When you hear Lake Como, you immediately think: George Clooney, beautiful Italian wooden boats, and probably an incredible lakeside hotel. You already know it must be gorgeous. What’s less obvious, until you’ve been, is how to actually spend your time there. This is because the lake is bigger than it looks on a map, the villages are all completely different from one another, and the gap between a good trip and a great one usually comes down to a handful of specific choices. That’s where we come in.
We base most of our clients at Grand Hotel Tremezzo on the western shore. It’s a classic for good reason: the location puts you in the middle of everything, the staff is genuinely helpful, and the restaurant is excellent. From there, three days gives you just enough time to cover the lake properly without rushing anything.
DAY 1
We’ll have a private driver ready for your arrival; about three and a half hours from Portofino, under two from Milan. Leave your bags with the concierge and settle in at Da Giacomo al Lago, the hotel’s lakeside trattoria: fresh pasta, grilled fish, local wine, no agenda. After lunch, spend the rest of the afternoon on the terrace or out on the water. We’ll have a table waiting for you at La Terrazza Gualtiero Marchesi in the hotel for dinner. It fills up immediately, so this is one we always take care of well in advance.
DAY 2
Wake up, have a nice breakfast and get ready to go visit Villa Carlotta. Villa Carlotta is a five-minute walk from the hotel and one of the most underrated stops on the lake. The botanical garden alone is worth the visit, but the neoclassical sculpture collection inside genuinely catches people off guard that most of our clients end up spending far more time than they expected. We’d suggest arriving around ten, before the day-trippers show up.
After lunch, we’ll have a private boat waiting to take you across to Bellagio. Wander the staircase streets, walk through the Villa Melzi Gardens along the waterfront, and if you’re up for it, the guided tour of the Villa Serbelloni Gardens on the promontory above town is one of the finest views on the entire lake. We’ll have dinner reserved at Mistral at the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, and a boat to bring you back to Tremezzo when the evening winds down.
DAY 3
We start the morning with a private boat to Villa Balbianello, the villa on the wooded promontory above Lenno that you’ve almost certainly seen in photographs, especially the iconic Slim Aarons photo, and that still manages to exceed expectations in person. We’ll arrange a private FAI-licensed guide for the interior tour; the art collection and the story of its last owner, explorer Guido Monzino, are genuinely fascinating. After the tour, you’ll have time to wander the gardens before the boat continues to Varenna.
Lunch at Locanda Cavallino on the water, then the afternoon is yours. The Villa Monastero botanical garden stretches two kilometers along the shoreline. It’s an easy, beautiful walk with the lake right beside you the whole way.
But, don’t waste your energy just yet, as we are going to need you to save some for the evening. We’ll arrange a private driver and an aperitivo reservation on the terrace at Passalacqua in Moltrasio, a hillside property above the lake that was named one of the best hotels in the world, and whose terrace is something you’ll never forget. From there, the driver continues fifteen minutes to Il Gatto Nero above Cernobbio for dinner: risotto, fresh lake perch, views you won’t forget. The driver will have you back at the hotel by eleven.
One thing we always tell clients before they go: Lake Como rewards the people who don’t try to see everything. The temptation is to cross the lake twice a day and tick every village off the list. Resist it. Pick a good restaurant, linger over lunch, take the long way back by boat. The lake is best when you slow down enough to actually be on it and enjoy every moment of it.
As for timing, May, early June, and September are our top picks. The light is better, the ferries are less frequent and noisy, and you can actually get a table at the places worth going to.
Contact us today at The Italian Concierge, where every detail of your luxury Italy journey is handled with care, from your first hotel to your last dinner by the lake.