Day 7 was a slow morning in Lugano, the last Swiss city of the trip, and then the one leg we had not solved before we were standing at the station with it: Lugano to Menaggio on Lake Como. The app quoted about $400, the ferries were full, and a car cost $200. We reached the hotel at 19:00, which is where this day ends and the next one begins.
Lake Como from Menaggio in the last light, the evening we arrived. Photo: RewardsGuru.club
A slow morning in Lugano
We slept in after arriving in Lugano at 22:00 the night before, and we spent the morning there rather than moving early. Piazza della Riforma, then Via Nassa for the last Swiss chocolate stop, Läderach at number 11 and Vittorio Vanini at Via Luvini 1, a Lugano chocolate house since 1871 that does its own chocolate and its own gelato, and is the landmark the rest of this paragraph navigates by. Lunch was pizza at Ristorante Tango, immediately next door to it. Gelato afterwards at C'era una volta on Via Dufour.
Lugano before the move: the lake from the promenade. Photo: RewardsGuru.club
The lakefront promenade, the slow morning we chose over an early train. Photo: RewardsGuru.club
The ridge across the lake, from the lakefront park. Photo: RewardsGuru.club
Swans at the lakeside park, where the promenade ends. Photo: RewardsGuru.club
The arcades off Via Nassa, on the way to the last Swiss chocolate stop. Photo: RewardsGuru.club
A market stall on the walk over to Via Nassa. Photo: RewardsGuru.club
Gabbani, the charcuterie on Via Pessina, on the same walk. Photo: RewardsGuru.club
Lunch at Ristorante Tango, next door to Vanini. Photo: RewardsGuru.club
The counter at Vittorio Vanini, Via Luvini 1: chocolate taps, gelato cones and panettone under one roof. Photo: RewardsGuru.club
Lugano is the last Swiss stop on this route, which means the last Half Fare Card fares and the last Swiss chocolate. Two things worth knowing for a morning there: the lakefront promenade runs from the Piazza della Riforma end to the park at the far end without a road crossing, and the chocolate shops on Via Nassa open mid-morning, so a slow start costs nothing.
The transfer that ate the afternoon
Then the S10 at 15:36, Lugano to Como San Giovanni, CHF 6.60 per person. Second class showed full.
The S10 runs along the lake most of the way to Como. CHF 6.60 a person. Photo: RewardsGuru.club
Como to Menaggio is about 65 minutes on the C10 bus. Here is what we were quoted for it:
| Option | Quote |
|---|---|
| Uber | about $400 |
| Taxi rank | €80 to 120 |
| C10 bus from Piazza Matteotti | a few euros, about 65 minutes |
| Boat, from the office at Piazza Cavour | posted at the pier |
Uber in Como is Uber Black only. There is no cheap tier, so the app quotes a limousine and calls it a ride. Anyone who checks the app once and books a car for the week is paying limousine rates for every short hop. The boats and the taxi both fell through for us in the moment. The ferries were full, the next crossing was not until 19:00, and we were not willing to lose the evening to it. So we took the car from Como San Giovanni and paid $200. That is half what the app had quoted earlier the same afternoon, and still roughly twice what the taxi rank was asking.
We arrived around 19:00.
Arriving at 19:00, and the night in one paragraph
The hotel was the Grand Hotel Victoria Concept & Spa in Menaggio, a Small Luxury Hotels property, booked for 170,000 Hilton Honors points and no cash, with Hilton Gold from the Amex Platinum riding on the booking. That stay, what Gold delivered at an independent hotel, the spa, and the car the hotel turned out to have all along, is Day 8's story. What belongs to Day 7 is the price of arriving late: a spa property reached at 19:00 gives you the room that night and the spa in a hurry. If the property is the destination, the transfer to it is not a detail to work out on arrival. Solve the last leg before you leave the last city.
Where we ate
Dinner was Osteria Il Pozzo on Piazza Garibaldi in Menaggio, about €58 for two. Worth knowing before you plan around it: Il Pozzo closes at 21:00, which is early by Italian habit and early for anyone arriving on a late transfer. We walked straight from check-in to the table and made it with time to spare, and a 20:00 arrival would not have.
Lunch in Lugano was the pizza at Ristorante Tango, next to Vittorio Vanini, and the gelato after it. Both are in the morning section above.
Lockers and bags
Two carry-ons rode with us the whole day. That is fine on the S10 and fine on the C10 bus, and it is the reason a boat or a bus was never off the table on comfort grounds. No locker was needed because Lugano to Menaggio is a one-way move, not a day trip. The pattern to remember from this trip is the opposite one: lockers are what let a summit day and a travel day be the same day.
Useful tips
- Check whether the ride-hailing app serves your destination at all before you count on it. In Como it offers only the premium tier, which is why the app quoted around $400 for a run the taxi rank prices at €80 to €120. Quotes on that tier also move: ours settled at $200 by the time we actually booked.
- The S10 from Lugano to Como San Giovanni is CHF 6.60 a person and runs along the lake. It is the cheap, reliable part of the day; the bus, boat or car after it is the part to book ahead.
- If your Lake Como hotel is a destination in itself, book the arrival, not just the night. Every hour after check-in that you spend on a transfer is an hour of the thing you paid for.
- Lugano rewards a slow morning: the promenade, Via Nassa for the last Swiss chocolate, and lunch next door to it. Nothing there needs booking.
Next: the Victoria on 170,000 Hilton points, what Gold actually delivered at a Small Luxury Hotels property, the spa, and the car the hotel had all along.
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