Como, Bellagio & Varenna: Small Group from Milan with Boat Cruise
Description
Explore the most famous lake of Italy on an entertaining 10-hour guided tour in a very small group of 14 participants. Avoid any tourist traps, crowds & queues on a well-planned trip with a professional local guide. Admire the Alps, film locations & celebrity villas during the lake boat cruise. You will meet your guide in Milan and take together an express train to Como. Join a panoramic ferry cruise ride along the lake and immerse yourself in the lake's famous "golden triangle" section and visit Bellagio & Varenna. Enjoy pre-booked & guaranteed seats during the boat cruise along the lake with priority skip-the-line access to the ferry. Savour a lunch in a lake-view restaurant in Bellagio that your guide will suggest to you. Admire the majestic historical villas of Lake Como during this entertaining day trip. In each village you will enjoy a mix of guided tour and free time. Take the express train back to Milan with your guide. The tour will finish in Milan's Central Station.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Express first class train ride from Milan to Lake Como (Como City)
Como City. Take a walk in Como City with your guide and stop by the Duomo of Como. Como has a long history dated back even before Roman empire, was ruled by multiple Italian, German and Austrian emperors due to its strategic location. Admire the Duomo of Como, the last Gothic Duomo built in Italy and the most important religious site of the city. After that, you will join a stunning boat cruise along the lake that will start in Como City.
Lake Como boat cruise
Admire the Alps, film locations & celebrity villas during the lake boat cruise. Start the lake boat cruise from Como City. Firstly, you will be able to admire Villa Olmo and Villa D'Este. Villa Olmo was constructed after Villa d’Este in 18th century with neoclassic design. Its beauty is complemented with extensive and elegant lake front symmetric gardens, sculptures, fountains and immense English garden in the back.
After Villa Olmo, you will pass near Cernobbio and Villa D'Este, a 15th-century villa, originally called Villa del Garovo. It is a Renaissance patrician residence & a park of approximately 100,000 square meters. Villa D'Este was converted into a luxury hotel for the royal people in 1873 and since then kept the name Villa d'Este because of the apparent connection with the famous Villa d'Este in Tivoli in Rome. In 1925 the famous director Alfred Hitchcock made his movie The Pleasure Garden in this location. In June 2009, it was selected as the best hotel in the world by the Forbes magazine.
Pass by in front of George Clooney's famous Villa Oleandra.
Admire Torno, one of the most charming villages of Lake Como. It hosts Villa Pliniana, which took its name from Pliny the Elder, who was originally in Como. Pliny the Elder was a Roman Empire author, naturalist, natural philosopher, and naval and army commander (in the Roman Empire), and a close friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ''Naturalis Historia'' (Natural History), which became an editorial model for the future encyclopedias.
Used as a location for the movie ''Ocean 12'' with Brad Pitt, George Clooney & Julia Roberts, this famous villa was originally built in late 19th century by Luigi Erba, brother of the prominent Italian businessman Carlo Erba (founder of the Erba pharmaceutical company), to express his grandiosity.
Villa Carlotta is an important villa and a botanical garden in Tremezzo town on the left shore of Lake Como. Today the villa is also a museum, whose collection includes works by various sculptors. The villa was built in the late-seventeenth century by Marquis Giorgio Clerici of Milan.
James Bond Casino Royale & Star Wars film location. Villa del Balbianello is one of the most famous villas of Lake Como and is also an important film location, where such movies as James Bond Casino Royale & Star Wars were filmed. This villa is particularly famous for its elaborate terraced gardens.
Your boat cruise will end in Bellagio, the jewel of Lake Como. You will immerse yourself in the lake's famous "golden triangle" section, known for its remarkable villas, and breathtaking villages. Discover quaint boutiques with local art and stop by a lakeside restaurant to enjoy authentic Italian cuisine. Your guide will suggest you a couple of wonderful lake-view restaurants.
Enjoy a quick ferry ride from Bellagio to Varenna
After lunch in Bellagio, you will take a ferry to Varenna together with your guide and discover this ancient village with your guide. Enjoy a guided tour with your guide and free time (during which you can visit Villa Monastero or Gates of Heaven) After visit of Varenna, you will take the train back to Milan together with your guide.
Express first class train ride from Varenna (Lake Como) to Milan
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- All time for transportation (train, ferry, subway, etc) is already included in the tour duration.
