Lake Como Travel Vlog: 3 Days Exploring Varenna & Bellagio

I made it to Lake Como. I'll be basing myself in the beautiful, quiet village of Verena, visiting these stunning villas, taking a day trip to Bellagio, and of course, finding great spots to eat. Welcome to my Lake Como vlog. Hey everyone, welcome back to the channel. Al and I, we just made it to Lake Como, Italy. It's so pretty already. So if you are new to the channel, I'm Dana Perez, and I have other Italy travel videos and childhood videos on my channel if you want to check them out, but this is my first time to the northern part of Italy. We're going to be here for the next three nights, four days. We just arrived. We came from Milan via the train. Very easy to get to. There's a direct train that leads right into Verena, and we actually got taxi transfer to the main square. It's on a far walk, but we had so much luggage on us, we decided to go with a taxi. Here, we're showing the reality. Sorry, I'm helping you. Oh, no problem. No, no, no, it's okay. Okay. And the reason why we picked to stay in Verena versus Bellagio or other places along Lake Como is because there is a direct train from Milan, so it's very easy to get to. It's very small and quaint, which I love, and it's easily accessible to Bellagio, to Menaggio. There's a direct ferry here, so it's kind of like the most convenient place to stay. I was thinking of staying in Bellagio, but I don't want to deal with too much transportation, so we're going to go there on a day trip tomorrow. But first, let me show you this incredible room. It is on the budget-friendly side. The view here is incredible. This is like a one-bedroom. On the first level, there's a living room and a small kitchen with an espresso machine, which I am definitely going to take advantage of. Nice little couch area, seating area. I'm going to show you the view upstairs because it's absolutely incredible. How's the view? Wow. I can't believe that we have the perfect view of the harbor and Then you go up the stairs. We have our bathroom in here, a nice size bathroom, and this is the bedroom. We have a balcony with this incredible view. I'm literally shook. So this is like the main square. We have a cute little bar downstairs, and the view of Lake Como is incredible. And these trees are just so interesting to me. I think it's kind of one of those places I have to book out a few months in advance because it is pretty booked up because this view is just incredible. So we freshened up a little bit after our train ride. It's about like 4.30, 5 o'clock. We're going to go out and explore Verena. Now it is a bit on the chilly side. It is like mid-April. However, I like brought all like mini dresses. So I think I'm going to be the only one out there with bare legs and sandals. But you know what? We're going to explore and go to dinner later. So this is where we're staying. That's our little balcony, and we are right next to the main road. Verena is a quiet, small medieval village made up of cobblestone streets and many hills, which I did not expect. There's a main square and a waterfront promenade. The main things to do are visiting the beautiful villas like the Villa Ciprese, enjoying the scenery, and taking in the amazing views. This is so beautiful. So after some exploring, we decided to check out the gardens at Villa Ciprese. It was on our to-do list for Wednesday, but it might rain that day. So we walked by and we decided to just check it out right now. It's like sunsetty, and it isn't too busy. To get in, it was 10 euros each, so 20 euros. And you could have like aperitivo as well on the balcony where you came in. Look at this incredible view. They have different kinds of plants. A little info. And the views are just beautiful. And by the way, let me point out, the floor is uneven, so wearing sandals like me is a bit iffy. So FYI, a lot of cobblestone, a lot of stairs. And actually, this little column right here is very famous on Instagram. If you recognize this, let me know down below in the comments. It's so cool to see things that you've seen in photos or videos or like a famous place, and you see it in life. It's just so cool to like know exactly where it is and experience it yourself. So we're gonna go down there too. Yo, that just scared me. Oh my god, there is a statue in here. Look how beautiful it is. Right now, we're in the middle of the town center, and it's so quiet. You can hear the birds chirping, so it's very peaceful. I think during the day, there's like a lot of day trippers coming in and out, but during the night, it is a bit quieter up here. By the water, it's a bit busier because that's where the main restaurants are. And we might eat there tonight. That's where we have breakfast in the morning. It's called Bar Imolo. So right