MILAN, COMO AND MAGGIORE LAKES
Milan, Maggiore Lake, Borromean Islands, Stresa, Orta Lake, Como Lake, Bellagio
FRIDAY -1st day: MILAN
Transfer from Milan Airport by GT bus, luxury car or car rent Day and lunch free in Milano. Late afternoon meeting with our assistant who will explain the tour and the possibilities of Milan gay nightlife Accommodation in hotel. Dinner free.
SATURDAY - 2nd day: MILAN
Breakfast During the morning gay tour: Leonardo da Vinci Tour
Rainbow Italy offers this special tour to discover one of the most important geniuses of all times. Leonardo da Vinci, one of the most controversial figure ever and whose sexuality is still blatantly disregarded, spent more than 23 years of his life in the city of Milan. When Milan became one of the leading cities of the Italian Renaissance under the noble Sforza family, Leonardo da Vinci was invited to work at their court, producing in that period some of his most famous works including his iconic “L’Ultima Cena” or Last Supper, painted on a wall of a former dining hall next to the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Few traces of his passage are still visible, but if you want to understand why he spent so long in our city, you should definitely take this tour. First you will see “La Pinacoteca Ambrosiana” (The Ambrosian Picture Gallery), a true institution as it is one of the first public libraries in Europe and home to treasures of the Renaissance, where you will get to know masterpieces by Botticelli, Raffaello, Caravaggio and a selection of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci. Among other options you can add to your basic tour, you may wish to see Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper mural painting (advanced reservation is highly recommended), or the “Leonardo3 – The World of Leonardo Exhibition”, where you will discover the artist, the inventor and the infinite variety of Leonardo’s creative intelligence through the reconstruction models of machines and architectures he invented and digitalized restorations of his paintings, thus understanding his creative process as if you were just right next to him.
At the end free time for lunch and free afternoon:
If you want you can choose among our many gay tour proposals:
- Milano Highlights Tour
- Teatro alla Scala Tour
- Hidden Milan Design Tour
- Happy Hour Tour
- Fashion Tour
Free dinner
From 11.30 pm. Entrance to one of the most famous gay Disco in Milan
Overnight in hotel
SUNDAY: 3rd day: MILAN
Breakfast in hotel. Day and lunch free in Milan. Possibility to reserve one of our Milan gay tour: Milano Highlights Tour, Teatro alla Scala Tour, Hidden Milan Design Tour, Happy Hour Tour, Fashion Tour
From 8.30 p.m. “apericena” (little buffet dinner) @ one of the best disconight with drag show and disco with the best LGBT Deejay. Accommodation in hotel. Dinner free.
MONDAY - 4th day: MILANO– MAGGIORE LAKE – BORROMEAN ISLANDS
Breakfast in hotel. Day dedicated to free visit of Maggiore Lake. Navigation for the visit of Borromean Islands. Isola Bella is a place of splendour thanks to the recurrent blooming and the priceless architectural treasures that blends into a wonderful microcosm. Isola Madre is the biggest of the Verbano islands. It raises from the water with an enticing silhouette traced in the luxurious vegetation that covers the greatest part of it, as long the squared palazzo in the southern part, which is also the highest. (entrances excluded around € 22 for Bella and Madre Islands). Lunch free in Pescatori Island. Afternoon free in Stresa…
…or if you prefer in the summer time, you can move on the other side of the lake (about 50 km) where there is a strip of beach called “Spiaggia delle Fornaci” (former Discoteca Diva). This gay beach is a small strip of very popular land from the first days of heat. The water is transparent and the beach is made of pebbles. (Address: Via Valcane, Ispra - at the end of the street)
Accommodation in hotel. Dinner free.
