TRAVEL GUIDE TO LAKE COMO

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Although Lake Como is possibly the most famous lake in all of Italy, it does not top the list of the largest ... nevertheless its third place is not bad (which is already known, not everything is the size, ahem). This lake, in the Lombardy region and a stone's throw from modern Milan, is one of the most popular destinations in Italy. We chose 2017 to visit it, but the wait was worth it.

Here we bring you our Travel guide to Lake Como and we tell you in detail what is the best what to see and do on Lake Como, how to prepare the route, where to stay, how to get there and move around and some curiosities.

For centuries, we even have to go back to the Roman Empire, Lake Como has been chosen by many aristocrats as the perfect refuge to locate their second residences. The reason is simple: its enclave in a privileged environment, with the Alps reflected in its waters, it creates a unique panorama. And you know, power calls for power, so over the centuries that reputation has been created for the social elite. Do you sound like George Clooney, Madonna, Napoleon, Da Vinci or Queen Victoria?

The simple mortals that we settle for spending a couple of days going through it, we have to be grateful to this fact: now, in addition to the environment, we can enjoy lush villas and gardens, another reason to schedule a trip to Lake Como.

Lake Como has something that makes it recognizable to the naked eye on any map: its inverted Y shape, composed of Lecco's arm, Como's arm and Colico's arm. If you travel the lake by car you will realize that this characteristic profile makes its orography difficult and divides the lake into different sections:

From Lecco to Bellagio: narrow and winding road. There is not much interest.
From Bellagio to Como: narrow and winding road. There are some beautiful villages like Nesso or Torno and very cool viewpoints over the lake.
From Como to Menaggio: it is the area with the highest concentration of private villas, although there is no facility to stop on the road itself. There are also beautiful villages like Cernobbio, Moltrasio, Carate Urio, Laglio, Brienno, Argegno, Lenno, Tremezzina and Menaggio.
From Menaggio to Piona: best road. It is an area with less appeal and can be overlooked.
From Piona to Lecco: it can be done by a secondary road next to the lake or by taking the SS36 to go faster. There are a couple of interesting villages like Bellano and Varenna and beautiful views of the lake.

In addition to geographically, Lake Como is also territorially divided, as it limits the regions of Como and Lecco.

If you prefer to visit the Lake Como on a guided tour from Milan, with transportation and guide in Spanish, look at these options:

→ Excursion to Lake Como
→ Excursion to Lake Como and Bellagio
→ Lakes of Northern Italy in 4 days

You will soon realize that the attractions of Lake Como are many, but if we had to summarize what you cannot miss in five points, these would be:

1. Know the most beautiful villages. Both on the shores of the lake and hidden in the mountains, in Lake Como a lot of small houses of stone houses, huge palaces and humble stables are scattered. Our favorites are: Varenna, Nesso, Bellagio, Menaggio and Lenno. Learn more about them and a few more in our article "The most beautiful villages of Lake Como".

2. If your towns deserve a visit, the two big cities deserve it as well: Lecco and Como. With a strategic position on the lake, they are cities that have witnessed the emergence of this enclave as a prestigious destination and whose streets have passed through different settlers throughout history. Dedicate a few hours does not hurt!

3. Although if something is famous this lake is for its luxurious villas. That competition to build the most lush abode offers us a good handful of places to visit, the most important are these:

Villa del Balbianello (Lenno): its position, on a promontory overlooking Lake Lario, and its well-kept gardens, make this villa one of the most impressive (if not the most) of Lake Como.

Villa Carlota (Tremezzo): of sober construction and with an imposing facade, and surrounded by gardens with different routes where the beautiful fountain faces the lake. Inside there are rooms with art samples that the owners have been collecting and expanding over time.

Villa d'Este (Cernobbio): With more than 400 years of history, this villa had the honor of being named the best hotel in the world by Forbes magazine, so you can see what level we are talking about. If you have a budget, you can stay in one of its rooms where real-size characters (or Hollywood-size) have passed. If you don't have it, just take a quick look.

Villa Serbelloni (Bellagio): do not confuse with the Grand Hotel, on the banks of the lake. The park of Villa Serbelloni rises in the upper part of the town and consists of huge labyrinthine gardens where it is easy to get lost. The views from the top over the lake are splendid.

Villa Melzi (Bellagio): Although the house is not open to the public (like the previous one), the gardens that extend almost 1 km along the shore of the lake are wonderful. It is easy to get carried away and enjoy them for hours.

Villa Monastero (Varenna): This former Cistercian monastery is composed of 14 exhibition halls inside and a botanical garden on the outside and facing the water. It is a super photogenic place in one of the most beautiful villages on the lake!

4. Go up to the village of Brunate with Funicular from Como. For just over € 5 you can ride the historic funicular dating from 1894 and go up and down to the town of Brunate, from where you will have the best panoramic views over the lake and the Alps.

5. Visit the only island on the lake: theComacina Island. Off the coast of Ossuccio emerges this small island that was inhabited long before the Middle Ages until a curse fell on it. He remained in darkness for several centuries until in the twentieth century he was reborn again. At present there is a restaurant (eye, it's nothing cheap) and several interesting ruins, such as the Basilica of Santa Eufemia, the old castle or a handful of buildings that were part of a project for some artists to inhabit the island again .

If you are one of the lucky ones who have several days at Lake Como you will have different possibilities:

If you travel by car we recommend spending the night in different accommodations, in this way several places are known without ever having to return to the same place. A couple of interesting sites would be in the area between Bellagio and Lezzeno and the entire coast around Mennaggio.

