Good morning, I'd have to search TTOL...but we did a report called Swiss-Italia and one other report around 2015-2017? when we visited our daughter who was studying abroad in Lugano. Photobucket screwed up some of my pics, but there's a section with our first trip to Cinque Terre and we actually revisited and hiked Cinque Terre again this trip, great experiences! We searched last minute lodging in Cinque, but opted for Rapallo and trained from there. That report is coming after we get back from our cabin. I think you picked a good time of year to go, August will have some crowds but great summer weather and the number of tourists decline in September, weather is still warm and swimming Lake Como is doable! Your Itinerary sounds great, everything is relatively a short drive/train ride away, 2 hours and you can be anywhere in the north.

One major piece of advice.....check your "debit" card for a chip, ours did not have a chip and could not be used where we tried to get cash (Fortunately we had plenty to stretch out), just received new cards and still no chip? we will be contacting them soon! I learned a lot from TomB, such as keeping banking contact info somewhere handy, he unfortunately bumped into a pickpocket!

Congrats on retirement, excited for you!