Northern Italy with three kids

Lake Como, Lake Garda and Venice in a week - with three children

Hello, thanks for visiting, firstly I am just howling as the image that I chose above has all three kids with their eyes shut, but I can’t be arsed changing it, sorry. I’m writing this blog as after our jaunt to Italy last year I was inundated with questions about the trip and what we did/ how we did it etc. I’ve put quite a lot of detail on here - if you want a summary and pics - skip to the end! Also, I wrote this last year when we got back but I have only just got round to posting it.

We always said that when we had children we wouldn’t let it stop us from travelling, but with covid we had to put many travel plans on hold, this year however now that our youngest is one and covid isn’t really affecting travel plans any more we can get back to it, wahoo! 

I just want to start by putting it out there that Nick and I never look to book a ‘big’ holiday every year, we’d never book a break for the sake of it, many of our travel plans often come about on the back of a feeling. Sounds stupid, but I can honestly look back and tell you the reason we booked most of our holidays. Sometimes it’s a need to relax, sometimes it’s a feeling of wanting to be on the beach, sometimes it’s a craving to be somewhere exotic like South East Asia, but after covid this one came from a craving for adventure and to practice ‘travelling’ with the three kids but in a safe space.

With Rupert (who is six) being at school we do actively try and take holidays in the school holidays or at times in term time when it has minimal impact, but because of my job that can sometimes be hard - the school holidays are when I earn my main income because many of my clients are teachers, so sometimes we have to think outside of the box. Anyway, I digress, I needed some adventure in my life and wasn’t too bothered about the weather as long as it wasn’t any colder than the UK. 

Flights

I started looking at flights and found some to northern Italy from Liverpool that were £17pp each way. (Also, love Liverpool airport - what a breath of fresh air compared to Manchester). This was with Ryanair flying in to Bergamo which is the secondary airport for Milan. It’s located at the base of Lake Como and within driving distance to Verona and Lake Garda and possibly Venice at a push. Other airport options for this part of Italy include Milan Malpensa, Verona and Venice but I have always found Bergamo to be the cheapest, and easiest as it’s small. We booked the flights seven weeks before we travelled. 

Lake Como from Lenno - Raffi couldn’t give a…

Ideally my aim was to visit Lake Como - making a stop where we got married 12 years ago - Villa Cipressi and then go on to Lake Garda and try and see some more of Garda and possibly visit Venice and I really wanted to go the Dolomites but a week isn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things and with three children there has to be a balance between seeing things and them having down time, so we gave it a miss…this time! 

Lake Como 

After A LOT of research, which I can’t deny I absolutely love doing, we settled on staying on Lake Como for two nights, we stayed in a small village called Lenno which we have never been to before but was perfect. The main villages on the tourist trail for Lake Como (or the Golden Triangle,) are Menaggio, Bellagio, Varenna and add in the city of Como as a hub, but when I was looking at accommodation for us they were all super expensive with there being five of us so as Lenno has a ferry port, that’s what we went for.

I found Residence Lenno through Trip Advisor initially and then after some research ended up booking directly with them - which is always a good tip - you should always get the best deal direct. It was a studio in a small block of apartments linked to a hotel about two minutes drive away. The apartment looked over the lake (sort of) and had free parking, a pool, sun loungers and was walking distance to the village and ferry port which was a winner for us as parking on Lake Como is a b*tch. The apartment itself had a large double sofa bed, dining room, bathroom with washing machine, kitchen, a separate double bedroom and a small terrace as we were on the ground floor. It cost us 100 Euro per night and I would defo recommend for famillies. Lenno has some beautiful restaurants and you can leave the car at the apartment, walk to the ferry port, and from there you can pretty much go anywhere on Lake Como. It’s also within walking distance to the famous Villa Balbianello. If you have a better budget than us or you’re children aren’t as ferral take a look at Villa Cipressi, Borgo Le Terrazze in Ballagio or Hotel Royal Victoria, Varenna for something a more fancy and less practical.

The view from Lenno, Lake Como

---

During our stay on Como we walked up to Villa Balbianello from our apartment which is famously used in Star Wars and James Bond. From Lenno it’s a lovely scenic walk through the extensive gardens to the villa. Children go free to a lot of places like this in Italy so it cost 24 Euros for us all. We had a wander around, there was soooooo much Wisteria which I was just in love with, then rather than walk back we got a boat taxi back round to Lenno as we really wanted to see the villa from the lake. 

