Italian Lakes: Maggiore, Como and Garda

1. Jour 1 : Milan, then Lake Maggiore

   Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) to central Milan, then Stresa on Lake Maggiore

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Welcome dinner in Stresa; lunch at your own choice in Milan
   • Nuit : Stresa
   Détail du jour 1

   Most flights from North America land at Milan Malpensa (MXP) in the morning. Our vehicle meets the group there in the late morning and drives about 50 km into Milan; if you are already in the city, you join us at a central meeting point at noon (times and place come with your final itinerary). Your See Sight Tours guide starts with an easy hour on foot, a gentle stretch after the flight: through Parco Sempione behind the Sforza Castle to the Arco della Pace, the triumphal arch begun under Napoleon and finished in 1838, and the two neoclassical toll houses that once guarded this city gate. Lunch is at a café of your choice by the park. Early in the afternoon we drive about 90 km north-west to Stresa, back past the airport: Stresa is only about 60 km from Malpensa, and the walk in Milan is the reason for the detour. Stresa sits on the Piedmont shore of Lake Maggiore; we stay two nights near the lakefront. Check in, rest, then walk the promenade where tomorrow's boats leave for the islands. In the evening we sit down together for a welcome dinner.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) or a central Milan meeting point
   • Walk through Parco Sempione to the Arco della Pace with your guide
   • Drive to Stresa on Lake Maggiore
   • Welcome dinner in Stresa

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free in Stresa

   Activité : Land at Malpensa by about 10:30 am to join the pick-up; the exact time is set with your final itinerary.

   

2. Jour 2 : The Borromean Islands

   Stresa to Isola Bella, Isola dei Pescatori and Isola Madre by boat, and back

   • En bateau
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Stresa
   Détail du jour 2

   Our hired boat leaves the Stresa pier so that we are on Isola Bella when the palace opens, before the day boats crowd the landing stage. The Borromeo family turned this rock into a baroque palace in the 17th century, and its garden climbs in ten terraces to a stage of statues and obelisks, with white peacocks on the lawns. A local guide takes us through the state rooms and down to the shell-lined grottoes below them. Late morning we cross to Isola dei Pescatori, the one island where people still live all year, a village of narrow lanes and fishermen's houses, for a sit-down lunch of lake fish. In the afternoon the boat takes us to Isola Madre, the largest of the three and the quietest: a botanical garden of camellias, azaleas and palms around a smaller villa, with peacocks and pheasants loose on the paths. We are back in Stresa by late afternoon, and the evening is free along the lakefront.

   Compris

   • A hired boat for the group for the day
   • Isola Bella: Palazzo Borromeo and its terraced garden at opening, with a local guide
   • Sit-down lunch on Isola dei Pescatori
   • Isola Madre and its botanical garden

   Activités en option

   • Villa Taranto gardens in Verbania by ferry
   • Santa Caterina del Sasso, the hermitage on the cliffs of the eastern shore

   Temps libre : Evening free in Stresa

   Activité : About 3 to 4 km on garden paths and stairs, with steps on and off the boat at each landing.

3. Jour 3 : Como, Brunate and the boat to Bellagio

   Stresa to Como by road, then by fast boat up the lake to Bellagio

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Bellagio
   Détail du jour 3

   We leave Stresa after breakfast for Como, about 85 km and an hour and a quarter by road, at the southern tip of Lake Como. Your guide walks you from the lakefront into the walled old town and the cathedral, begun in 1396 and crowned with its dome in the 18th century. Then we ride the funicular, running since 1894, up to the village of Brunate, about 700 m above sea level, for the view down the first stretch of the lake towards the Alps. Lunch is a sit-down meal back in Como. In the early afternoon our vehicle takes the bags ahead by road while we board the fast boat up the western arm of the lake, past villas, boathouses and steep villages, to Bellagio, on the point where the lake divides. The crossing takes about 45 minutes. We stay three nights in Bellagio, and the evening is free to walk its stepped lanes and the waterfront.

   Compris

   • Como's old town and cathedral with your guide
   • The Como to Brunate funicular
   • Sit-down lunch in Como
   • Fast boat from Como to Bellagio, with your bags sent ahead by road

   Temps libre : Evening free in Bellagio

   Activité : If the fast boat is not running, we take the slower ferry, about two hours, or drive the last stretch along the shore.

