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Lake Como โ€” The Good, The Bad & The Risotto ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น




My friend, Kristen, and I planned a trip to Bellagio, Italy based on a blog post we came across. We really enjoyed ourselves and want to add some tips and tricks for future travelers!


Airport โžก๏ธย Bellagio ๐ŸŸฐย ๐ŸšŒย + ๐ŸšŠ๐ŸšŠ๐ŸšŠ+โ›ด๏ธ


Letโ€™s actually start with the bad news โ€” Lake Como (specifically Bellagio) is a HIKE to get to. We felt a little misled by the blogger we were following because she implied it was a very streamlined, quick and easy trip from Milan Linate Airport โ€” and I assure you it was not. It took 5 hours. We landed at 12:30pm and got to Bellagio at 5:30pm + a 10 minute walk to the hotel. We met numerous people who had the exact same experience!


First, I was shocked at how few of the airport workers spoke English. Iโ€™ve always been told that Milan is a very cosmopolitan city so I assumed it was similar to Rome in the fact that everyone would be fluent in English and eager to help a tourist โ€” mistake # 1.ย  We found the outdoor bus station (which was Platform/Door #6) and got on a line for a ticket machine. The machine said it took credit card but wouldnโ€™t, so we went back into the airport and took our Euros at an ATM. When we got out we finally found a bus driver taking a break who spoke English who told us we were trying to buy tickets to the wrong bus, and kindly pointed us in the correct direction. From there, the bus driver was very nice and let us buy the tickets using a credit card right as we walked onto the bus.ย  Soย make a left out of the airport. The bus will be white and will literally electronically say โ€œMilan Centrale Stationโ€ at the front. (Do not turn right and buy a green bus ticket.) There are USB charging stations so bring your chargers! The bus left at 2pm so this was an hour and half after we landed. It was roughly a 25 minute ride to Milan Centrale Stazione.ย 


When we got off the bus and saw the neighborhood the train station was in, we were a little shocked. It was pretty run down with nothing around. I was imagining shops, restaurants, cafes, salons, etc. Nope. So we went into the station to buy our tickets. We thought it would be running every 30-60 minutes, since the blogger said it ran frequently. Nope. There was a train departing in 9 minutes and the best was in TWO hours. We bought the tickets online using the Omio app and ran as fast as we could to the platforms. Once again, no one was there to help and no one spoke English. We FINALLY saw a man in a vest and showed him our tickets. He told us what platform and said that there were 7 delayed trains, so just wait for it to show up. Aka we ran for nothing.ย 


It eventually showed up and we got on โ€” no seats. We stood for a really long time and eventually sat the floor with our luggage. We began talking to the two girls next to us and it turned out they were going to Bellagio, too. They informed us that if we got off at Monza as planned, we wouldnโ€™t be able to make our 2 transfer trains because we left our starting location too late. They whipped out a map and figured out that we could get off a few stops after Monza, at Como San Giovanni, and hop on an hour-long bus ride to Bellagio. Thankfully, they were right! We let them know that we werenโ€™t stalkers but were definitely going to follow them because we had no idea what we were doing! We bought the bus tickets from the cafรฉ in the station, bought a 3โ‚ฌ doughnut (we hadnโ€™t eaten since breakfast and it was now 4:30pm!) and waited for the bus. It came in about 15 minutes and we were on our bumpy way. About an hour later, both a little bus sick and woozy from driving up the side of a mountain, we finally made it to Bellagio. We then had a 5 minute walk to our hotel, which was directly across from the ferry had our originally travel plan worked.


The Amazing Middle Day

  • Boat trip with Omar via AirBNB $109/each


    I'll add more soon!


Should do:

  • Gardens

  • Lovers Lane

  • Mansion (Star Wars 2 Wedding filmed there)

  • Boat tour of Vercase tour


The Return Trip โ›ด๏ธย + ๐ŸšŠ๐ŸšŠ+ ๐ŸšŒ

We were going to take the 3:07pm ferry to Como and hop on a train to Saronno, then transfer to a train to Milan Malpensa Airport. Well. The ferry was completely sold out over an hour before the time slot. We ended up buying an โ€œall day passโ€ to Varenna and getting on the line around 3pm because the queue was so long we were worried we would miss the next ferry, which was at 3:37pm. The entire time we were on it people kept cutting the line (pushing in) and really pissing everyone off. When we finally got near the front (we were probably 15 people away from 1st) they close the dock! We actually did miss the ferry! We took the next one around 4:05pm. By this point, the weather was so bad that we kept going we were on a boat in Dark Sea (Frozen 2). Iโ€™ve literally never seen waves so big in my life! When we finally docked at Varenna we sat there for 10 minutes because the waves were so bad they physically couldnโ€™t dock the boat. When we docked and were allowed to get off, the ferry worker literally threw me and Kristen off the boat. He yelled โ€œQuickly, Miss!โ€ even though we both had luggage we were wheeling and bags and were battling the wind and the rain and the rocking boat!


We made friends with two girls that were also going to Varreno Stazione (the train station we were going to) and followed them to the station. It was roughly a 10 minute walk โ€” uphill through cobblestone streets โ€” in the pouring rain. We bought our tickets on Rome2Rio (about 20 euros for 2 tickets) and began to wait under an awning. Once we moved to the train tracks it was unbelievably crowded, and we were pushed around by the crowds and yelled at by a station worker, who told us to cross to the other side because passengers needed space to exit the incoming train. This caused us to lose our space in front and get soaked by the rain.ย 


When the train finally came (delayed 17 minutes) we were drowned rats because pushed along by the crowds. Kristen and I had to split up because we couldnโ€™t get seats together (and were lucky to get seats at all!).


Weโ€™re supposed to get to Milan Centrale Stazione in 50 minutes at 6:42pm.


I'll add more soon!

็•™่จ€


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