Trip to Lago di Como In Winter - Europe Diary #1

There is hardly any place in Europe that you won't love, at first sight, which doesn't bring the romantic side in you. It's full of beauty, grandeur, scenery, and love.

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This blog is about my random trip to Como di Lago and believe me it was nothing less than a paradise.

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Have you ever been to a place without knowing anything about it, and it turns out beautiful than you can even imagine...It was during one of my free weekends that I was randomly looking for Things to do in Milan- and found one article where it was mentioned Como lake being just two hours away and a must visit in summers to enjoy it to the fullest. But I decided to go anyways even in winters. I didn't even book my train tickets, just packed my bag for a day and reached Milano Centrale, and luckily I found one of the trains in no time and reached to one of the most beautiful towns.

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I usually prefer going to more offbeat places, ones which are not crowded... This was my first trip after reaching Europe so I wasn't sure if its gonna be touristy or if its gonna be quiet and calm .....But thanks to my flatmate one thing I was aware of - that its a bit expensive, but so was the whole of Europe.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

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Como Lake also is known as Lago di Como in Italian Located just below the Southern border of Switzerland is said to be one of the most beautiful lakes in Europe.
Lake Como is huge and has many colorful, gorgeous towns around it and ferry is the easiest way to get around and Few towns to include in your list are:

Bellagio

Bellagio is probably the most well-known town on Lake Como

Menaggio

The village of Menaggio on Lake Como offers many adventure water sports and is popular of golf.

Varenna

Varenna is famous for its natural beauty and medieval center and a castle. (Unluckily I couldn't visit the place even though it was my first choice after I got to know about it)

Tremezzo

It gives a glimpse of old-world luxury charm with a modern twist and is home to beautiful Villa Carlotta

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Como City is at the base of the lake which looks like upside down ‘Y’ letter. Its a quiet serene place in the midst of nature with luxurious villas, boutique hotels, colorful houses, and classic Italian cafes and restaurants.

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Just two hour from Milan- one can take a morning train from Milano Centrale to Como city and the journey in itself is beautiful due to change of scenery, which is a treat to the eyes and the soul. I took a train at around 6.30 am from Milano Centrale and the journey was extremely gorgeous, I was sleepy from waking up early, but the views kept me awake and curious, and within 40 mins the scene changed from a normal sunny day to snow all around. Coming from a desert state I am always excited to see snow, no matter how many times I have seen.

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How to Reach from Milan to Lago di Como and to Bellagio

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Milan to Como City

Frequency- In every 30-40 mins, Journey time- 60-80 mins
Ticket cost- 4.80 to 13.50 Euros depending on which class you are traveling and the time of travel. (I took the cheapest one in the early hours)

Como Lago railway station to Como City- by bus

Just outside the station, there is a bus stop where one can find buses in every 10-20 mins
Price- 1.50 Euros

Como di Lago to Bellagio- frequency every 2 hours

Tickets to the boat or hydrofoil (much faster) need to be purchased prior to departure which is subject to availability
Ticket price- 14.5 euros

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First view of the city from the bus

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It was only after I reached there that I got to know that George Clooney has a Villa somewhere between Bellagio and Como city and looking at the place I can understand why.

I reached Como city at around 8.30 and headed straight to the hotel which I booked while coming from Milan .

I booked a single day stay at - Riva Al Lago, it isn't even closely remoted to being luxurious, but I was on a budget trip and just wished to spend the night, rest of the day I was to explore.so it didn't matter. 😅

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This wasn't even a peak season – and the room prices were 50 Euros per night.😲😨
And wait..its gets better....what I didn't know was that the room was on 3 guests sharing basic...Really???50 euros for just a bed and 2 more people sharing... I was surprised and a bit scared as well, have never shared a room with strangers before...
But without thinking much I left the place to deal with it later since even the manager would be arriving only after 10 am and I had two more hours before I check in.

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Caffe Maya

So leaving my luggage at the reception, with just my camera and daypack I left to just enjoy the early morning weather. I walked for around 20 mins in almost all direction trying to find a cafe for breakfast and found one Cafe -Maya where I had my coffee and freshly baked croissants and the guy generously offered me a Turkish sweet dish ‘Baklava’ for being his first customer of the day.

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Happy and full I planned to take a ferry to one of the islands instead of waiting for check-in. Till then I just clicked some pictures, sat near the lake looking at the ducks and seagulls. The quaint little town is everything I have heard about Europe, quiet, calm, picturesque and expensive.

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While I was waiting for the ferry I met three gorgeous girls who too were traveling solo like me and we all just instantly connected. It was amazing to have a company and talk about different cultures. One of the girls was Japanese, the other from Milan and one from Ireland and we soon became quite comfortable.
Being there in winter had its advantage, the place wasn't crowded and less expensive as I was told!!!!

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Bellagio - The Jewel of Lake Como

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I took a fast ferry (1 hours journey) to Bellagio with the other girls I met and what an amazing ride it was.so many amazing views, it just took us an hour to reach Bellagio giving us the opportunity to admire the gorgeous stunning sea and mountain scenery.

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As we went little more up and the scenery kept evolving, entrancing us.

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And we reached Bellagio

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Bellagio is one of the prettiest towns on Lake Como in Italy... I could see myself looking at those cute colorful houses for hours and hours. Bellagio itself is a small place so you can walk everywhere and can see the whole place in a day, though people prefer staying in Bellagio or Varenna instead of Como city, I found it more expensive.

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There are bright red, yellow and green buildings with steep stone stairs, and its one of the places where you would just want to sit, relax, have a cup of coffee or wine and look at the panoramic views. it had an old world elegant charm to it.

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Every side I turned the view was absolutely amazing.

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To my surprise, the place was much quieter than Como and I don't remember seeing many people wandering on the streets, probably because it was extremely cold. But this wasn't going to stop me from exploring the place and luckily the other three girls felt the same.

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A walk in the garden

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Chris hugging the tree, somehow it gave us all an amazing feeling

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This reminded me of Harry Potter movies because of the vibes and of course the Whomping Willow trees

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After a long walk we found one cafe and now I knew where the whole town was. It was packed and we had to wait for 10 mins to get a seat, there was nothing much to ponder – Being a Vegetarian I knew I had only one option to order from the land of Pizza, pasta, and gelato- and that's Vegetarian Pizza.

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And Oh Boy! I was impressed! It was one of the best I had, the meals here are prepared by local, home-trained cooks in traditional style. the sauce was fresh and one can smell the earthy flavors.
I couldn't recall the name of the cafe but the view from there was breathtaking.

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After our delicious lunch, we just sat alongside the Como lake looking at the stunning panoramic views of the Alps across the lake.

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Bellagio is one of the most beautiful towns in Europe, and its impossible not to fall in love with it.❤️

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We left at around 5.30 back to Como, and that's when I realized I haven't done my check in yet and my luggage was still at the reception. I can sometimes be very absent-minded. Anyways, one of the girls Chris decided to stay back as well while others left for Milan. Since she had made no bookings, she decided to check in with me only and lucky for me we took a double sharing room in 60 Euros in the same hotel. Honestly, this was a relief as I won't be sharing the room with strangers and also now it was cheaper.

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Since we both didn't get enough time to see the Como city, we decided to stay for a day more and explore the city. And I am extremely glad that I stayed back the next day as well, otherwise, I wouldn't have had the best day of my life.

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I will be writing my next blog about my day in Como Lake city and how this is one place you need to include in your Europe travel list and can not to be missed.

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I hope you enjoyed reading my post and I am grateful for every Upvote, Resteem, and Comment. Until next time! 😍

All photos and content by @itravelarts

Love. Swati ❤️

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