4. Jour 4 : Villa Carlotta and Varenna by ferry

   Bellagio to Tremezzo and Varenna by ferry, and back

   • En traversier
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Bellagio
   Détail du jour 4

   The short ferries of the central lake make this a day without the vehicle. We cross from Bellagio to Villa Carlotta at Tremezzo for its opening, while the paths are quiet. The villa was built at the end of the 17th century and holds neoclassical sculpture, including works by Antonio Canova, and Francesco Hayez's painting The Last Kiss of Romeo and Juliet. Its gardens step down to the water, with azaleas and rhododendrons that peak in April and May, a valley of ferns and citrus on the terraces. From Tremezzo the ferry crosses to Varenna, a village of coloured houses stacked above a small harbour on the eastern shore. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Varenna, then time to walk the lakeside walkway and the gardens of Villa Monastero, which run for a long stretch along the shore. We are back in Bellagio by ferry in the late afternoon. Your day pass covers the central-lake ferries, so you can stay out later if you like.

   Compris

   • Day pass for the central Lake Como ferries
   • Villa Carlotta and its gardens at opening
   • Varenna with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Varenna
   • Villa Monastero gardens

   Option plus facile : Stay in Varenna's gardens and harbour after lunch and take an earlier ferry back to Bellagio.

   Option plus active : Walk up the stepped path from Varenna to Castello di Vezio, about 20 to 30 minutes uphill, for the view over all three arms of the lake.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Bellagio

   Activité : About 5 to 6 km on garden paths and village lanes, with steps on and off the ferries.

5. Jour 5 : Bellagio at an easy pace, and a cooking evening

   A day in and around Bellagio

   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Bellagio
   Détail du jour 5

   A slower day in one place. After breakfast your guide walks you through Bellagio's stepped lanes and along the shore to the gardens of Villa Melzi, built between 1808 and 1810 for Francesco Melzi d'Eril, vice-president of Napoleon's Italian Republic. The park runs along the water with old trees, a small Japanese garden and views across to Tremezzo. We walk on to Punta Spartivento, the tip of the promontory, where you can see down the Como and Lecco arms of the lake at once. The rest of the day is yours: swim at the lido, rent a kayak, take a boat to Villa del Balbianello, or sit with a coffee on the waterfront. In the early evening we meet for a hands-on cooking class with a local cook: fresh pasta and a risotto in the lake style, then dinner together at the table with what we have made, and a glass of wine.

   Compris

   • Morning walk with your guide to Villa Melzi gardens and Punta Spartivento
   • Cooking class with dinner and wine

   Activités en option

   • Villa del Balbianello by boat
   • A private boat trip on the lake
   • Kayak rental

   Option plus facile : Skip the morning walk and join the group for the cooking class in the evening.

   Option plus active : Take the ferry to Cadenabbia and walk the Greenway del Lago di Como south through Tremezzo to Lenno, about 3.5 km each way, then walk back to Cadenabbia for the ferry to Bellagio.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free

   Activité : About 3 km on foot in the morning, with stepped lanes in Bellagio.

6. Jour 6 : Bergamo's upper town, on to Lake Garda

   Bellagio to Bergamo by road, then Sirmione on Lake Garda

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Sirmione
   Détail du jour 6

   We leave Bellagio at about 8:30 am along the shore of the Lecco arm and on to Bergamo, about 60 km and an hour and a half, as the lake road is narrow. From the lower town, past the 1930s Piazza della Libertà, we take the funicular up to the Città Alta, the upper town inside the Venetian walls that UNESCO listed in 2017. Your guide walks you through Piazza Vecchia, under the arches of the Palazzo della Ragione, and into Santa Maria Maggiore, founded in 1137 and decorated inside in the baroque age, beside the marble facade of the Colleoni Chapel. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the upper town: polenta, or casoncelli, the local filled pasta. Then it is about an hour to Sirmione, on a narrow peninsula reaching into the south of Lake Garda, for two nights. At about 5 pm a local guide takes us round the Grotte di Catullo, the ruins of a large Roman villa at the tip, as the day visitors leave and the light drops over the water.

