Every list you have ever seen about things to do at Lake Como starts the same way. Bellagio. Villa del Balbianello. George Clooney’s house. A boat tour. An aperitivo somewhere with a view.
I am from Italy. I have been coming to this lake my whole life. And I can tell you that the places on those lists are not where you go when you actually know the lake. They are where you go when you do not.
The real Lake Como is not in Bellagio on a Saturday in July. It is on a path above Varenna where you are looking down at the water and there is nobody around you. It is in a trattoria in the hills where the menu is written on a blackboard and nobody outside the village knows the name of it. It is in a ghost town near Lecco that was supposed to become the Italian Las Vegas and never did.
This is the Lake Como guide I wish existed before most tourists arrived.
Lake Como is not just Como — and most tourists book the wrong place before they even leave home
The first mistake happens before you leave home. Most people search for Lake Como, book a room in Como, and assume they are in the right place. They are not.
The lake is Y-shaped with three branches. The real name is Lario — Como is just the town at the end of the western branch that gave the lake its international name. Driving from one end to the other takes two hours on a quiet day. Varenna and Bellagio — the two places most visitors most want to see — can be two hours from Como by road or ferry. People discover this after they have already paid for their hotel.
The three branches meet near Bellagio. The western branch from Como to Argegno is the most developed and touristy. The eastern branch from Lecco to Bellagio has the most dramatic mountain scenery. The northern branch stretches toward Alpine territory with a wilder, quieter character. Look at a map before you book anything.
Getting to Lake Como from Milan: the trains locals actually use
Train from Milano Centrale to Varenna takes exactly one hour and runs every hour. The line is Milano Centrale to Lecco to Tirano. This is the correct train for the eastern shore. For Como town, trains run from Milano Nord and Porta Garibaldi in around 40 minutes. The western shore and Bellagio have no rail service — buses connect them but they are slow.
If you are coming from Switzerland, trains from Lugano reach Como in 30 minutes. From elsewhere in Italy, both Lecco and Como connect directly to the main rail network.
The Lake Como ferry system: why most tourists waste half their day and how to avoid it
The ferry system connects every village on the lake. Buy a day pass — €15 to €23 depending on the zone — first thing in the morning. It gives you unlimited travel all day and pays for itself on the second journey. Take the regular boat, not the hydrofoil. The hydrofoil is faster but the view is the whole point of being on the water.
The single most important thing to know: timing. From 10am every day in summer, day-trippers from Milan flood Varenna and Como heading to Bellagio at the same time. Two-hour queues at ticket windows. Packed boats. Bellagio at midday means 40,000 people in a village built for 4,000. Before 9am the lake is quiet and beautiful. After 5pm the day-trippers are gone.
The ferry chaos, the ticket system, and exactly how to plan your day around it is covered in full in our Lake Como ferry guide.
The top things to do at Lake Como that most tourists never find
Most Lake Como lists send you to the same five places. This one does not. The full version with specific directions, opening times, and exactly what to expect at each is in our complete Lake Como things to do guide. Here is the overview.
The Greenway del Lago di Como on the western shore is an 11 kilometre walk along the ancient Roman road Via Regina, through seven villages, past hidden villas and olive groves. It is completely free and one of the most beautiful walks in northern Italy. The full walking guide with directions and transport information is here: Greenway del Lago di Como.
The Sentiero del Viandante runs the entire eastern shore from Lecco to Colico. The pilgrim’s path that existed before the roads did. Walk it in sections from Varenna — the views from above the lake cannot be replicated from the water or the road.
The Bellano Orrido is a narrow gorge carved by the Pioverna river, one train stop from Varenna. Thirty minutes. Very little cost. The most genuinely surprising short visit on the lake.
Consonno is a ghost town near Lecco — built in the 1960s to be Italy’s Las Vegas, abandoned after a landslide in 1976, now slowly being reclaimed by the forest. Strange and unforgettable.
Corenno Plinio is a tiny medieval walled hamlet at the northern end of the eastern shore with a medieval reenactment every August. Almost no English-language travel guide mentions it. The website is corenno.it.
