I have just booked a Villa on the shores of Lake Como for a week's holiday. I was wondering if any Lifers knew the area and had ideas on what I could do. I absolutely love Italy and the mix of some culture , sightseeing and a couple of days just enjoying my surroundings is the perfect mix for me.
I am flying Ryan Air or as I describe it coach travel in the sky into Bergamo because they are the only reasonably priced flights at this late stage .
The only time I have travelled in this part of Italy before was 21 years ago when I boarded the Supporters Club coach to Brescia and I was lucky enough to stay in Salo on the shores of Lake Garda . I remember one of the other coaches only had a youth hostel but we were lucky enough to have a hotel with a bar in which we drank until the early hours . The only downside was that I had to share a double bed with my mate Rob ! Luckily we were both completely slammered that night.
My questions are ;
What is Como like ?
What is Milan like compared to the other European cities . What are the must sees there ?
As a self confessed Football Stadium freak .Is the San Siro tour worth going on , I was very impressed with the Nou Camp tour in Barcelona .Is this as good ?
How long would it take to get between Como and Garda and are there any other sites worth visiting ?
Is Verona within range for a day trip ?
Thanks in advance
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What is Milan like compared to the other European cities . What are the must sees there? It is ok as a city. To live would be good as has lots of nice restaurants, shops, bars etc. but for tourism I would say isn't the best Italian city. Il duomo in the centre is beautiful.
As a self confessed Football Stadium freak .Is the San Siro tour worth going on , I was very impressed with the Nou Camp tour in Barcelona .Is this as good ? I've been to both the Nou Camp and the San Siro, and I definitely prefer the San Siro. Do the tour, it is brilliant. Amazing stadium and they take you inside the changing rooms.
How long would it take to get between Como and Garda and are there any other sites worth visiting? Not too sure about this, google map it. And not sure how old you are etc but if you have children take them to Gardaland waterpark, it is brilliant.
Is Verona within range for a day trip? Not too sure, again try google maps.
Hope you have a good time mate. I've visited a lot of places, but for me Italy is the best of the lot.
Milan isn’t great to be honest, there isn’t a much to do if you’re not a fan of art or shopping. The cathedral however, is amazing and worth paying to go to the top of.
Verona is brilliant. It’s a lovely place to walk around and should be easily reachable, sorting rail journeys are easy in Italy and most ticket machines display English. Bergamo is also worth a day. I think they'll be well connected as Como gets a lot of visitors.
http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=4ddd1a035296f310VgnVCM1000005817f90aRCRD
I haven’t done the Nou Camp tour but on the San Siro one you will go into each dressing room, physio room, you can use the toilets, there’s a place with models of historic players, trophies, you go into the first tier but cannot get pitchside into the dug-out. I've been to a lot of stadiums and San Siro is my favourite so I'd say it's worth doing. The walk from Lotto metro also has some interesting graffiti.
Verona? Get your ass over there, absolutely something for everyone. If you can book for the opera- just take my word for it and do it. Take a candle and a cushion and you will fall in love with the ambience and perhaps come to understand why opera is so important to Italian lives.
Can you tell I have Italian heritage ? ;-)
I stayed in Como last year when we saw AC Milan play AS Rome. I liked Como a lot. If you want to see how the other half live you need to get out of Como and take a drive around the lake itself.
In Milan you need to visit the Cathedral as well as the Via Spiga (one of the most expensive shopping streets in Europe).
We stayed at Lake Garda a couple of years ago. Try to get an hotel which does not have the main road between the hotel and the lake. We stayed here:hotelmontebaldo.eu/index.php/en/ for a week. We visted Bergamo (take the funicular to the beautiful old town).
We also visited the Mille Miglia Museum in Brescia (the miserable gits don't allow photography!)
I'm not a great opera lover, but we were lucky enough to get tickets to see Verdi's Aidi at the Roman Arena in Verona. What a fantastic experience to be sitting there listening while the sun goes down over the old city.
As I said we stayed on Lake Gard and Bergamo and Verona were a comfortable driving distance away.
Had 2 days in Milan and it was OK if you like high end shopping. The main square is worth a visit.
We then drove to Lake Garda and had 2 days there. one of which was a trip to Verona. Verona is good for a day trip. You have the Arena and Romeo and Juliet's balcony. Great food market there when we went but dont know if this is on everyday.
We then drove to Genoa for a one night stay and found Genoa really good. Mix of modern down on the waterfront with the old town set back. Would definitely go back there.
Hope this helps.
Milan itself is a nice city but as with most places in Italy the best restaurants are down the quiet side and back streets.
Would take a phrase book with you for basics like asking for train tickets.
Enjoy!
We are hiring a car so getting around won't be a problem. I also want to spend a couple of days just relaxing by Lake Como. I have travelled quite a bit in Italy ,but Milan has been a major omission from my travels.
Initially I am planning to go there by train and I suspect Karen my partner will not appreciate the San Siro tour although I am sure she would want to visit the Duomo and see the Da Vinchi Last Supper painting, so I might make a second trip.
It looks like Garda and Verona will be about 2 hours away by car and again I might be tempted to revisit Brescia the scene of Charlton's first competitive European game although from memory I think we compared the town to an Italian version of Middlesbrough.
There is nothing like personal recommendations so thank you again for your comments.
Adjacent varese and piedmont are also lovely.
You could do worse than take a train up to town of Lugano in ticino, Switzerland. It is a beautiful journey and town on arrival is beautiful.
http://www.zicasso.com/luxury-vacation-italy-tours/discover-piedmont-liguria-and-lake-como-tour
you could also do worse than use the itinery part of that website as a baseguide for some ideas
You cant go wrong in that area! Enjoy your trip
As others have said Douma and the last supper are the main attractions in Milan, but book ahead for the last supper as we turned up on the day but the only tickets you could still get were through private tour guides at about 5 x the price so we ended up skipping it. Have regretted it since though. It's fun to walk through the designer quarter and scoff at all the ludicrous prices too and the Castle was decent too, imo.
We were there in September and I'd hoped to get a Milan/Inter game in but it was international break and I wasn't really interested in a stadium tour without a game to attend. However it happened that our visit coincided with the Italian Grand Prix. If you are able to take that in it's about the cheapest race to attend on the whole calendar and also has a unique atmosphere with all the Ferrari fans. We both had great day out for that and enjoyed it way more than I expected. Monza is about halfway between Milan and Como.
Milan - wasn't impressed apart from the cathedral
I trekked in the Dolomites for a week in September couple years back; absolutely loved it, along a route used in the First World War, amazing sights, then drove to Como, stayed in a monastery of all places and onto Milan for the F1 and cathedral. Good holiday that.
I stopped there on the way to San Marino for the recent England game but just spent a few nice hours in an outdoor bar in the Sun - seemed decent to me at that point :-)