If you’re visiting Milan, Italy, and want to take a day trip to Lake Como–home to George and Amal Clooney and gorgeous lake views–we’ve got good news for you. Many of the lake towns are just over an hour away by train.
Surprisingly, the cosmopolitan feel of Milan quickly fades away via train as you reach mountain views. You even start imagining yourself just hopping over the border to Switzerland for some Toblerone chocolate. In fact, the train ride from Lake Como to Lugano, Switzerland, is just 40 minutes.
Yet for the purposes of our journey, we’re going to stay in Italy and tell you how you can reach three towns surrounding Lake Como for an enjoyable day trip. This is a trip we at Italy Dreams did in early 2025. For context, I’m a female solo traveler but I find it easier to use “we” when writing.
Here’s our first set of tips to help you plan:
—Pick two to three cities around Como that you want to visit for the day. Our itinerary takes you through Bellano, Bellagio, and Varenna in that order, but there are many other towns you can visit, including the town of Como. Bellano seemed to be a good starting point. There are countless online articles online and guidebooks (we always find Rick Steves‘ information helpful) to help you choose destinations.
—Buy your train ticket online in advance on a site like Italia Rail. If you’re looking to visit more than one town in a day, it’s helpful to plan in advance what time you want to leave Milan and reach your first lake destination. You’ll also want to keep in mind the time it’ll take you to get from where you’re staying to the train station. There are a handful of different train stations in Milan that will take you to Lake Como, so make sure you show up at the right station.
—Pay attention to the train station signage. It will tell you what time the train is leaving and what platform to use. Note: Many Italian trains require you to validate your ticket while at the station, but we didn’t have to do this with our ticket for some reason. If in doubt, ask at the train station before you board the train.
Things to Do in Bello Bellano
We arrived in bello Bellano (population: 3,400) on a quiet, cool Sunday morning around 9 a.m. Not quite sure where to go, we followed a few other people getting off the train who appeared to be walking toward the lake. There was a small farmers market with a mix of food products and crafts, and it was the perfect place to take those photos and videos that make you say, “Look, I’m at Lake Como!” You could see how busy the area might get in the summer.
As it was still a little early for shops to be open, we headed toward a gorge called Orrido di Bellano. If you’ve ever been to Natural Bridge State Park in Virginia, it’ll remind you of that. It’s a natural gorge created a whopping 15 million years ago that’s led to the formation of gorges, ravines, and caves. It’s not something you’re expecting to see on your Lake Como visit but it’s definitely a beautiful sight.
Some tips to visit Orrido di Bellano:
—Wear good walking shoes. It’s very hilly and you’ll find yourself going over some pedestrian bridges.
—Take lots of pictures but hold on to your camera or phone tightly. You don’t want it to fall in the gorge!
It took us 30 to 45 minutes to make our way through Orrido di Bellano, after which we stumbled upon a church with a Sunday service. We entered quietly (or so we hope!) to listen to some of the service in Italian. It was interesting to see people dressed in winter casual clothing, many still wearing their jackets. There were other tourists like us there toward the back.
Taking the Ferry to Bello Bellagio
If you look at Lake Como on a map (it looks like a thin person with long legs running), then you can imagine why taking a ferry is an easier way to get to some destinations compared with driving or even a train. With Bellagio across the water from Bellano, it made sense to hop on the popular ferry, which would be about a 30 minute ride.
Depending on where you’re visiting around Lake Como, you may also find yourself hopping on the train again but just for a few minutes’ ride to your next destination. Again, do your research on a short train ride versus the ferry and which works best.
If you can, buy your ferry ticket in advance because otherwise you may find yourself waiting in a potentially long line–and you might even miss the ferry that you want to take. For reasons we can’t recall, we couldn’t buy our ticket online that day and waited in a line.
At this point in our trip–it was about 11 am–we could feel the crowds. Don’t get us wrong, it was still a beautiful view along the ferry ride, breathing in fresh air and taking pictures (again, hold on tight to your phone!). Yet as the crowd descended on historical, tiny Bellagio, it began to feel like too many people. Overtourism is a real thing in many European destinations, so try to visit at the beginning or end of the day when there are fewer people.
Even with the crowds, there was still the charm of Bellagio’s shops, architecture, and scenic vistas. It would have been amazing to spend the night there and see the town first thing in the morning (#futuregoals). We ate lunch at the waterfront restaurant Bar Pasticcheria Rossi–charcuterie board and a rose vino, perfect for Sunday afternoon. After that, it was a stroll by the water and waiting again for the ferry.
Vrooming to Varenna
The next destination was Varenna, a few minutes away and another popular small town. When you get off the ferry, you’ll likely make your way to the right and walk a few minutes to the congregation of shops right on the water. Again, we could feel the crowds and found the best way to cope was enjoying some gelato by the water from Riva Gelateria…because what would a visit to Lake Como be without gelato?!
If we were in the mood to check out Every.Shop.in.Town, we could have broadened the time we spent in Bellagio and Varenna–but this was the day before we’d return to the U.S. and we had pretty much gotten the souvenirs we wanted. So, well-fed, we made our way to the train station around 4 p.m. to take a 5 p.m. train back to Milano’s Centrale Train Station.
We weren’t the only ones with that idea. As it got closer to 5 p.m., there were many people waiting. The train itself was standing room only (and we were one of the standing ones, as other people had clearly boarded in other Como towns). There’s probably no good way to get around the packed train. If you’re going to pack a lot into your day trip, just know in advance that others will have the same idea. Still, getting to the Como area as early as you can is never a bad move.
We definitely would do another day trip to Como if we weren’t able to spend the night there. We would likely venture to try other towns around the lake, like the actual town of Como. A trip back to Orrido di Bellano would always be welcome!
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