   Compris

   • Bergamo's upper town with your guide: the funicular, Piazza Vecchia and Santa Maria Maggiore
   • Sit-down lunch in Bergamo's upper town
   • The Grotte di Catullo in Sirmione in the late afternoon, with a local guide

   Activités en option

   • Sirmione's thermal baths

   Temps libre : Evening free in Sirmione

   Activité : The Grotte di Catullo close on Mondays, so departures are set so this day is not a Monday.

   

7. Jour 7 : Monte Baldo, Malcesine and Limone

   Sirmione to Malcesine by road, Monte Baldo by cable car, the ferry to Limone sul Garda, then back to Sirmione along the western shore

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Sirmione
   Détail du jour 7

   We leave Sirmione at about 8:30 am and follow the eastern shore through Lazise, Bardolino and Garda to Malcesine, about 65 km and an hour and a quarter. The cable car climbs from the lake to Monte Baldo, the upper section in a cabin that turns as it rises, to about 1,760 m, where on a clear morning the whole northern half of the lake lies below you. Back down, we walk Malcesine's lanes to its Scaliger castle on a rock above the water, where Goethe was nearly arrested as a spy in 1786 for sketching it, and sit down to lunch. Then the ferry crosses the lake to Limone sul Garda, known for its lemon houses: tall stone pillars where lemons grew under winter covers. We visit the Limonaia del Castel and walk the old harbour. Our vehicle meets us in Limone and drives back down the western shore, through the tunnels of the cliff road and past Gargnano and Salò, about 70 km and often an hour and 40 minutes or more in summer traffic. The evening is free.

   Compris

   • Monte Baldo cable car from Malcesine
   • Malcesine's Scaliger castle
   • Sit-down lunch in Malcesine
   • Ferry from Malcesine to Limone sul Garda
   • The Limonaia del Castel lemon house in Limone

   Option plus facile : Skip the cable car and spend the morning in Malcesine's lanes and castle before lunch.

   Option plus active : Walk along the Monte Baldo ridge from the top station for about an hour before riding back down.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Sirmione

   Activité : The cable car stops in strong wind or storms; if it does, we take a longer ferry on the lake instead.

   

8. Jour 8 : Milan Cathedral, the Sforza Castle and home

   Sirmione to Milan, then Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) or Milano Centrale

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   Détail du jour 8

   We leave Sirmione at about 8 am on the motorway to Milan, about 130 km and an hour and three quarters. Milan Cathedral comes first, on a reserved entry: inside with your guide, then up by lift to the rooftop terraces among its marble spires and statues. From the square we walk through the glass-roofed Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II to La Scala, and along Via Dante to the Sforza Castle, the fortress of the dukes of Milan. In the castle museums you see Michelangelo's Rondanini Pietà, the marble he was still carving in the last days of his life in 1564, and the old ducal rooms with their painted glass. We finish with a farewell lunch near the castle. At about 2:30 pm the trip ends: our vehicle drops you at Milano Centrale or your Milan hotel, or takes you on to Malpensa, about 50 km, arriving at about 3:45 pm. Many long-haul flights leave Malpensa before midday, so if yours does, we can book an extra night in Milan.

   Compris

   • Milan Cathedral and its rooftop terraces by lift, with your guide
   • The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and La Scala
   • The Sforza Castle museums and the Rondanini Pietà
   • Farewell lunch in Milan
   • Drop-off at Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP), Milano Centrale or a Milan hotel

   Activité : Book a flight leaving Malpensa after about 6:30 pm, or add a night in Milan. The Sforza Castle museums close on Mondays, so departures are set so this day is not a Monday.

   

Faune et météo : April and May are the garden months, with camellias, azaleas and rhododendrons in flower on the islands and at the villas. June to August is warm to hot, often near 30°C, with afternoon thunderstorms and busy ferries, so we go out early. September and October are mild and quieter. Lake Garda has steady winds, a northerly in the morning and a southerly in the afternoon, and the cable car can stop in strong wind.

• Stresa2 nuits
• Bellagio3 nuits
• Sirmione2 nuits