A week on Lake Como

Arrival, city, funicular.

1. Morning

   

   The walled centre

   Cathedral, Broletto, Palazzo Terragni, all within two hundred metres.

2. Lunch

   Lunch on the waterfront

   Then the Tempio Voltiano and the walk towards Villa Olmo.

3. Transfer: On foot30 min

   Afternoon

   

   Villa Olmo and the Chilometro della Conoscenza

   The park is public and free, and the walk continues between villa gardens as far as Villa del Grumello.

4. Transfer: Funicular7 min

   Evening

   

   Brunate at sunset

   Seven minutes by funicular, and you look down on the city.

Ten kilometres through the villages of the western shore.

1. Transfer: Bus45 min

   Morning

   

   North from Colonno

   C110 bus to Colonno, then mule tracks, lanes and stretches of the Via Regina.

2. Transfer: On foot1 h

   Lunch

   

   Ossuccio and the Sacro Monte

   Fourteen chapels built between 1635 and 1710 among olive trees, UNESCO listed, with Isola Comacina below.

3. Transfer: On foot40 min

   Afternoon

   

   Villa del Balbianello

   The peninsula path starts at the Lido di Lenno, twenty-five minutes.

4. Evening

   Dinner at Lenno or Tremezzo

   The ferry runs back to the centre of the lake until well into the afternoon; after that, the bus.

Villas, staircases, and the point where the lake divides.

1. Transfer: Boat12 min

   Morning

   

   Villa Melzi

   Open lawns to the water and the Japanese pond.

2. Transfer: On foot15 min

   Lunch

   

   Pescallo

   The fishermen's harbour on the other side of the headland, twenty minutes' walk from the centre.

3. Afternoon

   

   Villa Serbelloni park

   A guided visit with limited places on top of the headland: book ahead.

4. Evening

   

   Punta Spartivento

   The last light of the day, on the point where the lake divides.

Cross in the morning, walk the slope in the afternoon.

1. Transfer: Boat15 min

   Morning

   

   Villa Monastero

   Almost two kilometres of botanical garden on the water, and the nineteenth-century rooms of the house museum.

2. Lunch

   Lunch in Varenna

   Then up towards the path.

3. Transfer: On foot25 min· The climb from Varenna to Vezio

   Afternoon

   

   Varenna to Bellano on foot

   First the climb to Vezio, then an hour and forty minutes along the slope to Bellano, with the lake always in view; at the end there is the station to get back.

4. Transfer: On foot1 h 40· On the Sentiero del Viandante, an hour and forty minutes

   Evening

   

   Orrido di Bellano

   Steel walkways inside the ravine, five minutes from the station.

Romanesque churches, open water and wind. Needs a car, or a long day of buses.

1. Transfer: Bus45 min

   Morning

   

   Gravedona and Santa Maria del Tiglio

   The Romanesque church with its tower built into the facade.

2. Transfer: Bus12 min

   Lunch

   Lunch at Domaso

   On the waterfront, as the Breva starts to get up.

3. Afternoon

   

   On the water with the wind

   Windsurf, kite, or simply a swim in a wide stretch of lake.

4. Transfer: Car30 min

   Evening

   

   Piona Abbey

   The 1252 cloister on the Olgiasca peninsula.

The Grigne, the motorcycles and Riva Bianca.

1. Transfer: Train15 min

   Morning

   

   The Moto Guzzi museum at Mandello

   A century of motorcycles inside the factory still building them. Fixed, limited hours: check them.

2. Transfer: Train9 min

   Lunch

   Lunch at Lierna

   Nine minutes north by train, with the Castello hamlet sitting above the beach.

3. Afternoon

   

   Riva Bianca

   Pale pebbles and a gently shelving bottom.

4. Transfer: Train25 min

   Evening

   

   Lecco and the Resegone

   Twenty-five minutes by train to the city of The Betrothed, with the lungolario and the mountain behind.

Climb between the two branches and look down both.

1. Morning

   

   The Ghisallo

   The cyclists' sanctuary and the museum, ten kilometres of climbing above Bellagio.

2. Lunch

   Lunch at Civenna or Magreglio

   Up on the ridge, with a view opening down both branches at once.

3. Transfer: Car30 min

   Afternoon

   

   The Nesso gorge

   Three hundred steps down to the stone bridge and the waterfall dropping into the lake.

4. Transfer: Bus35 min

   Evening

   Back to Como

   Thirty minutes by car or thirty-five by bus along the shore, with the last light on the water.