We initially had our trip to Italy booked for May of 2020, it got canceled when COVID hit. We finally got to take this trip in 2022, however when we went to rebook our original itinerary the hotel we had picked on Lake Como was fully booked. We went in the prime travel season in June, so we were struggling to find a new hotel option that we liked. We chose Villa Castagnola, a luxury hotel. The hotel is located in the picturesque village of Castagnola, and it offers stunning views of the lake.
Instead we landed on staying in Switzerland on Lake Lugano, which borders Italy. You can take a train that is only 30 minutes to Como, so a day trip is easy. To get to our hotel, we had flown into Milan, so we were able to take a ~2 hour train ride from there to Lugano. The train ride was also nice because it gave us an opportunity to look out the window and see more of Italy, and Switzerland once we crossed the border.
We booked a private ~4 hour boat trip on Lake Como, as we did want to experience it. This was definitely a highlight of the trip! We saw a good portion of the lake and stopped on Bellagio for lunch. As expected, it was extremely crowded. When we saw this we felt even more assured that we made the right choice in choosing our hotel on Lake Lugano. Although, we had a lot of fun seeing all the celebrity housing, and we also got to stop and swim at one point in the day. If you choose to do this, book your boat trip in advance, especially if you’re traveling during peak season.
Back at Villa Castagnola we were able to lounge on the lakefront at their private dock setup right across the street from the main hotel building. They also offered kayaking, which we took advantage of! It was also not crowded, there were two other couples sunbathing out there with us. A short walk across the street, and a part of the hotel as well, was the award-winning Galleria Arté al Lago Restaurant. This unique restaurant is housed in an art gallery overlooking the waters of Lake Ceresio and offers a breathtaking view. The restaurant has 16 GaultMillau points. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal here.
