Attraction in Lake Como

Beaches, temples, waterfalls, viewpoints and markets — the things worth building days around. Nothing here is booked on this page: each one says what it is and how long people spend there, then points at the stays and tours in the same area.

3 places

Area

Lake Como3

Kind of place

Attraction3

Lake ComoAttraction

Villa del Balbianello

A terraced villa on a wooded promontory, reachable by boat or a woodland walk, with loggias framing the lake in three directions. The most photographed garden on Como and deservedly so. Numbers are managed and the garden and house are ticketed separately. Half a day with the crossing.

About 3 hours

Lake ComoAttraction

Isola Comacina

The lake's only island, small, wooded and scattered with the ruins of a town destroyed in the twelfth century and never rebuilt. A short boat hop, an hour to walk, and a very different register from the villa circuit. Boats are seasonal.

About 2 hours

Lake ComoAttraction

Villa Melzi d'Eril

An English-style garden along the water at Bellagio, flatter and calmer than the other two and walkable straight from the village. Plane trees, a Japanese garden and a chapel. An hour, and the least crowded of Como's three famous gardens.

About 1.3 hours

Place data from OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed under ODbL.

Keep planning

The rest of the guides, and the catalogue behind them.

Where to stay in ItalyTwenty-two areas, who each suits, and how many to fit in.Best time to visitMonth by month — heat, crowds, prices and what closes.Knowing the formCoffee, churches, tipping and the small courtesies.Trip ideasReady-made routes you can hand straight to the planner.

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