Lake Como, IT

A small room on a cobblestone lane in Bellagio's historic centre with a communal table format and an open kitchen producing inventive Italian dishes with unexpected combinations — ginger risotto with lime, chilled spaghetti with passion fruit and fish roe, seasonal preparations based on whatever came from the lake or the surrounding valleys. One of the most original kitchens in the lake towns.

A restaurant at the northernmost tip of the Bellagio promontory, where the table sits at the point where the three branches of Lake Como divide and the Alps rise on both sides. The menu focuses on the lake's own fish — lavarello (whitefish), persico (perch), agone (shad) — alongside a broader Italian selection, in a setting that leaves little room for anything other than staring at the water.

A lake-view restaurant in Tremezzina with a glamorous seafood menu focused on raw fish preparations — the crudo of the day, oysters, tartare of lake fish — alongside a broader selection of northern Italian classics. The interior has the easy elegance of a place that has been doing this well for a long time and the wine list reflects genuine engagement with Italian producers.

A husband-and-wife trattoria in Tremezzo that has been feeding the western shore community with rustic farmhouse cooking for decades — meat ragù pastas, polenta with braised meats, risotto with the lake's own perch — in a room that looks exactly like it should and serves the function of a neighbourhood restaurant for a village that tourists otherwise overrun. Unfussy, reliable, and reasonably priced.

The most compelling example of the Como crotto tradition — a restaurant built into a natural rock cavity where the cool, constant temperature preserves wine and cures meats — with a 250-bottle cellar and slow-cooked meats that have been the kitchen's method for generations. The atmosphere is intimate, the food is anchored in Lombard tradition, and the setting within the rock walls is unlike any restaurant in the lake towns.

A relaxed waterfront restaurant in Menaggio on the western shore, where a focused pasta menu with good-quality ingredients, daily specials, and modest prices give an honest meal for the western lake traveller. Menaggio is less visited than Bellagio and Varenna, and Il Vapore reflects the calmer pace of a town that serves its own community as much as visitors.

A family-run crotto near Como town with a casual lakeside energy where grilled freshwater fish — lavarello, persico, trout — are prepared with minimal interference and served at tables on a small terrace with the lake immediately below. The laid-back approach and the straightforward fish preparations make it one of the more honest eating experiences in the southern lake area.

A family-run agriturismo-style restaurant in operation since 1974 in the Tremezzo hills, where simple preparations of polenta with lake fish, wild mushroom pastas, and braised rabbit follow the Lombard country tradition without a trace of tourist adaptation. The room is plain, the wine is local, and regulars have been coming for decades.

An elegant waterside restaurant adjacent to the Villa Melzi gardens in the quieter Loppia harbour below central Bellagio, with a pergola terrace directly over the water and a menu that covers northern Italian classics with careful sourcing. The harbour is small and private, and the combination of setting and quality makes it one of the most complete dining experiences in the lake towns.

An elegant dining room within the Albergo Milano hotel in Varenna with an open-air terrace suspended over the lake and a menu of northern Italian and lake-focused dishes in a romantic setting. Varenna is the least tourist-heavy of the main lake villages and this restaurant reflects that calmer pace — a proper dinner without the performance of the more famous spots.

A hillside agriturismo above the eastern lake shore where roughly 70 percent of the ingredients come from the family's own land — cured meats, cheeses, vegetables, chestnut flour, honey — assembled into a simple menu that tastes of exactly where it was made. The drive up from the lake is steep and narrow but the combination of terrace view and completely local food is singular in the region.

A mountain-positioned restaurant above central Bellagio specialising in traditional polenta preparations with freshwater fish, braised meats, and forest mushrooms — the Lombard lake-country cooking that the lakeside restaurants in the village below have gradually replaced with more tourist-friendly menus. The walk up from the village takes 20 minutes and the terrace has a view over the lake that the lower restaurants charge significantly more for.

The most celebrated hiking route on Lake Como follows an ancient pilgrims' and merchants' road along the eastern shore, with sections dated to Roman times. The Bellano-to-Varenna stretch is the most rewarding section — 6km with 280m elevation through chestnut forest and above-lake cliff paths, with views down to the water that the lakeside road entirely misses. AllTrails rates this section 4.7 stars.

An 11km waymarked trail along the western shore following the ancient Via Regina through the villages of Sala Comacina, Ossuccio, Lenno, and Tremezzo, connecting the lake's most celebrated garden villas on foot. The route passes directly through the grounds of Villa del Balbianello and the olive groves behind Villa Carlotta in an almost continuous sequence of historic and botanical interest.

