KEY POINTS:
We are four adults travelling to Milan from England in January 2008 for approximately eight days. We would like to base ourselves at Bellagio on Lake Como and, if possible, cross the border into Switzerland to do some sightseeing. How long is the journey from Milan to Bellagio and what would be the best mode of transport? Where could we cross the border into Switzerland to do day trips/visit places of interest? - Gerry Sarlemyn
Bellagio is considered the pearl of Lake Como. You'll be able to visit the lavish gardens of Villa Serbelloni or the neoclassical Villa Melzi, while kicking back in some of the outstanding accommodation in The Lakes region.
If you haven't researched somewhere to stay as yet, then we can recommend Residence La Limonera (www.residencelalimonera.com) self-catering apartments in the centre of town, La Pergola (www.lapergolabellagio.it) in the fishing hamlet of Pescallo, and Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni (www.villaserbelloni.com) with all the luxury facilities you could want.
To get to Como, the main access town to the lake, take any of the hourly train departures from Milan's Stazione Centrale (around $6, one hour).
To get to Bellagio you can take a ferry across the lake from Como (they run year-round) for just a few euros, or any of the Societa Pubblica Trasporti regular buses that run along the lake's shores. It's a one-hour bus trip to Bellagio.
Being so close to the Swiss border, you'll find it easy to take in some of the best attractions in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.
For some Swiss lake life, and to wander the maze of steep cobblestone streets that untangle themselves at the lake's edge, your first port of call should be Lugano.
There are a number of galleries to visit here, but the real attraction is just sitting by the lake's edge watching the workers bustle from place to place in the country's third most important banking city while you enjoy the local cuisine and a sip of wine.
You can visit towns, villages and other attractions around Lake Lugano by purchasing a one-day boat pass ($35). Try not to miss Melide, where you'll find Swissminiatur (www.swissminiatur.ch). This is comprised of 1:25 scale models of more than 120 national attractions - the easy way to see Switzerland in a day.
Another 30km north from Lugano is the city of Bellinzona, strategically placed at the conversion point of several valleys heading down from the Alps. It's a beautiful place and its skyline is dominated by three grey-stone, fairy-tale medieval castles. The painter Turner was impressed enough to come and paint the views.
Although the castles form one of only six Unesco World Heritage sites in Switzerland, Bellinzona has a surprisingly low tourist profile. There are some beautiful fresco-adorned churches to see here too, as you wander the cobblestone core of the town's centre.
Lugano and Bellinzona can both be reached by train from Como. Lugano is just an hour by train from Como (around $30) and Bellinzona is another 30 minutes from there (around $14).
Travelling free
Four of us are travelling through France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland from June 6 until August 6 next year. We want the freedom of not booking accommodation ahead. How risky is this? (We are not going near the coast in France or below Milan in Italy.) Secondly, is there a cost in crossing borders? Any recommended places to visit or stay between Jaca and Barcelona over two days? - Richard Morris
Tourist numbers all over Europe are high all year round, but the summer months are swarming with visitors. Generally, the advice is that throughout summer, and particularly through the holiday months of July and August, you need to book accommodation well ahead.
It doesn't matter that you're not going to the coast in France or below Milan in Italy; everywhere in Europe is a popular tourist haunt nowadays and accommodation can be hard to find at that time of year.
Many travellers do take the risk of just winging it. This can be fine if you're camping, but if you're after hotel, guesthouse or B&B accommodation, you might find yourselves sleeping at the train station! As there are four of you, the risk of not finding four beds is rather high.
Having said all that, however, as long as you're prepared to travel to camping grounds or B&Bs on the outskirts of town or to those places harder to reach by public transport, you should be OK in most places. Having a car to get around would be very advantageous in this regard.
The best way to find accommodation quickly on arrival in a new place is to head for the tourist office and ask if they have an accommodation booking service. They may charge you a small fee, but it certainly saves you from traipsing all around town knocking on doors for hours.
We also suggest you try to book ahead, just by a day or two, if you know you're going to be in a certain place on a certain day. It could make all the difference.
