How to spend a weekend in Lake Como
In July, my friend and I made the decision to take a trip to Lake Como. I had visited once before in winter, but I wanted to experience it in the summer time. I had seen so many beautiful pictures and was excited to see for myself. What I didn’t realise was how many different places in Como there are to see. I probably would have stayed for longer if I was able to, but unfortunately I had to go back to work. If like me you have a tight schedule, then here are my suggestions on how to spend a weekend in Lake Como.
Day 1:
On our first day we arrived into Milan and decided to have a look around. I’m going to be honest, i’m not a big fan of Milan. If you like shopping and designer clothes then you will probably love it, but it’s not my favourite place to visit. We had lunch and took the train to Lake Como. After checking into the hotel, we freshened up, had dinner in central Como and planned for our main day. There are a lot of restaurant choices to choose from when you make your way into the town. Don’t just stop at the first few you see as there are some hidden ones too.
Day 2:
On the main day we decided to explore the rest of the Lake (or as much as we could). To do this we had to get a ferry from Como. You can either get the long ferry which can take between 2-3 hours, or a fast ferry that only stops off at one place. Unfortunately, we did not realise how long it would take and decided to take the longer ferry, which meant our time was quite limited as a lot of ferry’s/boats on the lake stop around 4-6pm.
Our first stop was to Varenna. It was a beautiful little place, but as we were not there for long, we decided to only visit one villa which was Villa Monastero. It didn’t take long to see the gardens, the view and the actual villa itself. Afterwards we stopped for lunch and decided to head to Bellagio. This is quite a small area and a popular destination amongst tourists. Although lovely, we did not spend much time here as we were soon due to go back to Como. When we got back to Como we headed for dinner and prepared for our last day/ day back to England.
Day 3:
Our flight back was for around 9pm so we had a whole day to explore before making our way back. We decided to do a boat trip on the lake. Although this was more expensive, it was definitely worth it in my opinion. It took around 2 hours and was more intimate than the ferry. We learnt more about the history of the lake as well as some of the famous villas. Not only this, but again, the views were beautiful.
Overall the trip was amazing. With what I know now, I would have probably added an extra day to the trip. This is because there were still so many towns on the lake that I wanted to visit, but did not have the time to do. If you are looking to go to Lake Como, make sure you plan the ferry times as the journey make take longer than expected.
