When I think of most major tourist destinations in Italy, pizza, gladiators, and Roman ruins come to mind. But when I think of Lake Como, I picture George Clooney. Weird? Yes, but not necessarily inaccurate. Lake Como just hits differently. The almost too blue water set against a mountainous backdrop evokes a sort of 1950’s Hollywood glam vibe that makes you want to get dolled up and spend hours on a terrace sipping a spritz and soaking it all in.

To be honest, that’s pretty much what you come to Lake Como to do – nothing. Wake up, have breakfast, maybe get a massage or tour a villa, and then lounge by the pool or on a boat, and always with a cocktail or great bottle of wine in hand. Spend 3 days living like Clooney with us in this Italian mountain-side paradise.

Getting to Lake Como

For us, arriving in Lake Como was the opposite of glamorous. Our early morning flight out of Nice was canceled while in route to the airport. We re-directed to a thinly conceived back-up plan – a last minute train from Monaco to Genoa followed by a 3 hour taxi ride to Lake Como. It ended up being cheaper and faster than the originally booked flights but trying to give a GPS-adverse cabby directions in broken Italian is not recommended.

The best way to get to Lake Como is by flying into Milan or Bergamot and taking a taxi from there (airports LIN, MXP, or BGY all roughly 45 minutes from Lake Como).

Where to Stay

Checking into the Mandarin Oriental immediately erased the stress caused by our hectic travel morning. Previously the Casa Divina, the Mandarin was updated and rebranded in 2019. The villa itself was decadent and traditional but our suite was spacious and modern with a spectacular view of the lake. Definitely a honeymoon or special occasion worthy location.

Before we booked the Mandarin, Villa de Este and Grand Hotel Tremezzo were also recommended to us as luxury/full amenity options – floating pools, dining, spas, activities, etc. We were happy with our choice. Grand Hotel Tremezzo was the most conveniently located of the three but significantly more dated/in need of renovation than the others. If you’re looking for something more economical with less amenities, we’d recommend searching in the town of Varenna, which is well located along the lake.

Transportation in Lake Como

The one potential drawback of our hotel is the location. Lake Como is a Y shaped lake bordered by mountains. As such, transportation options are (a) driving around the lake or (b) taking a ferry or private water taxi through it.

The Mandarin is located near the town of Como but far from popular towns like Bellagio and Varenna. A 1-way cab ride from our hotel to Billagio cost around $100 and can take 25 minutes to an hour depending on traffic. Public ferries are definitely the best option for town hopping during the day but they stop running fairly early in the evening. Just something to consider if you’re planning dinner further from your hotel!

3 Day itinerary

Day 1

After checking in to the hotel, we headed to the town of Bellagio. Bellagio is perhaps the best known village situated on Lake Como and is popular with tourists. We spent the afternoon wandering up the picturesque village. Bellagio is a maze of stairs and cobblestone allies filled with boutiques, wine bars, and ice cream shops.

For the “postcard photo”, take the main road Salita Serbelloni. Once you reach the stairs turn around.

After we had our fill of the town, we had an early dinner at the Hotel Florence’s wisteria covered terrace and watched the sun go down as we walked along the promenade before heading home. We ended the night with drinks on the Mandarin’s lakeside terrace.

Day 2

The next morning we woke up and headed out to explore Villa Balbianello. The Villa was famously used as a filming location for Star Wars and Casino Royale (James Bond).

Getting to the Villa is a little clunky. First, travel to the town of Lenno. From there, you can take a complementary water taxi or a walking path to the entrance. We were too impatient to wait for the water taxi and opted for the 15 minute walk. We arrived right at the 10 AM opening time but the Villa quickly became packed with tour groups.

We returned to the hotel for lunch – pizza by the lake – and got ready for our engagement shoot that afternoon.

Our photographers, John and Marlene Koman, met us at the Mandarin at 4 PM. We coordinated a private boat through the hotel and planned to use Varenna and Villa Monastero as our primary shooting locations.

Jimmy and I are both awkward in photos so incorporating these sight-seeing activities into our engagement shoot made it fun and more natural for us. The Komans ultimately shot our wedding in Tuscany as well and were lovely to work with both times. You can see their work on their website and in this post.

Exploring Varenna and Villa Monastero were highlights of the excursion. Unlike Villa Balbianello, Villa Monastero was almost empty. It was a stunning photo location and a spot I’d like to re explore on a future trip.

Varenna was just as beautiful as its more famous neighbor Billagio but without the dense crowds. Varenna is well situated on the lake and would be a great home base for future trips.

After about 4 hours, our captain returned us to the hotel, where we had dinner at L’Aria, the Mandarin’s fine dining restaurant. I highly recommend hiring a boat and captain for the day in Lake Como. It’s expensive but gives you the flexibility to hop on and off wherever you want without having to worry about logistics.

Day 3

Our last day in Lake Como was spent on the water. We reserved the Angelina boat with Lake Como Boats. The charter was easy to reserve online – you just pick a boat and the number of hours you want to spend on it. Don’t worry about the individual package options – the company was flexible with customizing the itinerary and pickup/drop off locations.

Our captain was knowledgeable about the area and showed us many points of interest along the lake. At lunchtime, he dropped us off at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo for our lunch reservation. We hopped back on the boat after lunch to finish the tour. Overall, the experience was so peaceful and the views from the water cannot be beat.

The boat dropped us off at the Mandarin at the end of our session. We spent the rest of the day indulging in the property’s amenities. Living in Miami we have year round access to a sunny pool so a pool day is not typically high on my list of vacation activities; however, the Mandarin’s pool is literally floating in Lake Como so an exception was made. Standing on the pool deck you do feel a slight floating sensation (in a good way) and it was nice to just relax in such a tranquil atmosphere.