Our last weekend trip in Lake Como and Lugano, Switzerland was tough to get to but very relaxing once we were there.
To get to Lake Como we had to take a two hour train ride, then a 20 minute bus ride, a two hour ferry ride to Domaso, and a ten minute drive to our house in Vercana. We chose to stay in a super affordable AirBnB, at the cost of convenience and extra travel fees. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that our house was not in a popular area, and in fact was in a small town with no bus system or taxis. The house was so cute though and the owner was the sweetest!
If you are going to Lake Como, pay attention to where your train arrives because there are two different stations, one on each side of the lake. We didn’t notice this detail and picked the train station that was the furthest from our house, hence the two hour ferry ride. It ended up being okay though, because I enjoyed seeing the whole lake and the towns off of it.
Since our travel day to Lake Como was so long, we immediately plopped ourselves on the outdoor chairs and enjoyed the view. We sat in the sun for hours and all individually read our books. It was dreamy.
Since there is no transportation, we were grateful for the pedestrian path that is only a mile to Domaso. Domaso has more to offer than Vercana, but unfortunately there were still not many options that weren’t already booked for dinner. We didn’t eat at a great place so I’m not even going to recommend it.
Bellagio
On Saturday, we took the ferry to Bellagio. One note about this is that these ferries are literally never on time. Sometimes they are even an hour late. However, you have to show up early anyways because there is a long line to buy the tickets. It’s also important to be on top of it and have an itinerary for the day because there are only so many ferry rides. If you miss the last one, you are stuck. We had to look up the ferry times and completely plan our day around it.
Right when we got off the ferry, we met a really sweet girl from New Zealand who was solo traveling. She asked to join our lunch and of course we said yes!
We wandered the area to find a lunch spot and landed at Antico Pozzo which had fantastic pizzas. We loved talking to Jasmine and hearing about her upbringing in New Zealand, and current lifestyle in London. I love hearing other people’s stories.
Together, we all wandered Bellagio admiring the newly bloomed flowers by the bright blue lake.
We tried to find an area to swim, which was actually quite difficult. You can’t swim in the town of Como, but in Bellagio, there is an area called a secret beach where you can swim.
It was a further walk than I would have liked but you can definitely do it. Don’t get the wrong idea though, it is not a luxurious hidden escape. It is basically a large bed of rocks with a ton of washed up sticks and construction. There were no amenities nearby so we had to do the good ole towel change.
I literally did not care though because I was so exhausted and hot that I was dying to run into the cold lake. After the most refreshing dive into the lake, we laid on the rocks and dried off before walking back to the ferry.
Domaso
Once we arrived back to Domoso, we sat on benches and finished our books while waiting for our dinner reservation. I kept laughing that we were our own little book club since we kept passing our books around once we finished and chatting about them.
We had dinner at Ajo which had stunning views right on the water. This place needs reservations but we had no trouble setting one up a day in advance. I loved the drinks and charcuterie board and could have left full from that! I ordered the steak to treat myself since it was our last dinner out, but it was nothing special. My friends found the burgers to be heavenly though.
Lugano, Switzerland
Lake Como is very far north in Italy and is about 40 minutes from the Switzerland border! We thought it would be fun to go to Switzerland for the day since we had an early check out of our AirBnB.
We had pre-bought train tickets to Lugano, but once we realized how far the train station was from our house, we decided to bite the cost and find other transportation. The bus into Switzerland which was super easy, half the time, and cheap. I expected them to check our passports or something but it was super informal.
The train station offers a bag check service where you can lock away your bags for the day which was perfect for us. It was a game changer not having to lug around suitcases and heavy backpacks.
Luckily, the train station isn’t far from the center of town and we were able to walk there easily. We were starving for breakfast so we ate mouthwatering crepes and cappuccinos at Vanini. This place also serves as a gourmet chocolate and icecream shop so you know it’s good.
We did some research of things to do in the area and were really intrigued by the funicular. If you are like me and have never heard of a funicular before, I’ll explain. It is a few tiny cars that ascend a mountain on a train track rather than a cable. Lugano offers a couple different ones but we went to Monte Bre because it was closer and more affordable. We paid $25 round trip for the ride.
The funicular is a short ride and a bit tight, but an absolute must do. The views were spectacular and we were so excited to find a campground, two restaurants and aerial views once we reached the top. We ordered drinks at Ristorante Vetta Monte Bre and just chatted and enjoyed the views for hours. I would do this over and over again if I could.
Afterwards, we ate lunch at Tango which looks very touristy, but tasted great. I highly recommend the pesto dish with potatoes and green beans. In fact, it was even better than the pesto dish that I had in Cinque Terre. I will say though, the restaurants in Switzerland are much more expensive than in Italy.
For dessert, I went back to Vanini to pick up a gourmet Swiss chocolate bar to bring back for my family, and a truffle for myself to eat then.
I. WAS. DROOLING.
We finished off our day with a pedal boat rental on the lake. Mary Dreyer and I were stuck pedaling which was a ton of work but absolutely worth it. We only rented it for 30 minutes which was the perfect amount of time since we were swimming. The only issue we came across with this was that they didn’t accept card payments and while they would accept euros, they could only give change back in Franks. So you need to be prepared for that.
This was a great weekend with two destinations I would love to travel back to. I definitely think that Lake Como is best in the summer when you can swim. I just need to plan my accomodations and proximity to town better next time. Lugano was nothing short of magical so I can’t wait to see what else Switzerland has to offer! It was a hell of a weekend to go out on.