- The tour programme & schedule can change for operations reasons (eg train strike, bad weather, force majeure, technical issues of the boat, etc)
- At the end of the tour the group will normally take the train from Varenna to return to Milan, but if you wish you can stay in Varenna to spend more time there and take on of the next trains/buses by yourself (we will provide the tickets - this must be comunicated before 13:00 on the day of the tour)
- During the summer period, there is a small beach in Varenna if you want to swim a little
- The tour is always confirmed in case of rain. Tour duration is approx. 10 hours (the tours ends in Milan Central Station).
- In the winter time (November-mid March) the tour starts 1 hour earlier (7:55 AM meeting point in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and 8:15 meeting point in Central Station), while summer time (April-October) the tour starts 1 hour later (8:45 AM meeting point in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and 9:15 meeting point in Central Station).
- It is possible to cancel free of charge only up to 24 hours before the tour, after that term it is not possible to cancel free of charge or modify the booking (for any reason). No-shows are non refunded. In order to cancel the booking, you need to do it from your account, please do not text us or call us to cancel the bookings - it can only be done by you personally from your account
- If you wish to visit Last Supper on the day of the tour, please book it separately in the early morning or late eveving.
- Bring an ID (passport, ID or driving license - an original, not a photo), this can be requested by train company
- If you wish to visit Villa Cipressi (Gates of Heaven) or Villa Monastero during your free time in Varenna, you can buy the ticket directly there in the villa
- Not suitable for travelers with mobility impairments
Reviews(1,346)
Covers everything as described, from Como to Bellagio to Varenna. Well organized. Cruise from Como to Bellagio is scenic but lengthy.
This day trip is all worth it. Saw a lot within the time frame. Our tour guide was Elma . She’s so kind and patient , always smiling and ready to answer any questions. She’s very knowledgeable of the place and history . She gave us enough free time to explore on our own .
OMG, it was amazing. The view was incredible. Since I’m traveling solo, everything was included so I didn’t have to worry much about buying other tickets. Barbaba was my tour guide and she was amazing, I love her so much. She was so informative and make sure we were all comfortable. She make sure to give us a lot of advise and recommendations for food. She make sure we have front seat on train and ferry ride. I got to sit by the edge of the ferry and got an incredible few of Lake como.
We had a wonderful time. We really enjoyed our guide Angela, which was absolutely the best! She made the tour so much more enjoyable, she was personable and very knowledgeable. This is a must see tour!
We had a great day exploring Como, Bellagio & Varenna with Alessandro. Alessandro’s experience together, with local knowledge, made this a great day. From having our ferry tickets booked, (no waiting in queues), advising where to sit for the best views, arranging a booking for lunch in Bellagio & knowing where the seats would be on the return train journey. Bellissimo! Grazie Mille!
This was an amazing conversational tour of Como City, Bellagio and Vereena that would not have been possible on our own! Barbara was an exceptional guide! We met at Central Station in Milan, took the train to Como City, did an hour of leisurely shopping, rode a boat to several small towns along Lake Como with a longer stop in Bellagio for shopping and lunch. We finished sightseeing with a ferry from Bellagio to Vereena for more shopping and gelato and returned to Milan Central Station by train. It was a perfect mix of walking, boats, ferry and train to allow sightseeing and periods of rest. Barbara carried an extended umbrella to make her easily visible and provided an audio system with new earbud to each participant so we could hear her along the way. Barbara provided an ideal mix of flexibility to the travelers and keeping our group together. She was cheerful, answered questions, provided history and lifestyle and offered suggestions when asked. The most beneficial part of the tour was the skip the line pass at every train, boat and ferry stop that allowed us to maximize our time sightseeing rather than waiting hours in line for a spot in each transit. Thank you Barbara for making our time around Lake Como, Bellagio and Verenna such a memorable experience!
A beautiful day with a wonderful guide and learned a lot about the villas along the lake. It would have been more robust if we were given more information about culture, economics, etc. of the region. A lot of downtime that could have been filled with information about the region. Also, late guest arrival, canceled and delayed trains led to a lot of waiting time- this would have been the perfect place to enage us in learning.
It was a great tour and Elma our guide was very knowledgeable, professional and friendly
Beat the crowds on this great small group tour. The priority ferry access and seating are worth it alone. Our guide, Barbara, was very informative about local history and landmarks. She also ensured our boarding and seating for the ferries and trains in quite chaotic crowds. A great day out in Lake Como, very glad we booked this tour.
Amazing boat ride and tour guide. Great tour for the money. Thunderstorms interrupted enjoyment of varenna and ferry ride and locals were unkind in not allowing us into their restaurants. Would recommend to friends.
