Lake Como

Visiting the doctor in Milan has meant basing ourselves in the city for a couple of weeks which, for us, is certainly no hardship – we love Milan. It’s also given us the opportunity to see a bit more of the Lombardy region, including Lake Como.

We really didn’t know what to expect of this best-known lake but pre-judging it against our favourites Garda and Orta, we half expected not to like it much at all. It’ll be posh, populated, expensive we scoffed. And so it was. But Lake Como surprised us; it’s also charming and very beautiful in the way of all the northern Italian lakes.

Our first look at the town of Como - this view from the train station was a great start to our visit

Como is located at the on the southwestern arm of the lake; the centre itself is quite small though the city proper extends across to the Swiss border

Como Cathedral is beautiful and houses a number of precious paintings

Close to the lake, Piazza Cavour (with Christmas market in full swing)

But of course everyone comes to see the lake itself

And rightly so - it's beautiful

Lake Como is certainly more populated than the other Italian lakes we've visited

Its shores are home to many of the world's rich and famous including, of course, Amal and George Clooney

That's where the Clooneys live (big house, bottom left) with their children ... in summer ... sometimes 🙂

There's no shortage of huge villas on Lake Como

And it's easy to see why

With views like this

And this (imagine owning the house at the end of that promontory!)

Apart from Como, Bellagio is another of the lake's best-known towns (efficient ferry services - passenger and vehicular - make it easy to travel around the lake)

The tour guides will tell you no trip to Como is complete without a visit to Bellagio

And they're probably right; from its position on the shore, tiny cobbled streets run up the hill away from the water

And those streets are lined with interesting little shops (like this one that opened in 1855)

It's fun to wander up and down

And to come upon sights like this

And this

In many places around the lake the autumn foliage is hanging on, making for a spectacular show

There's a walking path (Salita Cappuccini) that leads up behind Bellagio, over the hill, and down to the water on the other side - it's a steep climb but worth it

On the ferry between Bellagio and Varenna on Lake Como's eastern shore

Varenna is a much smaller village and much less popular with visitors, though no less lovely

Looking back down to Varenna port

Winter is a good time to visit Lake Como; we had great weather and, away from the town centres, there was almost no one else around

So while it hasn't displaced Lakes Garda and Orta from their positions as favourites, we certainly were pleased to have seen and enjoyed beautiful Lake Como