Bellagio

Bellagio needs 1 day: walking its cobblestone stepped shopping streets up to the lake viewpoint on one, and visiting the gardens of Villa Melzi or Villa Serbelloni, with simultaneous views of Lake Como's three branches. April-September is best. It's expensive, one of the most photographed towns in the Italian Alps. Nicknamed the «pearl of Lake Como», it sits exactly at the tip of the promontory where the lake splits into its three branches, a unique geographic point giving panoramic views in all three directions of the lake, and its 18th-century historic villa gardens inspired artists and writers for generations.