Yes however you depend on transport public (below we give more info), maybe you should stay in the same place to not carry your luggage every day, and have good connections with different points of the lake. The city of Como, and the towns of Bellagio or Varenna are very well connected, both the rest of the lake and with Milan.

In any case, check out the booking.com website to compare prices and different types of accommodation.

Both cities connect to some point of Lake Como by train as follows:

From Milan: there are trains departing from both Milano Centrale and Milano Porta Garibaldi YThey stop at Como S. Giovanni. Prices range from € 4.80 (regional) to € 14 (eurocity). There are also trains to Lecco from both stations for € 4.80 (regional)
From Bergamo: there are regional trains every hour that leave for Lecco and take 40 minutes for € 3.60.

→ Check the schedules and prices on the trenitalia website.→ Download the map of regional trains here

We would advise you first visit Lake Como by car, you can organize the stops much better and you have complete freedom. There is also a road that surrounds the lake and passes through the most interesting villages, although in some sections it becomes quite narrow. We did it by renting a car, we picked it up in Treviso and delivered it to Bergamo.

But there are some problems To visit Lake Como by car:

If you do it in high season (July and August) get ready to meet a traffic Horrible, parking problems at each tourist site and risk of crashes or scratches.
In towns like Bellagio or Como there is usually parking Free, although the blue areas cost between € 1 and € 1.50 per hour (you will not be ruined).
If you are going to spend a night here, it is best to look accommodation with private parking or those in areas where it is not difficult to find them. It can be a serious problem.

If you decide to visit the media public transport It is not a bad option, there are urban bus networks that stop at many points of interest in the lake, in addition to the trains and the ferry system that connect different villages. And you can get from Milan to Como or Lecco quietly by train. We tell you more:

♦ Urban buses on Lake Como

The entire lake area, with its main cities such as Lecco and Como, as well as the rest of the villages, are connected by the bus network of the regions of Como and Lecco. Check out their websites to plan the tours:

ASF Autolinee
Lecco Trasporti
Lecco line

♦ Train on Lake Como

Both to go to more distant cities such as Milan, Bergamo or Tirano, and to connect some villages on the east side of the lake, you can use the train. To check schedules and prices, go to the website of Trenitalia.

♦ Ferries on Lake Como

A good way to reach the most interesting points of the lake is the ferry. The company that offers this service is Navigazione Lago di Como, on its website you can see all the tours. Tickets are not cheap, but you can buy a one day open ticket To take as many times as you want these ferries: there are three tickets depending on the area you want to do: the entire lake, € 28 / Como and center of the lake, € 25.80 / Only the arm of Como, € 8.90.

Some lines also allow transporting the car.

To visit Lake Como in peace, you have three days available and two nights sleep. Assuming we arrive and depart from Milan or Bergamo (better this second), a possible itinerary by car could be the following:

- DAY 1 -

We would start the route in the arm of Lecco, although we will leave this city for the end of our trip if there is time. The first stop would be Bellagio, one of the most beautiful villages on the lake, and we could dedicate a little time. Then we follow the Como arm and we would make several stops in places like Lezzeno, Lesso or Turnstile. To finally reach the city of How. Here we would sleep that night

- DAY 2 -

The first part of the morning of this second is dedicated to discovering the beautiful city of Como and its historic center. Then we will prepare to tour the most charming area of the lake, the western slope of the arm of Como, with its exclusive villas and beautiful villages such asCernobbio, Moltrasio, Carate Urio, Laglio, Brienno, Argegno, Lenno, Tremezzina YMenaggio Any of the latter can be a good option to spend the night of the second day.

- DAY 3 -

On this last day we will tour the entire north arm of the lake, with less interest than the areas of the previous days, although you can spend some time in the town of Gravedona. On the east side it is worth a stop at Corenno Plinio, Bellano Y Varenna, to continue south through Lecco. If we have time we can also make a stop here, before returning to Milan or Bergamo and delivering the car.

This would be ideal, but also it is possible to visit Lake Como in less time. In fact we did it in two days and, although we miss a third, we really enjoyed it! Of course, we toured the entire northern part at night and without making stops and skipped Lecco ... Maybe next time! We stayed the first night in the village of Lezzeno, in this apartment rented by Airbnb, and the second night we did it at the Hotel Sassi Rossi.

If you see that traffic is impossible or you prefer do not rent a car, an alternative is to arrive by train to Lecco or Como and from there use public transport to visit the most interesting places.

- The initial name given by the Romans was Lake Lario, later it was changed by the presence and importance of the Comacini Masters throughout the area.

- It is the deepest lake in Italy and the fifth in Europe, with 418 meters, of which 200 are below sea level.

- In this lake the majority of scenes of the work pass “I promessi sposi ” of the writer Alessandro Manzoni one of the most read novels (if not the most) in Italian.

- But it was not the only one, and at the present time it has been the scene of Hollywood super productions such as Star Wars, Ocean's Twelve and Casino Royale.

- On April 27, 1945 in the town of Dongo, Benito Mussolini was captured along with his lover Clara Petacci by a group of partisans. A day later they were shot in front of the Villa Belmonte, in the town of Giulino di Mezzegra.

- A year later, in 1946 the “Lake Como Monster”, better known as Larrie, was sighted for the first time… As with Nessie, it has never been proven that there is a species to discover, hopefully it is not a reincarnation of the dictator !

Up to here our travel guide to Lake Como. We hope it can help you plan your trip to this corner of Italy. You have been? Can you give us any recommendations?