now, we're gonna wander and see where we're going to go eat. Apretivo on the balcony. Get the music, and we get the view, and we did freeze the prosecco on accident. It's still good though. Yeah, so as you can see, it's a little frozen, but you know, it's like a frozen prosecco. You're gonna be seeing a lot of this view because this is what we get to wake up to, and it's absolutely incredible. I didn't know when I booked this we were getting the view, but we're getting the view. And later tonight, we're gonna eat at this restaurant. It's called Imolo, and then you can see this little walkway that's to the ferry port. And tomorrow morning, we're gonna do a little day trip to Bellagio and have a little boat tour around Lake Como. So it's quite small and pretty walkable. All right, we are at breakfast. I mean, dinner. I said breakfast. Yep, we are English too. We're deciding what we want to drink. I'm kind of feeling like a white or rosé. Oh, what do you think? Do you want red? Cheers. So we got the risotto and the pizza. The beautiful view that we woke up to. It's going to be an amazing day. Good morning. Look at this little photo op. We are currently walking over the Lovers Walk, which is a beautiful walkway on our way to the ferry because we're going to Bellagio this morning. We're going to walk around there in the morning, and then we are going on a boat tour on Lake Como from Bellagio. That's where you get the ferry, and maybe it's like a five-minute walk, 10-minute walk. And I love how quiet it is in the morning. It's just so relaxing. This is where you buy the tickets. Nine euros and 20 cents for two. because we need some coffee and a croissant. By the way, they have the cutest magnets over here. I swear, look how cute these little baby Averall magnets are. And then they have little pastas. The little pastas are cute. Okay, these are the cutest magnets. Breakfast, dessert. Let's see how much. You guess 10? How many guess? I'm gonna guess. I'm gonna guess eight. I'm gonna guess eight. Let's see who's right. 12.40. I forgot we ordered a big bottle of water. But not bad, honestly, with this amazing view of the little harbor. Boat tour up the town. A lot of stuff. All right, we are going on a boat. Look how beautiful. And the water is so calm today. Amazing. Welcome on board, Al. Thank you. We went on a two-hour boat tour around Lake Como with Bellagio Yacht Experience. If you have time to do a boat tour, I highly recommend. We saw all of the impressive villas around the coast, and our captain Federico knew so much about the area and pointed out different things. This tour is a two-hour minimum and can fit up to 10 people, but there's also a prosecco toast and light bites to snack on. We passed by the famous Villa Bilbianello and have plans to visit later in the day. We are enjoying the boat tour. Villas on Lake Como are just stunning. We're right now in front of one that is in succession. I've never seen that show, but I can see why they filmed there. It is incredible. The cypress trees don't even look real because they are trimmed to perfection, and it's just incredible. And it's actually not like windy or too wavy, so if you get seasickness, you shouldn't have a problem on the boat. It's quite calm. It's never too early for prosecco in Italy. Tour is now over. We had the best time. It was really, really incredible. You guys have to do a boat tour when you're in Lake Como, and definitely check out Bellagio Yacht Experience. After our boat tour, we wandered around Bellagio. Bellagio is known as the pearl of the coast and was livening up in the afternoon. There's plenty of high-end shopping, small boutiques, restaurants, and lots of stairs. This town is also relatively really small, so you can see it all really on a day trip. So we wandered around a bit, went to the ferry port, decided to get some lunch before we headed over to our next villa. So we found a restaurant called Antico Pozo, and I did not have a change, by the way. And we ordered some tuna tartare pasta. Grazie. Prego. Oh, we're going to need a little pasta. After lunch, we headed down to the ferry port. Now here's where our trip kind of went a different direction. We wanted to go to Leno. That's where you can see the famous Villa Bilbianello. As you can see, the ferry port is pretty busy. But before we headed all the way over to Leno, we checked online to see if there were tickets available for the villa, and they were actually sold out for the day. So I'm so glad we looked before we headed on this big ferry over to a different town. That would have taken us over an hour to get back to Verona. The great thing though about Lake Como is that you can access different towns via ferry, and it's very easy. The ferries do run often throughout the day, even starting as