Later that afternoon we boarded the ferry from Lenno to Bellagio, we’ve been to Bellagio before and there is no doubt that it’s beautiful but it’s also a tourist trap. The winding streets are enchanting and there’s nowhere quite like it but even in April on a slightly cold and blustery day it’s so busy. If you are visiting with small children my best advice is don’t take a pram, definitely take a carrier. We had a walk through the winding lanes, and then randomly ended up in the restaurant I went to the night before my wedding which was amazing, before heading back on the ferry. One thing that I have to mention here that has caught us out more times than I care to remember is Italian restaurant opening times! At 90% of restaurants you can’t eat any time you want, they don’t remain open all day, some of them even in high season. Lunch service tends to be from 12 - 2, aperitif from 5 - 8 pm and dinner from 8 - 10pm. I am not saying that this applies to all restaurants but so many times we have looked for somewhere to eat at 3pm and been thoroughly disappointed as we couldn’t find anywhere - so always worth keeping in mind - especially with kiddos who tend to get hangry.

The day after we drove about 15 minutes up the lake to Menaggio and caught the car ferry across the lake over to Varenna. This teeny village holds so many lovely memories for us, the build up and post wedding celebrations, spending time with family and friends and our wedding day itself.

Because of covid we hadn’t been able to go back to Villa Cipressi for our ten year anniversary like we wanted to, so it was amazing to walk through those doors again. You can pay to go in and visit if there’s no wedding on - which I would definitely recommend - the gardens and views are amazing - there’s a multi-storey car park just across the road from the Villa and Monastery - drive to the top of the car park and you’ll get some amazing views of the lake. If you have time have a mooch around Varrena too, it’s a sleepy village which has become really popular in recent years but a great place for a long lunch and a dip in the lake.

Whilst we were here we also visited the city of Como which Nick and I feel is quite underrated. It’s much bigger than the other towns and villages and sits at the bottom of the lake. There are some gorgeous restaurants, typically Italian, winding alleys and boutiques and it doesn’t feel as touristy as some of the smaller villages. 

Lake Garda

From Lake Como we made the drive over to Lake Garda with a stop at my Husband’s head office on the way. We chose the wrong time to drive over - Friday evening at 6pm - which is the Italian equivalent of driving up to the lake district at 6pm on a Friday, if we had done it any other time it would have taken 1.5 hours but for us it took just shy of three hours. Oh well, you live and learn! 

In Lake Garda after much deliberation we chose to stay at a Eurocamp. Hotel rooms just aren’t much option for us at the moment as we end up needing two and it becomes really expensive, and the logistics just don’t work. We found a chalet on Bella Italia in Peschiera del Garda that sleeps six - winner, included cot and high chair (double winner) and the best of all only cost around £450 for five nights. The site itself is HUGE so I can’t imagine what it would be like at full capacity but in April when we went it was brilliant. So clean and really beautiful. It’s located right on the lake, a short walk from Peschiera Del Garda, it has four amazing swimming pools with slides and a splash park (non of these are heated I must add- but hey, we’re british). It also has a couple of restaurants - one overlooks the lake, an amazing supermarket - honestly I would shop here every day over our supermarkets at home, a toy shop, bike hire, adventure parks, laundry facilities, inflatable parks and a small train that takes you to the local town if you cba walking.

I often get asked the difference between the two lakes as they are so incredibly different… so here is my opinion. Lake Como has money and heritage, it’s a place to go and enjoy the stunning scenery, eat, drink and be seen. It’s not child focussed but they do love children there, that’s why we didn’t stay longer than two nights. Lake Garda on the other hand is much more family friendly, the scenery is still beautiful, but it has much more going on - Gardaland which is a huge theme park, and it has lots of outdoor pursuits, SUP, windsurfing etc.

I won’t wang on too much about this as you are probably getting bored by now but everything about this was fab, the accom was very basic, but great - we loved the outdoor decking that was really nice but also safe with a lockable child-gate. The local town was STUNNING and from the lake side of Bella Italia you can walk down all the way in to town along the lake and there are some really nice places to eat. Also from Peschiera there is a train station which is on the fast line and from there you can visit so many places including Milan, Verona, Bologna, Venice - you are pretty much connected to the rest of Italy! Because we have been to Verona before we decided to go to Venice instead. It’s never somewhere that has interested me in going to for a weekend but I felt compelled to visit for the day just to see it and experience it with it being so accessible.

Venice 

We got the train from Pescheira - we booked tickets a couple of days before via trainline - these trains get busy and always come with pre-allocated seats so its always best to pre-book. It was an hour and a half either way - we could learn a thing or two from Italy’s train system - it feels like luxury travel, especially on the fast trains. We have done the Rome to Naples fast train which was also incredible.

