Links

If you are interested in things Italian you might like to visit a website designed by a friend of ours for Italians and lovers of Italy who live in Britain:

We leave lots of information in the house about places to visit and things to do, but the following links may be useful if you want to plan your activities in advance or find out more about Lake Como generally.

Local tourist websites

    There are several websites (in English) which give a general description of Lake Como and its different areas and activities: the best are probably www.larioonline.it and www.lakeofcomo.info  .The former is better for information about different areas, the latter is excellent on the activities to be found round the lake. Two local towns with their own sites are www.menaggio.com and www.gravedona.it .These tend to have a little history, pictures, local activities, links and sometimes itineries (not all in English). The Valtellina, to the north and east of the lake also has its own website (in English) at www.valtellina.it . If you speak Italian, www.cmaltolario.it gives more detailed information about the northern lake, places to visit and villages like Stazzona.

    An example of a general travel website's view of Lake Como, with recommendations, is www.gonomad.com/destinations/0504/lake_como_italy.html  though this is aimed at Americans and ignores winter activities like skiing and snowboarding.

Maps

    We find that the best map for small local roads as well as hiking and biking routes is the Kompass 1:50,000 Lago di Como - Lago di Lugano (Wanderkarten/walking map no.91). For a larger area the Touring Club Italiano 1:200,000 regional map of Lombardy is good. These are available from map shops like www.stanfords.co.uk . You can also look at road maps of the area online at eg www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/gbr/tpl/hme/MaHomePage.htm . Put in: address - via vanzonico, postcode:-22010, city: -Stazzona, country - Italy and the map will centre near Casa Felice.

Travel and transport

    Passenger (and car) ferry services on Lake Como provide an interesting way of seeing the area. They are frequent and cheap so generally you just buy a ticket and get on, but www.navigazionelaghi.it  provides timetables and other information.

    Bus services round Como are provided by Spt Linea. Go to www.sptlinea.it  and click on "orare", then " Ricerca interattiva", "Orari e informazioni sui mezzi..." (in orange box), and "visualizza tutti gli orari" (under "Selezione il tipo di consultazione"). Then type "Dongo" in the box after "Tutte le linee che passano dal commune di..." and you will see a list of routes including the C10 (Como-Dongo-Colico) and C17 (Dongo-Casa Felice-Garzeno). Click on "Andata" to see outgoing timetables and "Ritorno" to see return..

    The three main airports for Lake Como are Milan Malpensa, Milan Linate (both  www.sea-aeroportimilano.it/en/   ) and Milan Bergamo (Orio al Serio -  www.orioaeroporto.it ) which give details in English of flights and of services like shuttle buses and car-hire firms. For booking flights from the British Isles the airline sites are www.alitalia.co.uk , www.aerlingus.com , www.britishairways.com , www.easyjet.com , www.flybmi.com  ,www.flybe.com ,  www.jet2.com ,   www.lufthansa.com and www.ryanair.com . You can also hire cars from through these airlines or use international firms' sites  like www.europcar.co.uk or www.hertz.co.uk as well as finding hirers from the airports above.

    Information in Italian about the Italian railway system can be found at www.trenitalia.com . This provides timetables, prices, descriptions of train types, ticket agencies in Italy and abroad and ticket purchase via the net (for collection in Italy). Trenitalia also has a wbsite aimed specifically at travellers from the UK: http://www.italiarail.co.uk/tickets/IR/IRUK.asp?AFF=ITR  which  also gives details of international passes trains and passes. Click on "European timetable" to plan your journey. Details of European passes for UK residents are also shown on www.raileurope.co.uk.

Things to do

    There are many centres for watersports, horseriding, mountain-biking  golf etc in the area but not all have websites. Those that do are sometimes in Italian only.

    Tabo Surf Centre ( www.tabosurf.com  in English) has windsurfing and kitesurfing courses and lessons, sailing lessons and boat hire, canoe and mountain bike hire. Windsurfing Colico also does windsurfing and kitesurfing lessons and hire and guided canoe and mountain bike excursions (  www.windsurf-colico.com  ). Windsurfcenter Domaso  ( www.breva.ch  ) (German  and English) provides windsurfing and catamaran courses, canoe and mountain bike hire. Bomboklat specialises in kitesurfing (in English at www.bomboklat.it/defaultB.asp?lingua=GB&area=P )  Canottieri Domaso ( www.canottieridomaso.it ) is a sailing club which rents both sailing and motor boats,  Annje Bonnje ( www.annjebonnje.it ) has sailing courses and boat hire. Rent a Boat ( www.rentland.it ) (part English) rents motorboats.

    Many of the centres above hire bikes. Keen mountain bikers may also be interested in the Lake Como Bike Club in Bellagio which runs a 35km tour (  www.bellagio.co.nz/bike/index.html   in English).

    Horseriders will find details of the Lario Equestrian Centre near Colico (good for more serious riders) at www.centroippicodellario.it , and of  the "Crazy Cowboy Ranch" (good for the more casual) at www.ilportaledelcavallo.it/crazycowboyranch , while there is information (in English) about the Centro Ippico "la Torre" at www.menaggio.com  (click on "information", then "sport"). These centres organise rides into the wetland or the hills as well as riding lessons.

    For golf, the Villa D'Este site, in English, provides details of its own and other courses( www.villadeste.it/t0_golf.html ). The nearest is Menaggio-Cadenabbia.  The Italian Golf Federation also provides details of golf clubs, but in Italian, at www.federgolf.it (click on "i golf club", then Lombardia, then Como).

    Directions to the Menaggio climbing "gym" are given at www.menaggio.com  (click"information", "sport", "palestra di roccia"), and two examples of supervised climbs can be found on the "Trekking" page of www.lakeofcomo.info .Experienced climbers will find information (in English) about climbs in www.thecrag.com/CRAGS/LeccoComoMilano-231512.html .

    The Jungle Raider Parks' website (in English) is www.jungleraiderpark.com .

    The Cavalcalario Club in Bellagio ( www.bellagio.co.nz/mountains/index.html  in English) organises a range of activities including paragliding and canyoning as well as trekking, mountain (and downhill) biking, horse-riding and canoing.

     A good source of information about ski/snowboarding resorts is www.skiinfo.it . Select region "Lombardia" and then individual resorts, the nearest being Madesimo, Barzio, Bobbio Valtorta, Chiesa-Valmalenco, Caspoggio-Valmalenco, Teglio and Aprica.  There are also smaller centres in Lecco (Margno-Betulle, Alpe Giumello, Alpe di Paglio) and Sondrio (Pescegallo-Valgerola) provinces. Centres often have their own provincial or individual websites: eg www.valchiavenna.com and www.madesimo.com  (both for Madesimo;select English), www.pianidibobbio.com (for Barzio-Piano di Bobbio-Valtorta; in Italian) and www.valtellina.it (which covers and links to all the resorts except Barzio and those near Lecco; click on English then "skiareas"; the top of Lake Como is to the left of the map). Many sites give email links to tourist offices etc if you want more information.

Villas and gardens

    For something more peaceful www.ilporticcioloviaggi.com/Localities/villas_gardens.html  gives descriptions and opening times in English for well-known lakeside villas and the Villa d'Este website (  www.villadeste.it/t5_thelake_attractions.html ) also has descriptions of other villas (both in English). The Villa Carlotta (  http://www.villacarlotta.it/sito/index.htm   in English) has well-known botanical gardens as well as an interesting villa to look round.. English information about the Castle of Vezio (which holds falconry demonstrations) is provided by www.castellodivezio.it