A five-minute funicular ascent from the centre of Como delivers to the hilltop village of Brunate at 720m with a panoramic view over the city, the southern lake branch, and on clear days Mont Blanc in the far distance. Walking trails extend north from Brunate along the ridge toward San Maurizio (15 minutes) and further to the Faro Voltiano lighthouse (two hours) for progressively more complete lake views.

The 20-minute ascent from Varenna village to the 11th-century castle is the most accessible hillside walk in the lake towns, with the path rising steeply through olive terracing before the castle ramparts frame a panorama of the three-branch lake junction, the Bellagio promontory, and the snow-capped Alps beyond. It works as a 90-minute loop combined with the castle visit.

The ridge directly above Bellagio rises to Monte Nuvolone at 1,092 metres, offering the highest accessible viewpoint over the lake meeting point with all three branches visible simultaneously and the full arc of the Larian Alps behind. The climb from Bellagio takes about two hours through chestnut and beech forest, and the summit is quiet even at the height of summer.

The Navigazione Laghi public ferry network connects every significant lake town from Como to Colico, with car ferries crossing the middle lake (Bellagio-Varenna-Menaggio) and slower passenger boats stopping at each village along both shores. A day ticket purchased at any pier allows unlimited hop-on, hop-off travel across the full lake and is the most flexible and least expensive way to see multiple towns without a car.

Como controls roughly 70 percent of European silk production and this museum in the city centre explains the full arc of that industry — from the silk road origins through Como's 19th-century industrial growth to its current role supplying the world's leading fashion houses. The textile printing equipment on display is the most complete collection of this type in Italy and the colour-matching archive (used by fashion brands today) is extraordinary.

Arriving at Balbianello by boat from Lenno is one of the most cinematic moments available to a Lake Como visitor — the baroque villa's loggia and cypress trees gradually emerge from the forested promontory as the boat rounds the headland, exactly as it appears in the films shot here. The FAI manages it and the combination of formal gardens, art-filled interior, and the sense of privileged access makes it the lake's most complete cultural stop.

The Lovers' Walk in Varenna is a suspended footpath over the lake edge, carved from the cliff face below the village, connecting the old harbour to the modern ferry pier in a ten-minute walk that is entirely over the water. The path is narrow enough that it regularly appears on lists of romantic experiences in Italy — and the postcard view back to the coloured houses above is the best ground-level photography point in the village.

The only island in Lake Como was destroyed by the Archbishop of Milan in 1169 and has never been rebuilt, leaving a wooded expanse of Roman and medieval ruins (a baptistery and ten church foundations) accessible by short boat from Sala Comacina. Archaeological excavations continue and the island is managed as an open-air museum without crowds even in peak summer. The short boat crossing is five minutes each way.

A 12th-century Cistercian nunnery converted into a private villa over several centuries, now open to the public with lakefront botanical gardens extending for 2km along the Varenna shore and a series of elaborately furnished interior rooms available by guided tour. The long lakeside promenade through the gardens, with the lake directly at shoulder height, is the most intimate villa experience on Como.

A medieval fortress on the hillside above Varenna, reachable by a 20-minute steep path from the village, with the most complete panoramic view of the three-branched lake meeting point at Bellagio. The castle itself dates to the 11th century and houses a falconry display, but the view from the ramparts — with Bellagio directly below and the Alps framing both lake branches — is the draw.

A 17th-century lakefront villa housing an art museum with neoclassical sculpture and romantic-era paintings alongside 14 acres of botanical gardens famous for their spring show of azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, and wisteria. The combination of serious art (Canova, Thorvaldsen) and extraordinary garden is unique on the lake and rewards two hours at a comfortable pace.

A baroque villa on a forested promontory at Lenno, with terraced gardens descending to private lake moorings and a loggia that has appeared in two James Bond films and a Star Wars episode. The approach by boat is the correct one — the vision of the villa emerging from the trees above the water as you approach by ferry is the most dramatic arrival on the lake. The FAI (Italian national trust) now manages it.

Construction of Como's cathedral began in 1396 and continued for over 300 years, producing a building that moves through Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque in a single facade — with the dome completed in 1744 marking the final phase. The historic centre around it preserves Roman walls, medieval towers, and a silk museum that contextualises the industry responsible for much of Como's prosperity. Significantly less visited than the lakeside towns.

The 'Pearl of Lake Como' occupies the tip of the promontory where the lake's three branches meet, with its cobblestone Salita Serbelloni lane climbing steeply from the ferry pier past cafes and boutiques to viewpoints over all three arms simultaneously. Villa Melzi's lakefront garden — Japan-influenced, serene, and free of the crowds that the village centre draws — is the best reason to walk south of the pier on arrival.