenery. Because of this, there were lots of tourist. Catching one of the boats that traverse the lake is a bit trying, particularly in the middle of the day. Queues to get on the boats are very disorganized with people cutting in line. Bellagio, which seemed to be the most popular destination, was also very crowded. At lunch time the majority of restaurants were full. Also, it was difficult to find a public W/C in Bellagio (one near the boat landing had really long lines). Most restaurants required that a meal be ordered so having a cappuccino and using their W/C was not an option. Menaggio, on the west side of Lake Como, was far less crowded. There are several Villa's south of Managgio that are very worthwhile visiting.

Varenna was the perfect place to stay in order to visit as much of Lake Como as possible. Train from Milan was easy, as was the train to Tirano and on to St Moritz. Shopping (plus two small grocery shops) was good and restaurants and gelaterias excellent. There were not too many so you don't feel too crowded out with visitors, despite the fact that many arrive for just a day visit and swarm through the town. Villa Monastero was a wonderful visit as was Villa Barbariello by taxi tour to Lenno. A day visit from Varenna to Bellano was also lovely.

My wife and I have traveled all over the world. Lake Como is in the top three places of anywhere we ever been. It is so beautiful with the Alps. The people are very nice and the food is delicious. I would recommend it for anybody going to Italy.