48 Hours in Como

Before you start

Lake Como looks compact on a map and expands the moment you start moving around it. Ferries are part of the experience, not simply transport, and journey times change with season, service type and weather. Check Navigazione Laghi before fixing the day and resist building a schedule that depends on every connection being perfect.

SANTI Note: we would not try to combine Como, Bellagio, Varenna, Lenno and Villa del Balbianello inside the same 48 hours. Choose fewer places and leave enough time to actually see the lake.

Day One — Como from street level to the hills

09:00 — Begin in the old city

Start in the historic centre before the lakefront becomes the focus. Como Cathedral is the natural anchor, but the pleasure is in the transition around it: arcades, stone façades, small piazzas and streets that still feel like a working northern Italian city rather than a resort.

Give the cathedral time, then walk without immediately heading for the ferry terminal. Como rewards a slower first hour because it makes the scale of the lake feel more dramatic when you finally reach the water.

10:30 — Look at Rationalist Como

Como is one of Italy’s important Rationalist cities. Walk toward Giuseppe Terragni’s Casa del Fascio and continue through the area around the lakefront to notice how early twentieth-century architecture sits beside much older urban fabric. The point is not to turn this into an architecture lecture; it is to see another Como beyond villas and postcard views.

SANTI Note: treat these buildings as an exterior architecture walk unless you have confirmed public access. What matters here is proportion, material and how the city meets the lake.

12:30 — Lunch in Como

Stay in town for lunch. The mistake is leaving Como too quickly because the famous villages are waiting farther up the lake. Choose somewhere you can sit properly, then keep the afternoon loose enough for the weather.

14:30 — Walk the lakefront to Villa Olmo

Follow the western promenade toward Villa Olmo. Even when access to the villa itself changes because of exhibitions or works, the walk and lakeside setting are worth keeping in the route. This is where Como starts to feel less like a compact city and more like the threshold to the lake.

Do not rush back. Sit by the water, look across toward the eastern shore and let the afternoon slow down.

17:00 — Funicular to Brunate

Take the funicular from Como to Brunate in the late afternoon. The climb changes the geography instantly: the city drops away, the first basin of the lake opens below and the surrounding mountains begin to make sense.

Walk beyond the station rather than treating the viewpoint as a five-minute photo stop. If the weather is clear and you have the energy, continue toward one of the higher viewpoints; otherwise an unhurried drink with the lake below is enough.

Check the return timetable before settling in. The best version of Brunate is the one where you are not watching the clock every three minutes.

20:00 — Back to Como for the evening

Come down for aperitivo and dinner in Como. Keep the first night local. After a day that has moved from cathedral stone to Rationalism, water and mountain air, there is no need to travel again. Walk the waterfront after dinner when the day-trippers have thinned and the lake becomes quieter.

Day Two — Let the lake set the route

08:00 — Ferry from Como toward Bellagio

Take an early boat from Como toward Bellagio. Use the fastest practical service if it fits the day, but do not dismiss the slower ferry as wasted time. The changing shoreline — villas, villages, wooded slopes and narrower water — is one of the best ways to understand why Lake Como feels different from town to town.

SANTI Note: ferry timetables are seasonal. Build the day from the official timetable that is operating on your travel date, not from a screenshot saved months earlier.

10:00 — Bellagio before the middle of the day

Bellagio is famous enough that arriving early changes the experience. Walk away from the landing stage, take the stepped lanes slowly and avoid spending the entire visit around the busiest waterfront tables.

When the gardens are open, Villa Melzi is the stop we would prioritise. The appeal is not one single view but the sequence of lake, planting, architecture and long paths along the shore. Give it at least an hour rather than squeezing it between ferry times.

12:30 — Lunch in Bellagio

Have lunch before crossing the lake. Choose somewhere that lets the pace stay slow rather than chasing a viral table. Bellagio becomes much more pleasant once you accept that the purpose is being there, not collecting every viewpoint.

14:30 — Cross to Varenna

Take the short ferry across to Varenna. The crossing is one of those small moments that makes the whole day work: Bellagio recedes behind you, the mountains tighten around the lake and Varenna appears almost vertically from the water.

15:00 — Varenna, slowly

Follow the waterfront and the Passeggiata degli Innamorati, then climb into the village rather than staying entirely beside the landing stage. Varenna is compact, so there is no need to rush it.

If Villa Monastero is open on your date, its long lakeside garden is the natural final formal stop of the trip. Otherwise use the time for the village itself: a coffee, a quieter terrace, a swim in warm weather or simply another hour looking back across the lake.

18:00 — Decide how you want to leave

If Como is still your base, return according to that day’s ferry connections. If you are continuing to Milan, Varenna-Esino station makes the train a useful alternative to retracing the full lake. This is one of the reasons Varenna works well as the final stop rather than another village to squeeze in before lunch.

SANTI Notes

• Treat ferries as part of the day. The views from the water are not dead travel time.

• Check current official ferry and funicular timetables shortly before travelling; seasonal schedules change.

• Villa and garden opening dates are seasonal. Confirm Villa Melzi, Villa Monastero and any other paid garden before building the day around it.

• Villa del Balbianello is excellent, but it belongs in a different route. Add Lenno only if you are willing to remove Bellagio or Varenna rather than compress all three.

• Weather changes the lake more than it changes a normal city break. Keep one indoor or city-based alternative rather than forcing a mountain or boat plan in poor conditions.

• The nicest hours are often early morning and late afternoon, when the day-trip rhythm softens.

The SANTI address book

Como Cathedral — Piazza del Duomo. Casa del Fascio — Piazza del Popolo. Villa Olmo — Via Simone Cantoni 1. Funicolare Como–Brunate — Piazza Alcide de Gasperi 4. Navigazione Laghi — Como lakefront ferry terminals. Villa Melzi Gardens — Bellagio. Varenna waterfront and Passeggiata degli Innamorati — Varenna. Villa Monastero — Viale Giovanni Polvani 2, Varenna.