The Western Lakes: Part 5 Lago di Como

Published on:  | Last updated: 25 December 2019

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Distances
Menaggio to Dongo 14 kms
Dongo to Domaso 6 kms
Domaso to end 6 kms

This section is a short easy cruise with nice views and very little climbing. The route takes advantage of the recently-opened cycleways that have been built by the local comuni (councils) enabling cyclists to avoid the tunnels which would otherwise make this road, at best, very tedious. The cycleways make use of the stretches of the old road that were taken out of service when the tunnels were built. The route also uses the old strada statale which has been bypassed by the newer road.

Starting from Bellagio the section begins with a boat ride to Menaggio. There’s also a ferry service which runs to Cadenabbia a little further south of Menaggio.

From Bellagio you could take the coast road via Onno. The road is very scenic but sadly, at the end, there are two tunnels with a total length of 3.7 kilometres. It looks, from Google Street View that it might be possible to avoid one of the tunnels but not the other. Your best option might be to take the boat service to Lecco - either from Bellagio or Onno on the coast road.

Connections

This route connects with the Sentiero Valtellina and my suggested Mountains of Lombardia route.

Previous
Cycleway by the Lago di Como (Lombardia)

Cycleway by the Lago di Como (Lombardia)

More information

Places to stay

Hotels and B&Bs

Find and book places to stay with Booking.com

About these links

If you use these links to book accom­mod­ation Booking.com will pay me a small part of their commission. This helps support the costs of producing this site.

I use Booking.com to find and book places to stay when there are no campsites in the area. The large majority of hotels and many hostels are now on ‘Booking’. I like it because it means that I can get almost-instant confirm­ation. The rating system is also a reliable guide to the quality of the accommodation.

I’ve never had a problem finding places to keep my bike —even if it’s a cupboard or store room. I always use the ‘special requests’ field on the booking form to tell the hotel that I’m travelling with a bike, which gives them the oppor­tunity to let me know if there’s a problem.

Many properties offer free cancel­lation but it’s a good idea to check the condi­tions as these vary from property to property.

Hostels

There’s a hostel in Menaggio (Ostello La Primula).

Campsites

There are loads of campsites on the coast road at Dongo and Domaso but my recom­mend­ation would be to continue a bit further to Sorico and the Camping La Riva.

  Campsites map:  WL-campsites-map-show map in overlay    |    WL-campsites-map-show map in new window 

Transport and services

The nearest train stations are at Como and Lecco.

Bellagio is a hub for traghetto and ferry services. For routes, timetables etc go to the downloads page on the Navigazione Laghi website.

Articles in this series

Get in touch

Please get in touch if you find any errors in the information, or if there’s anything, good or bad, that you’d want other cyclists to know.

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