Lake Como best town to stay.

Looking for first hand recommendations on towns to stay at when visiting Lake Como.

i like a train station nearby so i'd stay in Desanzano with quick regular cheap trains to loads of interesting cities including of course Venice. Nice small town -like many others along the lake shore -but if you get bored(and most Lake Garda towns are quite small with not that much to do) or if the weather turns it's so nice to be able to jump on the train.

What an idiot I am . Sorry Bronco -you said Como ! Oh well, if anyone's going to Lake Garda read the above!
Nowhere is more beautiful than bellagio but it is not the cheapest place on an already quite pricey area.Its somewhat isolated at the end of a long promontary that sticks into the heart of Lake Como, though there are good hydrofoil connections to other towns (see a map) .
IAlthough not quite the beuty spot that bellagio is Menaggio on the west coast is a lovely little town with a bit of a buzz -and is easy accesible to Lugano and other areas of Swiss Ticino province.
You may hear about Cadenabbia Tremezzo and Lenno - popular "resorts" south of Menaggio on the west coast- they are very pretty , but quite small;not the greatest craic.
Como is a busy town- acity really. i don't like it.
In the extreme south-east corner I quite like Lecco -a proper town with atmosphere.Not as beautiful a location as the others above but a bit cheaper and more genuine Italian than the plushy resorts of Bellagio,Menaggio etc.

Have stayed in both Bellagio & Como itself.

Bellagio was lovely, if a little touristy. Still we found some lovely places to eat & it was great to just stroll around in the evening. We found a great apartment overlooking the town square - couldn't have been better.

Como's bigger but we still found it great. Has everything you could wish for. Much much bigger & more of a working town than Bellagio. Great selection of shops, rests, bars etc.

There's a couple of different boats that will bring you across\up\down the lake. You can go for the 'high speed' ferry or you can zig-zag across the lake.

enjoy

Thanks Oldnick and TonyR. I had narrowed the choice down to Bellagio and Menaggio and had also considered Varenna.
The train station and the opportunity of going on a day trip to Switzerland sounds great. I have been to Lugano before but that was a very long time ago. Como and Lecco might be a bit further down the "legs" of the lake and restrict sightseeing. Having said that I do like the sound of Lecco being a proper town with atmosphere.
I have also being looking at holiday rentals for Bellagio and there are a few well positioned apartments that look nice on the various websites. TonyR can you let me know the name of the apartment that you stayed in?

Stayed in Como for a few days before, plenty of boats that go up the lake to the smaller villages and if you get "laked out", you can get a train to Milan from Como quite easily

We stayed here.

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The apartment itself was lovely & we'd go back anytime. The rooms were surprisingly big & the location was great. Lovely master bedroom. Couple of small balconies - big enough for a couple of people to sit & have a glass of vino! There was parking in the square that the apartment overlooks but it was a bit hit & miss - however there is the option of parking in a garage a little down the road. The apartment us on the 3rd floor with no lift but to be honest if stairs\ steps aren't your thing then Bellagio isn't the place for you!

The apartment is owned by a family who own the sunglasses shop across the road so they're nearby if you have any questions etc. The have a couple of other apartments around the town I think.They also have a good restaurant just outside the town (http://www.bellagiosangiacomo.com/).

Hope this helps.

By the way, no harm asking for a discount if you pay cash - worked for us!

Thanks TonyR. I would be looking for somewhere for about €50 to €60 per night in the shoulder/off season. Asking for a discount for cash seems good to me. Any problem with mosquitoes?

Think we got 15% off for cash at the time. We went in April 2007, weather was lovely & had no probs at all with mosquitoes.

I wouldn't have said that Como was too busy - at least you're in the middle of it all should you want the best selection of things to do, eat and see.

You could try Cernobbio - the place where Villa D'Este is - round to the west side of the lake. Have never stayed there but did pass through it and some of the other small towns up the west side, but wouldn't have been dying to stay in any of them as they were very small.

Instead of trailing into Milano (v.overrated in IMHO) Bergamo is well worth a visit and, if you can get a connection, I found Brescia worth a day trip and Cremona worth a look too.

Been to Bellagio and a visit into Como, Como big town, Bellagio was really beautiful although nothin to dop bar eat and drink and admire the breath taking beauty. Was there for a wedding but seemed to be full of OAPs on bus tours.

We stayed in a small (very) place called Ossuccio in a beautiful apartment. If you want some life around the place I would recommend staying in Como town itself. The trips up & down he lake are just great.