LAKE COMO · ITALY
Pastel villages, mahogany boats, alpine water.
Bellagio, Varenna, Como and Lecco. Wooden boat cruises, villa gardens, day trips from Milan and an hour’s hop into Switzerland.
Only on Lake Como
Three things you can’t do anywhere else.
Lake cruises, villa visits and cooking classes exist on plenty of lakes. These three don’t. The mahogany boats, the headland villa, the Alpine railway. Each one is specific to this stretch of northern Italy. Plan the rest of the trip around them.
On the water
Mahogany Boat Tours
The classic 1950s Italian motoscafo — varnished wood, chrome trim, low-slung over the water — was built for this lake. A handful of family operators still run them out of Bellagio, Cernobbio and Como. You sit at the stern, the bow lifts, the villas pass at eye level. Nowhere else has the boats and the backdrop together.
- 1 Private Tour by Classic Wooden Boat on Lake Como
- 2 Classic boat tour on Lake Como
- 3 Private Boat Tour Como Wooden Classic Boat
On the promontory
Villa del Balbianello
The villa on the wooded headland west of Bellagio is reachable only by boat or a forty-minute footpath. Casino Royale ended here. Attack of the Clones filmed the Naboo wedding on the loggia. The terraced gardens drop straight to the lake. The combination of cinema history, lake access and 18th-century landscape design is specific to this one promontory.
- 1 Lake Como Highlights – Villa Balbianello & Bellagio exclusive full-day tour
- 2 Villa Balbianello & Bellagio Full-Day Tour on Lake Como by boat
- 3 Villa Balbianello and Flavors of Lake Como Walking and Boating Full-Day Tour
Across the border
The Bernina Express
A UNESCO World Heritage Alpine railway leaves from Tirano, an hour north of the lake. 196 bridges, 55 tunnels, the Brusio circular viaduct, the Morteratsch glacier, panoramic windows the full length of the carriage, finishing in St. Moritz. Lake Como is the only mainstream Italian lake destination that puts you within reach of the Swiss Alps in a single day.
- 1 From Milan: Lake Como Cruise, St. Moritz & Bernina Red Train
- 2 From Como: Day trip to St. Moritz & Panoramic Bernina Express
- 3 From Lake Como or Milan: Bernina Red Train Tour
The Milan-Como classic
If you’re based in Milan, start with this one.
Most travellers see Lake Como as a day trip from Milan. The hour-long train, the private cruise, Bellagio, a lakeside lunch, back in town for dinner. The tour everyone books first.
The classics
Lake Como’s Most Popular Tours
Bellagio, Varenna, Villa Balbianello, Lugano. The tours most travellers book for their Lake Como day.
By place
Pick a corner of the lake.
Bellagio for the gardens and the ferries. Como for the silk and the cathedral. Varenna for the pastel houses. Balbianello for the villa on the headland. Milan for the easiest day trip in. Lugano for the half-day across the border.
By tour type
Or pick how you want to spend the day.
Mahogany boat for the classic Lake Como shot. Private cruise for range. Speedboat for the islands at the top end of the lake. Cooking class if you want to stay on shore. Sunset aperitivo if you only have an evening. Plus the wine, the e-bikes and the rest.
If it’s the boats you came for
Lake Como by private boat.
The lake is shaped for boats — long, narrow, 410 metres deep, the villas on the shoreline and the Alps behind. A private cruise is the way most travellers actually see it. If we had to pick three, these are the ones we’d book.
An afternoon at the table
The Italian table on Lake Como.
Hand-rolled pasta in a Como courtyard, Domaso wines at the winery, charcuterie boards on a lakeside terrace. The other side of Lake Como — the one that happens between the boat trips. Our three favourites for the slower part of the day.
A second country in a day
Across the border to Switzerland.
Lake Como sits an hour from the Swiss border. Lugano for the lakeside afternoon. The Bernina Express for the Alpine pass to St. Moritz. Three day trips that turn a Lake Como stay into a two-country trip without changing hotels.
If you’re based in Milan
Lake Como in a single day from Milan.
Most first-time visitors see the lake on a day trip out of Milan — an hour by train each way, with the boat cruise in the middle. Three tours that get the timing right and leave Bellagio on the itinerary.
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