Hi,

We are going to Lake Como in a couple of weeks. Is it better to drive or take the train? I heard there could be a lot of traffic through the tunnel in Italy.

Thanks!

Which tunnel in Italy?

Where on lake Como?

Coming from where?

Which day of the week to you plan to travel on?

Tom

We're leaving on a Friday and staying in Bellagio. I was told there may be a lot of traffic through one of the tunnels. not sure which one since I have never been there before.

and we're coming from Basel..

From my experience the bottleneck was on the way back from Italy to Switzerland - at the Gotthard tunnel. My route was as follows: Berne - Lago di Como - Lago d'Iseo - Bergamo - Lago di Garda - Bern. For a round trip the car is more convenient than the train.

At what time of day are you leaving?

Depending on time of day, the Gotthard may be a problem (not if you leave early, noon or later then yes).

No problem to get a train to Como, but then you would need a bus to Bellaggio, or boat. (both are available)

If you come by car, either get off the highway at Lugano Nord, then head to Menaggio, then south to Cadenabbia and take the ferry to Bellagio, or take the highway to Como Sud, then go to Erba (direction Lecco), and then head north to Bellagio (much better road than trying to get through Como and follow the coast road).

The ferry is my usual choice, but I live on the outskirts of Lugano.

If you are coming just for the weekend, I'd do the train-boat thing.

Tom

So, we decided to take the train. It seems the train goes to the town of Como. We thought it would be easier to stay there instead of Bellagio where we currently have a reservation since we're traveling w/ our baby and we arrive late.

Is Como a nice area of the lake? any hotel recommendations?

thanks!

Bellagio is lovely but most of the hotels are not accessable by car. You park outside the center and walk. Good choice taking the train. At every corner we were worried about crashing into oncomming cars. We could *just* pass when we had another wide car in the other direction. Almost every Italian car that passed us had a damaged front left quarter

Yeah - I heard it's best to avoid the tunnel, take in some scenery too!