Lake Como

Lake Como is best done from Como town itself: one day for the town and its funicular, the others for a boat to Bellagio, Varenna and the villas on the shore. Como sits at the lake's south-western tip, so everything else opens out from it.

The lake is shaped like an inverted Y, three arms carved by the ancient Adda glacier, and Como lies at the end of one of the two southern ones. From Milan it is a train ride, train from Cadorna, about 1 h, so there is no reason to sleep anywhere else: the boats leave from the town itself, and the station is in it.

The day starts in town, at the cathedral. The Duomo was built between 1396 and 1770, and it began as a Gothic building, while its dome is Rococo, by Filippo Juvarra. Above the main portal stand statues of Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger, both natives of Como. Opening hours vary by day and are shortened on Sundays, so it is better to make the cathedral the first stop than the last.

From the cathedral it is out to the waterfront and Piazza Cavour, where the town and the lake meet. Alessandro Volta, inventor of the electric battery, was born in Como, so the town holds the Tempio Voltiano, a museum named after him, and Daniel Libeskind's modern sculpture Life Electric.

Above the town sits the village of Brunate, reached by a funicular that opened in 1894; the ride takes 7 min. The upper station is in the centre of the village, with a view and trails that set off into the hills from there. It runs until late in the evening, so it is easy to leave for the end of the day, after the boat.

The second day belongs to the boat. Navigazione Laghi sails from Como, and the ordinary line to Bellagio takes about 2 h 35 min by boat from Como (one-way, ordinary line). Bellagio stands at the tip of the promontory that divides the two southern arms of the lake. A faster hydrofoil service also runs to Bellagio; timetables change with the season.

The third day is for the villas on the western shore. Villa Carlotta, in Tremezzo, was completed in 1745 for the Clerici family and takes its name from Princess Charlotte of Prussia, to whom it was given as a wedding present in 1847. Today it is a museum with sculptures by Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen, surrounded by a garden of azaleas and rhododendrons. Villa del Balbianello stands on a headland at Lenno: Cardinal Durini bought a Franciscan monastery there in 1785 and turned it into a summer villa in 1787, and the FAI runs it today. Casino Royale and Star Wars: Episode II were filmed there. It can be reached by boat or on foot, but booking is mandatory.

On the eastern shore lies Varenna, a village linked to Bellagio by a short ferry crossing. Nearby is Castello di Vezio, and in the village itself Villa Monastero, a former Cistercian monastery. Varenna also has a train, on the Tirano–Lecco line.

The rest is scheduling. The order for three days is set out in the hour-by-hour plan, where to sleep and how everything connects are in separate guides, and which month has the fullest boat timetables and open villas is on the timing page.