[Closed] Lake Como/Venice tips required

Bellagio is lovely, if you wait until most of the day trippers have departed.

We stayed at this place for Venice:

https://www.antonypalace.it/en/

Affordable (relatively), functional and decent. Had its own shuttle bus to and from Venice.

Edit: Ah, didn't appreciate you were driving in.

We spent a couple of nights on our honeymoon in the Hotel Metropole Suisse in Como.
It was lovely, near the centre of town, by the lake and bars/restaurants etc.
The whole place was lush, can’t remember any specific places to pop the question but there were promenades and parks all along the lakeside.

Hotel Moresco in Venice was great for the last leg of our honeymoon trip.

We got a water taxi from the airport directly to the hotel. Assume you could park out that way and do the same.

Pretty much anywhere around Lake Como is lovely. I didnt go to Como itself though. We stayed around 1 mile south of Bellagio,in San Giovanni. Day trips around/over the lake are great. You buy either an half lake or a full lake day ticket, then get the ferries to wherever you want to go. Be aware that some of the stops are infrequent - every 2 hours. There was stop 100 metres from our hotel, but only every 2 hours, so it didnt work out to get the ferry from there, we just went down to Bellagio where every ferry stops. Menaggio and Varenna are both worth visiting. I think Varenna is nicer than Bellagio, smaller, with less places to eat, but more picturesque.
We didnt bother with Venice, tales of masses of tourists put me off. I think we did the right thing,the Lake Como area was just excellent.

Venice feels pretty unique and is well worth a visit.
It may seem a bit touristy but you must make sure you do a gondola ride. It is an amazing experience and the only way to see the waterways. If it's too expensive to do one on your own just double up with another couple and halve the cost.

we stayed in gravedona, lovely quiet little town.

An amazing place to pop question would be Villa del Balbianello.

Its stunning (and a location for attack of the clones).. you get a ferry to there from most ports.

Venice we did an organised trip from the tour operator, meant we were delivered and picked up but had the day to ourselves to roam about. Was an amazing experience and def do a gondola, you are on it for ages and get lovely photos

A couple of days in Venice was enough for me, how many canals and old buildings do you want to look at 🙂 but worth it for the experience. We visited out of season but apparently it can be very busy. Burano is worth a visit, we didn't go to Murano
Food and drink can be expensive, like any tourist destination, but pizza and cicchetti (Venetian tapas) is always available
Water taxis can be expensive for your sole use; we spent €130 getting from Venice direct to the airport when the public services were on strike early in the morning. You can share a water taxi to the airport for about €30 and you have to pre-book, no flagging them down
Bus is the cheapest (€7 from memory) airport to Piazzale Roma, and then use the vaporetti. ACTV run both services and you can get tourist passes for between one and seven days Venezia Unica link
There are other services, like Alilaguna, but we didn't use those

Thanks all

I had considered Balbianello but didn't know it was a location for Star Wars which might've just sealed the deal (albeit Attack of the Clones). However, I half wanted somewhere I could make special arrangements (we're going in the height of summer) and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't (couldn't?) accommodate a couple of random tourists. That's why I was leaning more towards a lake-side hotel with great gardens/views as they may be more willing to help out a paying guest.

I had considered Balbianello but didn’t know it was a location for Star Wars

Ah, the romance of the spot where a doomed love affair puts a man on the path towards mass murder!

Lovely place, mind you. 🙂

If you go to Verona you can get a card from the tourist information office that basically gets you into everything in the city. The cost is a lot less than you would pay if you paid on the door at the various attractions.

It's a fantastic compact city and you could easily see all the highlights in a day.

We also saw a Romeo and Juliet play which you follow through the streets which was good fun. Lots of audience participation encouraged.

Verona is nicer than Venice. See if you can get tickets to the opera. It’s an experience not to be missed. And is in the very intact coliseum.

If you are heading near Milan, go to the Alfa Romeo museum. Mrs TiRed loves it, and she doesn’t like cars!

Going to Bellagio you have to climb the hill and pay homage at the Madonna del Ghissallo. There is an excellent cycling museum at the top.

If your driving to Venice, don't speed over the causeway 😳😳

Stopped at all 3 on a trip to Italy a few years back, all are lovely - Verona was probably my favorite. Como is amazing, my tip would be examine the ferry timetable closely! On a trip to Bellagio stopped off somewhere on the way back and had to get the bus home as the ticket we had wasn't valid on the last ferry on that day of the month! However the bus driver didn't bother charging us for the trip back.
There was so much to find off the beaten track in Verona - also had the cheapest Aperol Spritz of the entire trip (2.50) at a little bar by the river. I'd recommend a walk up to the Castel San Pietro around dusk for a great view over the city.
We were on trains so can't comment on driving over there, I'd do trains if I went again - so easy.
RM.

Take the last cable car of the day to the top of one of those big hills by Como and pop the question away from the hordes with a lovely walk down to pizza and beer.

Verona is worth a day trip to me, Lovely town and a short walk up the hill near the colosseum is defiantly worth it.

We (Mrs and I) went to Venice. Not a place I was remotely interested in visiting but I will say its a great place to wander around. We have been back many times now but always stop on the Lido now ( https://www.hotelexcelsiorvenezia.com/en/ is great if you can afford it).

St Marks for the tourist bollocks is 20 mins away, I like wandering through all the back streets away from the crowds, still lots of interesting things to see

Take a trip to Chioggia across the lagoon, very nice little town - I really wouldn't bother with Burano or Morano - essential those are tourist traps

If you're going to Venice for a few days, look at getting a multi day water bus pass. I used to see the sights then head over to Venice Lido after 2pm for a bit of food and discounted sun lounger action. Try and be on the water in the evening too going towards the city e.g from Lido as it's pretty.
If you're willing to walk then you can find reasonably priced food places away from the centre.

Thanks again all, given me more than enough to fill out an itinerary.

For all those watching at home, she said yes.

Thanks all for your tips and suggestions.

We stayed at the Metropole Suisse (thanks Lister) in Como and the question was popped at Villa Balbianello who kindly opened just for us for a couple of hours on a day they were supposed to be closed (in exchange for the crossing of their palm with silver, naturally).

My girlfriend (wife-to-be I suppose) was delighted with the whole affair and I just wanted to pop back and say thanks to everyone above.

Congratulations!

super news