Atlantica - 01.10.2006, Page 49

included in your EUR 90 room, you have one big
decision left to make over your cappuccino:
A) Go to Milan for the morning and see the city
that makes Northern Italy and the world fashion
industry tick.
B) Stay on the lake and visit Menaggio, the
third city in the trifecta of lake tourism.
C) Drive to the Valtellina Valley, a two-hour
journey from Varenna, where you’ve read there
are natural hot springs that have reportedly been
in use for 2000 years.
C) Technically, it would be easier to hop on a
ferry, cross the lake and tool around Menaggio
for the day. But sometimes you’ve got to work for
your relaxation.
You hop in the rental and start the long haul
along Route 38 toward Valtellina. You pass
through the inviting central square of Tirano and
drive on for another hour through this little wine
country. You are slowly creeping into the Alps,
and after one impossibly long tunnel, you arrive
in Bormio, one of Italy’s most famous ski resorts.
It’s 1pm, and most businesses are closed for three
hours during lunchtime. Lucky for you, the tour-
ist office has a poster for the famous Bagni di
Bormio up in its window. You jot down the num-
ber and call for directions to the baths from a gas
station parking lot.
“Do you want the old baths or the new baths?”
the woman asks.
You knew that there were two baths run by
the same resort here, both the Bagni Vecchi and
the Bagni Nuovi, but you hadn’t decided which
to go with.
“What’s the difference?”
“The old baths are in a three-star resort, and the
new baths are in five-star resort,” she answers.
A) Go with the baths imbued with history and
tradition, Bagni Vecchi.
B) Go with the fancy new baths, Bagni Nuovi.
A) You dodged it in Bellagio, but this time you go
with the glitz.
When you had called the day before, you were
told you to show up when the spa opened at 10am,
as your EUR 32 entrance fee is an all-day pass to
the various treatments on offer. But if you’re
going to make it back in time for your flight to
Milan on time, you end up with exactly an hour
to take in the various pools, chromatherapy, aro-
matherapy and hydrotherapy treatments.
You put on the provided hooded white terry
robe and join the other bathers. You get in the
first bath – an outdoor whirlpool with an incred-
ible view of the valley below – and a woman
promptly steals the flip-flops you put a EUR 10
deposit on. Easy come, easy go.
It’s a quick hour at Bagni Nuovi, and there isn’t
a lot of time to fall asleep in one of the outdoor
hammocks with a book on your chest. But you
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