early as 6.30 in the morning, and they run late in the evening. You can buy your ferry ticket at these stands right next to the ferries and discover Lake Como in the most convenient way. Plus, you'll be able to see the beautiful coastline from the ferry. So instead of heading to Leno, we decided to head straight back to Verona. But we had to go on the car ferry, which is located in a different spot than the passenger ferry in Bellagio, so we had to run. We made it on board, and we're going to Verona. I'll tell you why we're not going to the other villa, because we didn't book our tickets in advance and they're with Verona. We're back in Verona, and I must say, I love the vibes over here. It seems a bit more local, less busy, and more cute and quaint. So I'm so happy that we are staying here. Yeah, so we did not go to the Villa Balbinello because we didn't have any tickets. You have to get your tickets in advance, and I totally didn't even think about it, but when we were on our boat, our captain was like, do you have tickets? So we checked online before we went over there, and there was none left for the day. So if you want to go, you have to book at least a day in advance. It's not like you don't have to book it out so early, but we didn't even think about it. Or at least the week of. Yeah, however, I'm still happy that we got to see it from a boat. So we did get pretty close, though it'll have to be on a trip for next time. So I had to get the little Aperol magnet because it was literally too cute to pass up. They also had a Campari. It felt more connected to the Aperol, and it's a magnet right here. You can kind of see it. It's just the cutest thing, and I was so tempted to get all its little pasta ones. So cute. Now we're going to kind of relax on the balcony. You're out all day, and it feels good to be back a bit early, and so we don't have to rush to dinner. And as I was saying earlier, I'm definitely happy that we are staying in Verena. It kind of has more of like a charming small town feel. Bellagio to me kind of felt like Capri, kind of felt like Portofino a little bit. It had a more touristy vibe, in my opinion. However, though, when we were walking to our boat tour, there was a stunning area of Bellagio. It was so quiet. Lake Como, I highly recommend staying in Verena and then doing a day trip to Bellagio. Let me know down below if you've been to Lake Como and if you agree. For dinner, we checked out Il Cavatappi, which is located right in the heart of Verena. This restaurant does require reservations, so if you want to eat here, you must make a reservation. We ordered the fish tartare, and then this is like salty fish. I'm assuming it's gonna be like anchovies. This is good. So we just had dinner. So good. Yes, you need a reservation. Yeah, and I knew that, so we actually booked it in January, a few months in advance. So let's just say we booked it like two months in advance. Like, if you're coming during high season, which would be in summer, then definitely book it. You can't just walk in during the high season. I like the cuisine because it felt very local to the area. As we learned earlier on our boat, cuisine here is like mostly about like the fish from the lake, potatoes, and cooking with butter, not so much cooking with olive oil or in your pasta dish. Yeah, I actually had a handmade ravioli, which you can tell they made it in that moment. On some of the menus in Lake Como, they call it Italian dumplings, and it's funny because like raviolis look like dumplings in the way that they're like shaped. Mine was good too because mine was like a grandma recipe of the orecchiette. Time for some gelato. I always like nocciola, which is hazelnut, and pistachio together in a cup. Look at the tiramisu. Good morning. I just had some coffee on the balcony. We are headed downstairs to breakfast at Il Molo, which is the restaurant just right down there, and it's actually included in our stay. We didn't get a chance to go there yesterday because we headed off to Bellagio really early in the morning, but we're going to enjoy it. Now, it is so much colder than I thought it would be, like especially in the morning. It's probably like, I don't know, it feels like 50, 40 something degrees, so I definitely did not pack enough warm clothes. All right, we have a little coffee. Cheers. Every drink is a cheers. It's so peaceful and quiet right now. After breakfast, we are now headed to Villa Ciprese. We were there two days ago exploring the gardens, and today we're actually doing a tour of the property, and we're also going to check out their sister property, Hotel Royal Victoria. These are other hotel options in Verona that you could stay at, so we're just getting a tour of the hotel, and we'll probably see the gardens again. I just