Travel Guide: Lake Como, Italy

Lake Como - one of the most stunning places we've ever visited!

In October we were super lucky to spend three days staying on Lake Como as part of our mini-Italian road trip. Going against all advice from online travel guides and the tourist office, we hired a car and set about travelling as much of the lake as possible - we managed to drive all the way around seeing as much of the beautiful scenery in our short schedule. The roads were quiet but pretty hairy, I definitely wouldn't recommend trying this trip during summer months! It was incredible stopping off at the villages and towns along the cliffside of the lake, each with the familiar terracotta and yellow buildings but each with it's own totally different charm - it's almost impossible to choose which was our favourite stop...

COMO

Our very first stop on the lake was Como itself. We hadn't realised but Como is actually quite a large city, but the perfect base for visiting the whole lake. Our apartment was just within the old town walls, and just a short, very scenic walk through the tiny streets to the lake front. Our host was super helpful and was able to show us to areas where we were able to park our car for free - the Italian parking meter situation was super confusing - so many different coloured lines. There are tons of places to eat and drink in Como we particularly loved the Beretta bakery - some of the best food we ate from Italy was from this bakery, how does focaccia covered in slices of rosemary potato sound - carb heaven! Como's Duomo was seriously peaceful and stunning, we would well reccomend visiting.

BELLAGIO

The beautiful Bellagio is a stunning drive away from Como, although I wouldn't recommend this drive to a nervy driver (luckily Sam drove!!) or passenger for that matter - sheer cliffs and blind corners!
Right at the end of the peninsular sits Bellagio, I'm not even too sure where to start, this place is honestly incredible. Narrow steep lanes lead off of the main street, each featuring tons of cute bars, shops and restaurants, many of these picturesque lanes were what I had seen online when I was researching Lake Como I just hadn't realised that they were in Bellagio!
As we visited in the middle of October we pretty much had the place to ourselves, but I can imagine that it would be a completely different story in the summer.
We were lucky enough to arrive just before sunset and enjoyed the best hot chocolate I have ever drunk (thank you Hotel Excelsior Splendid!) whilst watching the sun set behind the mountain - one of my highlights for sure.
We ate pizza at Babayaga which is a little set back from the main street, the reviews that we had read were right they served some seriously good pizza albeit it's a lot thinner and crisper than traditional Italian pizza.

Laglio

On our second trip around the lake we headed off early this time driving around to the west of the lake. Armed with our travel guide we didn't really have a plan, our first stop after Como was Laglio home to one of Lake Como's most famous residents and it was understandable why he chose to buy his villa in this particular village.
We parked on the main road above the village and walked down, past the largest snake I have ever seen, into the town. In hindsight we would have been able to park right next to the lake but the walk past the incredible villas really set the tone for what was to come.
Again this place was super quiet, I would really recommend visiting at this time of year - we yet again had the place to ourselves!
We stopped for a quick drink in a cute deli/caffe called Da Luciano before heading back for the next stop on our road trip.

Argegno

We were just driving along when all of sudden there were hundreds of pastel coloured houses perched on the mountain side - we couldn't not stop! It was just a quick stop off but it was a just too beautiful not too mention - and again such a ghost town!

Sala Comacina

From the beginning of our trip I was on the look out to see a classic Fiat 500, we had seen hundreds of new 500s but not a single classic that was until we drove through Sala Comacciana! Sitting on the side of the road was a matte black classic - an absolute beauty. I pretty much made Sam do an emergency stop so we could jump out to take some photos! It's not all about the car though, this is a stunning little town I just wish that we had visited in the summer I would have loved to have a little trip to the island across the water!

Menaggio

The town of Menaggio sits in the centre of the lake on the west side. There is a lovely promenade lined with palm trees and collection of shops, hotels and bar right on the lake front. This would be a fantastic place to stay in the summer with so much to do nearby and on the lake - I was desperate to hire a boat for the afternoon, if only we had more time.

Varenna

Our final and probably most favourite stop on the lake, the incredible Varenna. This place really is special. No cars are allowed to enter into the actual centre of the village so you must park at the top of the hill in a multi story carpark, our first impressions weren't great if we're honest we thought we were about to enter into some hideous tourist trap. Once you've left your car and made your way down through the narrow cobbled streets, you enter into the cutest Italian village you can imagine; old doorways, stone steps and secret alleyways leading down to the lakeside. This place is an absolute dream. Right at the waterfront lies a few bars and restaurants, great for people watching and enjoying a drink, we wouldn't recommend for food necessarily though. A walk along the coast out the centre brings you to a quieter area and offers fabulous views of the lake and the stunning villa - absolute house goals! I must admit that Varenna was one of the most beautiful place's we visited in Italy, it's up there with Venice!


Places we wanted to visit but ran out of time...

• Villa del Balbianello
• Villa Carlotta
• Castello di Vezio
• Isola Comacina
• Como Mountain Railway