I was lucky enough to be invited to a wedding in the beautiful Lombardy region in Northern Italy so thought I would make the most of it with a long weekend! I'd been to one of the neighbouring lakes before, Lake Garda, but in my opinion, Lake Como has the edge with it's beautiful mountainous landscapes either side that dwarf the lake with the foothills of the Alps in the background.
I flew into Milan Malpensa airport which is the closest to Lake Como. You can get a taxi which only takes about 40mins to the lake but it costs about €120 one way so it's not cheap! I decided to get the Milan Malpensa express train and changed in a town called Sarrono and got the connecting train to Como Nord in the town of Como which is the gateway to the lake. In comparison to the taxi, it took about 90mins but only €15 and it was a nice journey!
On arriving at the lake, I headed north about 20mins to the small picturesque town of Moltrasio. The apartment I had booked was on the hillside overlooking the town with the most AMAZING view of the town and lake! It was an Air BnB called 'Como Amazing View Apartment' so the clue was in the title! The only downside was the amount of steps up and down the town, I counted 461 from top to bottom!
I spent the evening walking around the town which really is stunning and very Italian. Lots of cobbled streets and corners with a waterfall and stream running through the centre of the town from the hilltops. The church bells ring every now and then and there are a few beautiful restaurants that line the streets and on the lakefront.
The following day was spent 'boat hopping' around the lake. There are different ticket types depending on if you want to do one way, hop on hop off, or just to do a small part of the lake or the whole day (which you would easily need a few days to do as it's huge!). I got the boat from the dock in Moltrasio that was heading North, and I was really pleased to find out it was an old fashioned paddle steamer! Inside you could see the engine turning around the paddles going, it was pretty cool! the next few hours was spent watching the scenery as the boat went up the lake and docked and different towns picking up and dropping off locals and tourists. Some of the buildings, hotels and towns were absolutely stunning to see from the lake. One of the highlights was the Villa del Balbianello which is this stunning villa that juts out into the lake and was where they filmed some of the scenes from one of the recent Star Wars films. George Clooney's place is nearby too and we saw his villa too. Nice if you can get a place here!
One of the highlights was the town of Bellagio which took about 90 minutes from Moltrasio. I stopped here for lunch and to mooch around. Again, a beautiful town on the east side of the lake and I had to come here after being to the Bellagio hotel in Vegas! Lots of quirky boutiques, great places to eat and a nice cathedral on the hill which you can go into. I caught the express boat to Como which took about 25 minutes and was an extra €3. Como is a nice town again with an imposing gothic style cathedral and town hall. I sat having lunch in the main square and watched some of the street artists performing whilst having a cocktail of course and some Italian food! There is a funicular railway on the edge of the town which takes you high above the lake with the most incredible views.
Lake Como is a definite must, especially for couples and foodies, but how the Italian's aren't all overweight is beyond me with all those carbs! It's a beautiful part of the country and I shall definitely go back to do more the northern parts of the lake nearer to the Alps.
