On the waterat Varenna.

Varenna is the better answer if you value arriving by train, morning light and a quiet village; Bellagio is the better answer if you want scale, year-round services and the whole ferry network at your door.

Argued from the Varenna side: the station is not a convenience, it is a structural difference in how the house gets used, and it is why owners here come out for weekends in March when the western shore sits empty. The village is smaller and steeper, and the crowding never concentrates the way it does across the water, because the ferry pier sits apart from the centre. The trade-offs are honest ones, a narrower field of restaurants, fewer services on foot, and an aspect that takes the sun early and gives it up early. Buyers who spend real time in both usually decide on light and on arrival route rather than on the villages themselves.

Yes. Varenna-Esino-Perledo is on the MilanLeccoSondrio/Tirano line and sits above the village, within walking distance of the water.

This is the single practical thing that sets Varenna apart from every comparable village on the lake, and it is the reason a meaningful share of buyers here never seriously consider the western shore. Check the current timetable for service pattern and interchange, since some trains require a change at Lecco and some do not.

The village faces west and takes the sun early, so mornings are bright on the water and direct light goes off the frontage earlier in the afternoon than on the western shore.

The effect is seasonal rather than constant: pleasant shade in high summer, a noticeably shorter afternoon between November and February. Height helps, which is one reason hillside houses above the village hold the light and are worth looking at even when a waterfront address is the instinct.

There is mooring in and around the village, but capacity is limited and berths rarely reach the open market.

The reliable route is a house with an existing landing stage or boathouse, which is one of the reasons those properties are priced separately. The position itself is strong: from Varenna the central basin, the Lecco branch and the run north are all immediately open.