I have watched a great many weddings arrive on Lake Como. Not as a guest, most of the time, but from the water, from the deck of a boat or a café terrace across the bay, the way you cannot…
Lake Como
Victoria’s Guide to Varenna, Lake Como
If Bellagio is the town everyone photographs, Varenna is the one I keep returning to. It sits on the eastern shore, a small and tranquil fishing village of ochre and faded red houses that seem to have been painted straight…
Victoria’s Guide to Bellagio, Lake Como
Bellagio is the town on the postcards, the so-called pearl of the lake. It sits right on the point where the three branches meet, all cobbled stepped lanes, silk boutiques and lake views in three directions, and it is both…
The Best Towns on Lake Como
Part of the pleasure of Lake Como is that no two towns feel alike, and where you choose to spend your days is really a question of temperament rather than a matter of finding the single best address. The lake…
The Best Time to Visit Lake Como
Timing matters more on Como than on many Italian lakes, and I say that having watched the place change character from one month to the next. So much of what you come here for, the villas and their gardens, keeps…
Where to Eat on Lake Como
I have eaten badly on Lake Como only when I have ordered the wrong things, and by wrong I mean the food that belongs to some other coast. The temptation is real. You arrive from a summer that has taught…
Where to Stay on Lake Como (by Town and by Budget)
Where you sleep on Como shapes the trip, and I have come to think the choice really comes down to two things: base town and budget. The lake is a slim inverted Y of water pressed between mountains, and the…
The Best Photo Spots on Lake Como
Como is almost unfairly photogenic, and after enough visits I have stopped trying to fight it. You cannot really take a bad picture here. What you can do, though, is take the same picture as everyone else, in the same…
The Villas and Gardens of Lake Como
If the ferries are the heart of a Como trip, the villas are its soul. The lake has been a retreat for the wealthy since Roman times, and the great houses they built, wrapped in gardens that tumble to the…
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…
Getting Around Lake Como by Boat (and the Ferries Explained)
The first thing I tell anyone planning a few days on Lake Como is to stop thinking about roads and start thinking about water. The lake is shaped like an upside down Y, and its towns face each other across…
How to Get to Lake Como (and Which Station to Use)
The first thing worth saying about Lake Como is that getting there is easier than most people fear, and harder to overthink than the guidebooks suggest. Nearly every journey begins in Milan, and from Milan the train is almost always…
