The Best Things to Do on Lake Como

Lake Como rewards a slow hand. It is a place that people rush, ticking off a villa and a gelato before the afternoon boat, and I understand the temptation, because the lake is generous and the days are short when the light is this good. But the best things to do here are not a checklist to be sped through. They are a rhythm: a morning on the water, an afternoon in a garden or on a hill path, an evening watching the shore turn from gold to blue. What follows is how I would spend a few unhurried days, ordered roughly by what I would do first, with the practicalities that make each one easier. For the wider picture, and how these pieces fit together across a trip, I keep returning to Victoria’s complete guide to Lake Como.

The classic boat day

If you do one thing, do this. The single best day out is the classic boat day, hopping between the central towns with a day ferry pass and timing the villas around their booking slots and closures. The centre of the lake, where the three arms meet, is where the good ferries run most often, linking Bellagio, Varenna, Menaggio and Tremezzo in a tight, walkable triangle. A day pass lets you step on and off as you please, which is the whole point: you are not committing to a fixed route so much as following the weather and your appetite.

I build the day around Villa del Balbianello, because it shuts on Mondays and Wednesdays and its interior needs a booked tour, then add Villa Carlotta on the same western shore and cross to Bellagio for Villa Melzi in the late afternoon. Buy the ferry pass early, check the villa opening days before you set out, and leave gaps for lunch and for simply sitting on deck. The mechanics of tickets, timetables and which boat is which are worth reading in advance, and I have set them out in getting around Lake Como by boat.

The villas and their gardens

The gardens are the reason many people come, and rightly so. Balbianello on its wooded promontory, Carlotta with its terraces and old camellias, Melzi running gently along the Bellagio shore, and Monastero at Varenna with its long lakeside walk are the headline sights of the lake, each with its own character and its own opening quirks. Rather than repeat every closure and ticket band here, I have given them a guide of their own, with the practical detail you need to plan a visit without frustration: see the villas and gardens of Lake Como. What I will say is that two in an afternoon is plenty. Gardens ask to be walked slowly, and a third one usually turns into a march.

The Greenway del Lago di Como

For a day off the boat, walk the Greenway. It is a gentle path of about eleven kilometres linking seven villages between Colonno and Cadenabbia: Colonno, Sala Comacina, Ossuccio, Lenno, Mezzegra, Tremezzo and Griante. At an easy pace it takes three to four hours, and it threads through olive groves, past old churches and along quiet stretches of shore, passing near both Balbianello and Villa Carlotta so you can fold a garden into the walk if you like. It is free and open year round, and it splits neatly into shorter sections, so you can take a bus or ferry to the middle and walk only the part that suits your legs. I like starting early from Colonno, before the day warms, and letting the villages set the pace.

Brunate and the funicular

For the widest view on the lake, take the funicular up to Brunate. It leaves from Como and climbs in about seven minutes, a single ticket around 3.60 euros and a return around 7.20, and it lifts you out of the town to a small village on the ridge above. From there it is a short walk to the San Maurizio lighthouse, and the reward is one of the broadest outlooks anywhere on Como: the southern basin spread out below, the town small and pale at the water’s edge, the mountains stacked behind. Go in the late afternoon when the haze lifts, and take a coffee at the top before you come down. If you are chasing views in particular, I have gathered the best of them in the best photo spots in Lake Como.

Castello di Vezio above Varenna

On the eastern shore, the medieval watchtower of Vezio sits above Varenna with a full 360-degree view. The walk up is short but honest, about fifteen to twenty minutes uphill through olive terraces, and the ticket is modest, roughly five to seven euros. It is open from spring to autumn, and I would pair it with a morning in Varenna itself, which is the prettiest of the small towns and easy to reach by ferry. From the tower you look straight down the lake in both directions, and the climb thins the crowd considerably.

Sacro Monte di Ossuccio

This is the one I recommend to people who feel they have already seen the lake. The Sacro Monte di Ossuccio, in the Tremezzina, is a UNESCO-listed devotional path of fourteen baroque chapels climbing to a hilltop sanctuary. It is quiet, free and largely overlooked, and the way up runs through olive groves with views out to Isola Comacina below. There is something steadying about walking it, the chapels marking your ascent one by one, the lake widening behind you. It asks nothing of you but a little effort and a little attention, and it gives back more than most of the ticketed sights.

Swimming and the lidos

Yes, you can swim, and from roughly May to September you should. The lake is clean and cool, and the lidos make it easy. Lido di Bellagio is the stylish choice, part beach club and part bar, good for an afternoon that drifts into an evening drink. Lido di Menaggio has pools as well as lake swimming and is the best for families. Lido di Lenno sits at the foot of the Balbianello promontory, and it is also where the little taxi-boat to the villa departs, so you can combine a swim with a garden visit without moving far. Bring shoes you can walk into the water in, since the shoreline is stone rather than sand.

Como cathedral and the old town

Do not skip Como itself. The Duomo di Como, the city’s Gothic-Renaissance cathedral, is one of the finest churches in Lombardy, free to enter with modest dress, and it anchors an old town of narrow streets and good cafes that most visitors pass through too quickly on their way to the boats. Give it an hour. The interior is cool and high and quiet, and the town around it is where the lake feels most like a working Italian city rather than a postcard. It pairs well with the Brunate funicular, since both begin in Como. For more on the towns and how they differ, see the best towns on Lake Como.

Isola Comacina

The lake has a single island, Isola Comacina, and lunch there is a small tradition worth keeping. The Locanda dell’Isola serves a fixed multi-course menu that has barely changed since the 1940s, ending with a little fire ritual that I will not spoil. It is not cheap and it is not quick, and that is the whole idea. You take the boat across, you eat what you are given, and you spend an afternoon doing nothing else. Book ahead, and go hungry.

A sunset boat cruise

If you allow yourself one splurge, make it a classic wooden boat at sunset. There is a particular pleasure in being out on the water as the shore lights come on, the mahogany hull low against the lake, the hills going from gold to violet. It is the kind of thing that sounds like a cliche until you are actually doing it, at which point it simply feels right. An hour is enough. Bring a layer, because the air cools quickly once the sun drops behind the western ridge.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the number one thing to do on Lake Como?

The classic boat day. A day ferry pass lets you hop between Bellagio, Varenna, Menaggio and Tremezzo, timing a villa or two around their opening days. It is the single experience that shows you the most of the lake in the least fuss, and everything else builds around it.

Is a boat tour worth it?

Yes, in both senses. The regular day ferries are the practical backbone of any visit and let you reach the villas and towns easily. And a private wooden boat at sunset, though a splurge, is the one indulgence I would not talk anyone out of.

Can you swim in Lake Como?

You can, roughly from May to September. The lidos make it simple: Bellagio for style, Menaggio for families and its pools, Lenno for a swim near the Balbianello promontory. The shore is stone, so bring water shoes.

What are the best free things to do?

Several of the finest cost nothing. The Greenway walk between Colonno and Cadenabbia, the Sacro Monte di Ossuccio devotional path, and entry to the Duomo di Como are all free, and between them they give you a walk, a view and a great church.