Three daysThree days without a car
Three days by train, ferry and on foot, with no parking to hunt for.
Public transport
Three days with hardly a ticket
Two walking routes, Romanesque churches and paths: three days in which you almost never need an entry ticket.
3days12stops
- Suggested base
- Menaggio, linked by boat and car ferry to the whole centre of the lake
- Transport
- Public transport
- Pace
- Balanced
- Best season
- Spring · Summer · Autumn
- Pierre André Leclercq · CC BY 4.0
- LigaDue · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Deensel · CC BY 2.0
- Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Mænsard vokser · CC BY-SA 4.0
The two great walking routes, the Romanesque churches and the views from the paths have no ticket, and a day navigation ticket buys a whole day on the water.
Suited to
- Younger travellers with a rucksack
- Anyone who would rather walk than visit
- Low and shoulder season
Book ahead
- Your accommodation.
Open on the map
The route, stop by stop.
© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Download the route (GPX)Stops and track for Komoot, OsmAnd, Organic Maps or a Garmin.
The page as a printable document, with the route drawn on it: useful where there is no phone signal.
Add to your calendar
One event per day, with the day's plan. Import the file into a calendar app that supports the ICS format.Day by day
- Day 1
The Greenway, which costs nothing
Ten kilometres through the villages, with the bus back.
Transfer: Bus25 min
Morning
North from Colonno
C110 bus to the start, then mule tracks and lanes between houses as far as Ossuccio.
Lunch
A packed lunch at Ossuccio
On the olive terraces, with Isola Comacina in front of you.
Afternoon
The Sacro Monte of Ossuccio
Fourteen UNESCO-listed chapels built between 1635 and 1710, half an hour of climbing, free entry.
Transfer: Bus25 min
Evening
Back to Menaggio
Bus along the Regina road to Menaggio, then dinner.
- Day 2
One ticket, all day on the water
The ferry triangle, with only free things ashore.
Transfer: Boat15 min
Morning
Bellagio without tickets
The stepped lanes, the Basilica of San Giacomo and Punta Spartivento cost nothing.
Transfer: On foot20 min
Lunch
Lunch at Pescallo
Twenty minutes on foot from the centre, by the little harbour.
Transfer: Boat15 min
Afternoon
Varenna on foot
The walkway over the water and the climb to Castello di Vezio: the first is free, the second has a ticket.
Transfer: Boat15 min
Evening
Last crossing back to Menaggio
A quarter of an hour, with low light on all three shores.
- Day 3
Going up, which is free
Monte Grona above Menaggio, or the upper-lake Romanesque by bus.
Morning
Up to the Rifugio Menaggio
From Breglia, an hour and a half of marked path to the refuge, at 1,383 metres, with the upper lake and the Swiss Alps in front of you.
Lunch
Lunch at the refuge
Check it is open before setting off.
Afternoon
Down again, and a swim
Back down to Menaggio in the afternoon, with the lido five minutes from the centre.
Evening
Aperitivo on the square
In Lombardy an aperitivo comes with something to eat.
Worth knowing
- Even with the day ticket, the fast service carries a supplement.