Approaching in to Venice Saint Luca station was incredible, so exciting and even though it was a dull day it looked like a painting. When you arrive you walk out of the station and boom - you are in Venice and you know it. It was overwhelming at first, a bit like visiting New York; you’ve seen it so many times in films and on TV and all of a sudden you are there, in it…which way do you go - argghh don’t look like a tourist! Then, it started raining and we were hit with holy sh*t we are in Venice with three kids and its raining - what’s the plan. Well, like most things Nick and I do we needed to sit down and have a drink to come up with our plan - as it was pre-12 it had to be coffee. In a way the rain did us a favour it made us stop and enjoy a part of Venice that we wouldn’t normally - full of locals and workmen, we escaped the rush to get to St Marcs square and the other touristy places and just enjoyed the fact that we were in Venice.

From there we walked, and walked and walked, that’s our thing, we love to wander. It really is an incredible place, aside from the tat shops and annoying selfie stick plonkers I can see why it’s number one on so many people’s lists to visit. St Marcs Square was beautiful, just as you would imagine, but once you get out of the main square and down the quaint back alleys the true beauty lies in the peace and triviality of the every day - gondola drivers sat having a cig on their phones, Venetians just going about their daily business.

We had initially said we would try and get some good Venetian food - but we ended up with pizza! We stumbled across an amazing place just off St Marcs Square and the boys were starving so we just dived in - but the best emergency stop we could have made. The place was called Gourmet 1000 and the pizzas were in insane - the service was on point and the drinks were cold - and for all of us it only came to 70 Euros which we thought was good for central Venice! If we weren’t with children I would have defo tried some of the Ciccietti on the back alleys which looked mega but the kids needed to rest their legs and often Ciccietti is served barside.

We got sucked in to a post-lunch drink next to St Marcs Square - we just wanted to soak up the vibe but the reality was loads of pigeons attacking everything, people absolutely everywhere and 20 Euros for an aperol, but, we’ve done it and it was good to get a cut of Venice’s tourist jib. We did some more wandering - Venice has some insane shopping, and then the boys were desperate to go on a boat - it was 80 Euro for half an hour on a gondola - they do look fun there’s no doubt, we watched them go up and down, but realistically for us I am not sure it would have been the right thing. Instead we saw some beauts wooden speedboats - think James Bond (sort of) so we decided to get one of them back to the train station - 60 euros well spent and everyone happy. It wasn’t long before we were back in the comfort of the train on the way back to Peschiera Del Garda.

Did I love Venice? Of course I did, its bloody beautiful, just as you would imagine. But, I love the Venice with no other tourists there poking me in the eye with there umbrella, or standing on my feet because they want to get the perfect selfie. The kids loved the novelty of it and I am glad we got to share the experience together.

After our trip to Venice the weather really warmed up so we spent our time around the pool, which was just lovely.

All in all what started out as cheap flights ended up a really epic trip and we came back having had the best time. Travelling with kids is never going to be easy, but, if done right is always going to be worth it.

Here’s some more pics…

Car Hire

Just in case you are wonderding about what we did with the car, we hired a Fiat 500L which was small but fine. We took Louie’s baby car seat with us as part of the ‘two free baby items’ with Ryanair. And, for the bigger boys I did a million years research on what to do. For Raffi who is smaller we got a Trunki Car Seat - this ingenious piece of kit doubles up as a backpack so it can be taken on-board the plane - it fits toys inside it. For Ru who is bigger we got an inflatable car seat which folds up fairly small in your hand luggage and then inflates in to a booster. They cost around £50 for the Trunki and £30 for the inflatable but the beauty is we can and will use them again.

Weather

We really didn’t know what to expect from the weather if I am totally honest. In Lake Como it was warm at some points and then cooler at other points - probably like a May day in England, Lake Garda was better and at times it got hot enough to sunbathe and swim in the pool, Venice was cooler and rainy, so I would recommend packing clothing for all weathers.

Summary

Flights - Ryanair - Liverpool - Bergamo - £34pp

Car Hire - Fiat Panda - I can’t remember exactly but I think was about 100 Euro, booked directly

Two nights Lake Como - Lenno - Residence Lenno 100 Euro per night - apartment sleeps four plus cot

Five nights Lake Garda - Bella Italia, booked through Eurocamp - £450

Any questions stick them in the comments below and they will come through to me and I will answer them…