Lake Como: Ultimate Lakeside Luxury

Most guests arrive by private transfer from Milan Malpensa Airport, approximately one hour from the southern end of the lake, or from Milan city center, around 90 minutes by car. The train from Milan Centrale to Varenna takes approximately one hour and provides its own kind of arrival, with the lake appearing between the mountains as the train approaches from the south.

A private wooden boat meets guests at the station pier in Varenna or at a designated jetty for those arriving by car, and the transfer to the first accommodation on the water sets the character of everything that follows. The boat is a restored vintage craft with a local skipper who covers the lake daily, and the first crossing delivers the scale of the lake in a way that no other arrival method does.

A private boat transfer carries you west to Bellagio, the village at the tip of the Punta Spartivento, the promontory that divides the lake into its three branches. It is the most photographed village on the lake, with steep cobbled lanes, wisteria-draped staircases, and views in three directions from above.

Villa Melzi d’Eril sits at the southern edge of the village, built in 1808 for Napoleon’s vice president of the Italian Republic. The gardens extend 500 meters along the lakefront with a Japanese garden, a Moorish temple, and azaleas and rhododendrons, while the interior holds period furnishings and Egyptian antiquities.A private visit before the gardens open to the public gives the rooms and grounds a stillness that the standard hours cannot produce.

Villa del Balbianello, across the water in Lenno, requires a short boat transfer. The villa sits on a forested promontory with terraced gardens and loggias that appear in Star Wars Episode II and two James Bond films. The interior holds the personal collection of explorer Guido Monzino, donated to the Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano in 1988. A private visit before 10am gives the loggia and its Alpine view a silence that disappears within the first hour of the day.

Bellagio’s lanes hold silk shops, jewelers, and restaurants that reward slow movement in the early morning or late evening. Aperitivo on the terrace as the sun drops behind the mountains is the most direct reason to be in Bellagio at that hour.

A private transfer connects to Milan Malpensa Airport or Milan city center, with the departure time set around the flight connection. The drive south follows the western shore of the lake before joining the motorway toward Milan, with the last view of the water at Cernobbio before the city begins.

The itinerary can be extended with additional nights on the lake, a day trip north to Lugano in Switzerland, or a connection to Venice or Florence.