The lake by boat, Como to Colico

The lake is 46 kilometres long, and Navigazione Laghi's Como–Colico line runs from one end to the other.

The ordinary boat calls at about twenty villages on both shores and takes a little over four hours. The fast service, by hydrofoil or catamaran, takes under two hours but skips the minor stops. From the pier on Piazza Cavour in Como, the boat heads up the first basin past Cernobbio, Moltrasio and Torno. Further north it passes the Isola Comacina, the lake's only island, and the Dosso di Lavedo, with Villa del Balbianello on its tip. It then calls at Tremezzo, a few minutes' walk from Villa Carlotta, and at Bellagio, where the lake divides into two branches. From the centre of the lake it carries on to Menaggio, Varenna and Bellano, enters the upper lake at Dongo, Gravedona and Domaso, and ends at Colico, at the foot of Monte Legnone. With a biglietto di libera circolazione, a pass for unlimited journeys, you can get off and back on along the line all day, and the trip becomes a string of stops in the villages.

1. 01The ordinary boat takes a little over four hours from Como to Colico and more than two from Como to Bellagio. The fast service covers Como–Colico in under two hours and Como–Bellagio in about fifty minutes, but it does not run all year.
2. 02To get off and back on along the way you need the biglietto di libera circolazione. It is valid for one or six days and allows unlimited journeys between the piers it was issued for, with stopovers. On fast sailings you pay a supplement, valid only on the day of issue and with no stopovers.
3. 03Tickets are sold at pier offices, online and in the app. At smaller piers the office may be closed, in which case you buy your ticket on board. The timetable marks the sailings recommended for wheelchair users and those recommended for bicycles, which are never carried on fast sailings.
4. 04Places to stop along the line: the Isola Comacina, with the remains of its medieval churches; Tremezzo, for Villa Carlotta; Bellagio and Varenna, also linked by a fifteen-minute ferry; Piona, where some sailings call for the abbey and its thirteenth-century cloister.
5. 05Not every sailing reaches the upper lake, and frequency drops sharply out of season: before getting off in a village, check when the next boat calls. On the open deck, in winter, you need a warm coat.
6. 06You can go out by boat and come back by land. From Colico the train reaches Lecco in three quarters of an hour and continues to Milan; along the western shore the C110 bus runs back to Como.

WhereComo · Bellagio · Menaggio · Colico