Isola Comacina is the only island on the lake, near Ossuccio — ancient ruins, a single guardian, guided tours from the shore. Vezio Castle above Varenna gives better views than anywhere in the village below. Piona Abbey on the Olgiasca peninsula has stood since the 7th century and is still inhabited by monks. San Tomaso above Lecco is a thirty-minute walk to a mountain plateau where locals eat on Sunday mornings. Villa Carlotta in Tremezzina has the best garden on the lake — go in April or May when the azaleas are in bloom.
And at 6pm, stop at any local bar not on the tourist street and order an aperitivo. For €8 to €12 you get a drink and food. It is how people who live here end every working day. Almost nobody visiting does it. Almost nobody who does it regrets it.
Swimming at Lake Como: the beaches worth going to and the ones to avoid completely
The lake is one of the deepest in Europe with strong currents in places. Do not swim near Como, Bellagio, Lecco or Varenna — sewage from these towns affects the water near the city centres. The safe beaches are further from the main towns: Abbadia Lariana, Lierna, Onno, Mandello del Lario, and the villages in the north where water quality is significantly better. Never swim alone and never swim far from shore.
Hiking and cycling at Lake Como: the routes locals actually walk and ride
The lake is surrounded by mountains and the trails above it are part of what makes it extraordinary. The Sentiero del Viandante on the eastern shore and the Greenway on the western shore are the two essential walks — both covered in dedicated guides linked above. For mountain hiking, San Tomaso above Lecco is the accessible option and Monte Barro is the more serious climb. Monte Legnone at 2,610 metres is for experienced hikers only.
For cycling, the Ciclovia dell’Adda from Lecco to Milan covers 40 kilometres of flat terrain along the Adda river past Leonardo da Vinci’s lock system and a UNESCO World Heritage village. The Garlate loop around the small lake below Lecco is ten kilometres and ideal for families. The Madonna del Ghisallo climb above Bellagio has been in the Giro d’Italia multiple times and has a cyclists’ sanctuary at the top.
What to eat at Lake Como: the dishes that belong here and where to actually find them
The food that belongs to this lake is almost never on the tourist menus. Risotto al pesce persico — perch risotto — is the dish. Missoltino — sun-dried lake fish served with polenta. Fritto di alborelle — deep-fried lake fish. Pizzoccheri from the Valtellina valley — buckwheat pasta with cheese and butter. Polenta uncia. Miascia — a rustic cake made with stale bread and seasonal fruit that almost nobody outside the lake knows exists.
The one rule: any restaurant on the lakeside with an English menu and photographs of the dishes is cooking for first-time visitors. Walk away from the water. Find a street with locals in it. Look for the word osteria or trattoria above the door.
Best gelato by name: La Fabbrica del Gelato in Menaggio and Lenno. Il Gelataio Matto in Bellano. Capo Horn in Lecco. Best Neapolitan pizza: O’ Garibaldin in Gravedona.
The best and worst time to visit Lake Como, month by month
April and May are the best months — gardens in bloom, comfortable ferries, crowds not yet arrived. June to September is high season — go early or go late, avoid sunny Sundays in the main villages. October brings crowd levels back to April. November to March the lake is yours — most tourist businesses closed but Como and Lecco fully open, no queues anywhere, a completely different experience.
If the forecast is rainy in summer, go anyway. The day-trippers stay home and a moody Lake Como is one of the most beautiful things in northern Italy.
Lake Como travel questions locals get asked every single time
Is Lake Como expensive?
Not if you know where to look. The luxury image is the tourist version. B&Bs in Mandello del Lario or Abbadia Lariana cost a fraction of Bellagio. Trattorias one street back from the waterfront charge half the price. Book outside July and August and prices drop further across the whole lake.
Do I need a car at Lake Como?
No. Trains cover the eastern shore directly from Milan. Ferries connect every village. Buses cover the western shore. In July and August a car creates more problems than it solves — parking is expensive and scarce in the main villages.
How many days do you need?
Two days minimum to see more than one village properly. Three to four days to cover both shores, do a hike, and eat correctly. The people who leave wishing they had stayed longer are almost always the people who gave it two days.
What is the best village to stay in?
Varenna for most visitors. Bellano if you want quieter and cheaper. Lecco if you want a real town open year-round with easy transport. Avoid staying in Como if your goal is the central lake area.