TUESDAY - 5th day: STRESA – VILLA TARANTO – ORTA LAKE
Breakfast in hotel. Morning dedicated to the visit of Villa Taranto Gardens (opening 15 March – 4 November 2018). “A beautiful garden does not need to be big, but it should be the realization of one’s dream, even though it is only a couple of square metres large and it is situated on a balcony”. So explained Captain Neil Mc Eacharn, the man who created these marvelous gardens. Many thousands of plants, brought from the far corners of the world, and rare collections, some of them unique in Europe and acclimatized after long laborious efforts, have been arranged with art in this beautiful setting, between the mountains and the lake. Possibility of climb with the cable cars from Stresa-Alpino-Mottarone (ticket excluded – change of the cable car to the station “Alpino”). To arrive on the Mottarone top you will take the chairlift. The chairlift allows to arrive on the tallest point of the mountain (mt. 1491) and to enjoy of a panorama to 360° around seven Lakes and on the tops of the surrounding Alps. Lunch free. In its location facing Lake Orta, the small town of Orta San Giulio is a one of the top destinations for tourists visiting the Verbano Cusio Ossola province. A favorite place for romantic souls, the village is a maze of picturesque streets and narrow cobbled lanes, flanked by old stone walls with doorways topped with triangular architraves. Accommodation in hotel. Dinner free.
WEDNESDAY - 6th day: COMO LAKE
Breakfast in hotel. Day and lunch free on Como Lake or if you prefer a guided boat tour On Como Lake there is a beautiful and popular gay naturist beach which the local gay community used to go. It is located near Abbadia Lariana, on the road towards Colico. Accommodation in hotel. Dinner free.
THURSDAY 7th day: COMO – VARENNA – BELLAGIO
Breakfast in hotel. Day dedicated to the visit of Varenna area with its Villa Monastero, which is one of the most interesting attractions of our territory thanks to its strategic location, its history, its landscape, its environment and for the different services which it can offer. Transfer by boat to Bellagio. Lunch free. Afternoon dedicated to the free visit of the village. Bellagio is a small village at the tip of a long hilly promontory between the two southern branches of Lake Como. It is an elegant and long-established tourist resort, which still retains considerable charm despite the daily influx of trippers. Dinner free. Accommodation in hotel
FRIDAY - 8th day: COMO LAKE – MILAN
Breakfast in hotel. Departure to Milan airport and return of the car
According to the number of participants, RainbowItaly can propose this itinerary in self-drive, minibus, GT bus, luxury car with private driver and everything can be personalized, starting from a basic package that includes:
- Car rental (individuals) or transfer with GT bus (groups)from airport
- Meeting with our Rainbow Italy assistant who will explain your tour and your Milan gay nightlife
- Milan Gay guided tour: Leonardo da Vinci Tour
- 2 Entrances to gay disco nights in Milan (Saturday and Sunday WONDER (1 drink included)
- Accommodation in hotel 3*/3*S or in bed and breakfast
- Navigation Borromean Island
- Entrance to Villa Taranto in Verbania
- Boat from Varenna to Bellagio and return
In Milan we suggest these visits and activities:
Milan Dome: 500 years in the making, the spiked gothic cathedral that is the Duomo has been compared to a wedding cake and a ‘hedgehog’
L’Ultima Cena di Leonardo da Vinci represents in absolute one of the works of art more important than every time, both for its innovative position and for the impact that had on the artists of all the epochs, form the contemporaries to Warhol (entrance around € 12 per person). Reservation must be done in advance
Pinacoteca di Brera: The collection includes some of the greatest masterpieces of Italian and foreign art from the 13th to the 20th century. The works are displayed on the first floor of the building, where the Academy of Fine Arts is also located. (entrance around € 10 per person).
The Navigli district is one of the most famous areas of Milano which is worth visiting, they are charming and base of one of the main area in the Milan nightlife (Aperitivos and Bars).
Sforzesco Castle houses a collection of small museums, which are all accessible with the same ticket and will keep you occupied for quite some time. Highlights of the collection are Michelangelo’s last sculpture, on which he was working until days before his death, la Pietà Rondanini, and the masterpieces in the Pinacoteca by Mantegna, Canaletto and Tintoretto (entrance around € 5 per person).
Vittorio Emanuele Gallery, a place of transit for busy managers or a stop for enchanted and curious tourists, expresses the various faces of the city through its many facets.