Driving from Venice to Bellagio, Are We Crazy?

[Maineac]

We are considering renting a car in Venice, driving through the Dolomites, and ending up in Bellagio. After two days in Bellagio we would like to drive to the Milan airport to catch our flight home.

 

Has anyone done this? Just wondering how difficult this journey would be...BTW, we do have a GPS. :)

 

Ciao,

Judy

[agabbymama]

If you have GPS, it should be a breeze. My husband and I rented a car in Germany in '98 and drove down the Eastern coast of Italy, crossed over at Naples, down to Sicily, back up the Western coast to Naples and Rome, on up to the Lake District back into Switzerland and back into Germany. We were there a month. It was easy to drive there, easy to follow a map. The only thing I would caution, is to avoid the large cities. We usually stopped outside the town (Rome, Naples, Florence) and took the train in as parking, and driving in the big cities is a mess, and with all the vespas really dangerous.

 

Be sure to stay to the right, the Italians drive a lot faster than we wanted to drive and they will run right over you. You will have a great time!

[PersistenzaretiniKa]

how many days u have to do this?

[Maineac]

how many days u have to do this?

 

 

We have three days.

[PersistenzaretiniKa]

three days it's hard: consider that u need at least 2 hours by car to arrive from venice to cortina d'ampezzo for example, but if u need to go in another valley it can take much more because u have to go to verona then take the motorway for brennero state borderline ( at least 4 hours and a half from venice to go to ortisei for example) then to go to lago di como u'll need at least 5 hours by car from cortina , and a bit less from other western valleys of dolomites.

 

it's doable but i think it's really tireing

[Maineac]

three days it's hard: consider that u need at least 2 hours by car to arrive from venice to cortina d'ampezzo for example, but if u need to go in another valley it can take much more because u have to go to verona then take the motorway for brennero state borderline ( at least 4 hours and a half from venice to go to ortisei for example) then to go to lago di como u'll need at least 5 hours by car from cortina , and a bit less from other western valleys of dolomites.

 

it's doable but i think it's really tireing

 

Grazie, si!,

 

That does sound stressful...I think it would be better to go directly from Venice to Bellagio and spend our 3 days there.

 

Do you think we should take the train to Bellagio, or would having a car be better?

 

Judy

[Moonglow]

Grazie, si!,

 

That does sound stressful...I think it would be better to go directly from Venice to Bellagio and spend our 3 days there.

 

Do you think we should take the train to Bellagio, or would having a car be better?

 

Judy

 

You will have to take the train to Como and then take either a ferry or the bus to Bellagio. If you rent a car, you can drive directly there. I would check the train routes and schedules, as you may have to go into Milan and change trains for Como.

Carol

[emckeeve]

Having a car isn't really "better'" because once you are in Bellagio, you walk or take ferries everywhere. We did the opposite route . . . flew into Milan, rented a car, drove to Bellagio, spent three days and drove to Vencie to board a cruise. It was easy - except for the road to Bellagio. It was scary and took my husband's total focus. But the train schedules involved too much changing trains. It's a beautiful drive around the lake and the main highways are fine.

[Dowunder]

By train the best route is Venice to Milan Central then change trains for Varenna, a small town opposite Bellagio. The ferry from Varenna to Bellagio takes about 10 minutes and from Como about 2 hours. We are driving from Venice to Bellagio in September and staying at The Hotel Ballagio which offers free car parking, a consideration if you are driving. Of course you do not need a car in Bellagio, but it is useful to get you to Malpensa(Milan) airport for your departure.

[Maineac]

Thank you all for sharing your advice.

 

Taking the train with all our luggage in tow, does not sound at all appealing.

 

On the other hand, renting a car and not needing it for three days while in Bellagio doesn't make much sense.

 

Another thought I had was finding a "private tour" for a day, that would get us to Bellagio.....The Research is half the fun!!!;)