As you make your way through the Aragon region of Spain where Jaca is situated, try to stop at the picturesque old village of Alquezar. There is a wonderful castle-monastery with some spellbinding murals, interesting winding streets and some great views all around. Get there by bus from Barbastro, which is on the main road from Barcelona, daily except Sunday ($3). Near Jaca, the Pyrenean valleys of Echo and Anso are also well worth exploring for their truly outstanding natural beauty.
There are no passport controls or border crossing fees between the countries you are visiting.
Barging through
My wife and I, together with another couple, would like to take a canal barge cruise through the wine region of France. Some time ago I saw this on TV. However, I can't find any information regarding this type of travel. Are you able to help? - Jim Madden
The TV show you're thinking of is Rick Stein's French Odyssey and he travelled the Canal du Midi, one of the most popular and most beautiful canal regions in the country. Renting a houseboat and cruising along canals and rivers, stopping at your whim along the way, is one of the more serene and pleasurable ways to see France.
Boats generally accommodate from four to 12 passengers and are fully outfitted with bedding and cooking facilities. Although it's possible to hire a driver and perhaps a cook (at great expense, mind you), anyone over 18 can pilot a boat and first-time skippers are given a short instruction session. This really is the most fun way to do it.
Prices start at around $2000 per week for a small boat sleeping four people. Reservations well ahead of time are essential during the summer months and holiday periods.
Some areas you may wish to consider exploring by canal boat are the Limousin, the Dordogne, Quercy, and Burgundy.
The Syndicat National des Loueurs de Bateaux de Plaisance publishes a booklet listing rental companies (tel +33 01 44 37 04 00).
Online rental agencies include:
France Afloat (www.franceafloat.com)
Locaboat Holidays (www.locaboat.com)
Barging in France (www.barginginfrance.com)
Canal Boat Holidays (www.canalboatholidays.com)
Worldwide River Cruise (www.worldwide-river-cruise.com).
Blues spirit
We will be attending a conference in New Orleans and will then travel to New York. We have a spare week to tour, should we drive from New Orleans to New York, or tour locally? - Andrew Gal
Nailing a road trip of almost 2000km in seven days is going to keep you behind the wheel for a good part of every day, with little time to really stop and smell the hamburgers, so why not take the more leisurely approach of touring the Deep South and catching a cheap flight to the Big Apple at the end of your trip.
One-way flights from New Orleans with low-cost airline JetBlue (www.jetblueairways.com) can be as low as $135.
One of the most popular activities in the New Orleans area involves meandering upriver to see the elaborate plantation homes and simpler French-Creole homes along the River Rd between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
You can visit some of the plantations, including the French-colonial Destrehan, (www.destrehanplantation.org) and "Steamboat Gothic" San Francisco (www.sanfranciscoplantation.org) plantations on the east bank, and the Greek-revival Oak Alley (www.oakalleyplantation.com) and enormous Nottoway (www.nottoway.com) plantations on the west bank.
Either hire a car or take a tour with Gray Line (www.graylineneworleans.com/plantation.shtml).
If you're at all interested in popular music, let alone the Blues, you'll want to say you've breathed the air of the Mississippi Delta, which Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and BB King once called home.
The Delta Blues Museum (www.deltabluemuseum.org) is in Clarksdale. Civil War history looms large here too, in places such as Vicksburg with its old cemetery full of the graves of Union soldiers.
And few music-lovers could resist a visit to Memphis and a chance to see Graceland's shagpile carpets and shrine to the King.
To stay with the music theme, you could keep heading northeast and take in Nashville as well, with its Grand Ole Opry and Country Music Hall of Fame.
Another option could be to travel across to Georgia to visit elegant Atlanta and the sublime city of Savannah, with its mammoth live oaks, grand mansions and swags of antebellum history.
Keep heading east and you'll come to Charleston, another superb city for history and gorgeous architecture, and a suitably hard-to-top place to end your week before heading to NYC.
To simplify things you could pick up an organised self-drive tour, with your accommodation and itinerary decisions made upfront by companies such as Travel South USA (www.travelsouthusa.com; click on Real South Road Trips).