didn't know about the weather, because apparently it was supposed to rain today, and I wanted to see the gardens not in the rain, but it's actually turned out to be pretty nice, and in the sun, it feels so much better, so hopefully it warms up a bit. Oh, must be a school. It is. The Villa Ciprese. Look how gorgeous this entrance is. I love the cypress trees. So now we are touring the suite garden. The garden suite is right off the garden, and you have this beautiful room. There's a bed right here, and the most amazing thing is you have a front row balcony right on the water. It's very beautiful. So you can wake up in the morning for this amazing view, and I also love how it's curved architecture. You kind of feel like you're right on the water, and it's a beautiful day today. You have the most amazing view, and that over there is Bellagio, where we were yesterday. And then this is the entrance to the suite. You have this private garden to yourself. This is Hotel Royal Victoria, and we are having lunch here. They have a beautiful patio overlooking the water, and there's actually a really cute table. Right in the center, you can kind of have the queen's seat. Yeah, it's a nice morning. The sun is out. I'm so happy that it's not raining. Since we were already inside the Villa Cipresi Gardens, we decided to walk around again, and this time the lighting was different. The colors were really shining through, so we just wandered through the gardens before we headed off to lunch. Now we are headed to lunch at Hotel Royal Victoria, and this is a very iconic table. We switched tables. Yes. Why not have the most iconic view? And we ordered some salads, and we have just the most beautiful of the water. And earlier today, that was the villa that we were in, touring around the garden suite. All right, lunch is served. I'm having a pomodoro gnocchi, and this is actually a fish risotto. Fish from Lake Como. I want that. This is really good. So this guy sitting here is sitting in the same seat that I was sitting in, so. I know, that's you. It looks like me sitting reading a newspaper. The rain has come, and the rain has arrived, but we are on our balcony looking at it, and it's so crazy because this awning is the perfect angle, so the rain is not hitting us at all, so we can still enjoy outside. Ferries are still running, everything is fine, but we have to leave tomorrow morning, which is so beautiful. For dinner, we headed over to El Prato, which is another restaurant in Verena. Again, with all these restaurants, you need reservations as well. We ordered the fresh little seafood platter. Beautiful. This is the burrata. It looks like a beautiful fruit plate. Yeah. I've never seen it so pretty. I ordered the chicken that's been marinated in beer. And look how crispy it is. That's exactly what I wanted. And you got the lasagna, special. And I can see it, it's like bubbling hot. Straight out of the oven. Yeah. All right. It's our last morning here in Lake Como. Today, we are headed to Venice via the train from Verena to Milan, and then Milan to Venice, where we will be spending the next few days. Tomorrow is actually Al's birthday, so we're celebrating in Venice. So be sure to hit that subscribe button, because that video will be on my channel next. So I hope you enjoyed this Lake Como vlog. I will leave the place that we stayed in the description box. I did check, and it's pretty much booked out throughout summer. So it's definitely one of those places where you have to book really early in advance. And let me know down below if you have any questions about visiting Lake Como. And we're leaving Verena. It's time to go. Careful. These are very slippery. We are at Verena Asino, and there's a direct train to Milan. It's just an hour and a half. And we took a taxi here. It's not completely necessary. You can walk. I would say it probably would be like a 20-minute walk. That's about right. If you have a lot of bags with you and you want to save the money, you could totally walk. There's quite a bit of a hill, an upward hill, if you're coming from the town to the train station. Yeah, it's much easier to go down than it is obviously to come up, especially if you have luggage. But if you have a backpack or just a few bags, you might be okay. Yeah, totally. And save the 10 euro. It's not really meant for people walking, so if there's cars you're gonna have to like go to the side and wait. So I think, honestly, I think the taxi was just really nice. We had an amazing time. It was super beautiful. Highly recommend staying on the waterfront promenade. You get the most beautiful view in the town. The ferries are easily accessible, and all the restaurants are there. So yeah, it was a really great time, and I'm glad that we came. So we will see you in Venice!