by Celeste Lipford and Terry Lipford - last updated on 5/15/2025
Lake Como is an incredibly beautiful area. There are plenty of stunning Italian country villas which offer those million dollar views of the lake and mountains. The Navigazione Lago di Como Auto Ferry provided us with amazing views of various lake-side villages; Menagio, Bellagio, Varenna, Fiumelatte, Tremezzo - I could go on and on, but you get the idea right?
Just to make the geography clear to everyone; we drove to Lake Como from Switzerland, however, our hotel was in Varenna which is on the eastern side of the Lake. Because our drive from Grindelwald brought us south on the Italian A2 to the Lugano area on the western side of Lake Como, we needed a way to get to Varenna that did not involve driving around the southern end of the lake. Research showed that taking the auto ferry across the lake from Menaggio was probably the easiest route - and the most entertaining!
It is also worth noting that after we crossed the mountain pass on Switzerland Route 11, we then drove through the World's longest & deepest auto tunnel (AKA "Gotthard"). At 16.9 kilometers in length, it is the fifth longest auto tunnel in the world.
Getting around Lake Como is done much simpler via ferry boats, as the Italian city streets are very narrow and parking is generally infrequent. If you have never driven in Europe, Italy is not a good place to give it a try! In our case, we parked our rental car in the lockable hotel parking lot, and took the ferries around the Lake. Given that the lake is over 170 kilometers if you drove around it, makes a 4 kilometer ferry boat ride (Menaggio to Varenna) seem much more preferable doesn't it?
Click here for the Navigazione Lago di Como Auto Ferry website.
Lake Como, located in the northern part of Italy, is one of the most stunning and sought-after destinations in the world. Here are the most interesting facts about this beautiful lake:
Lake Como is located 25 miles north of Milan; it lies at an elevation of 653 feet (199 meters) in a depression surrounded by limestone and granite mountains that reach an elevation of about 2,000 feet (600 meters) in the south. It is 209 kilometers south of Switzerland and 264 miles south of Grindelwald - where we started. Click the map link (above) to see the area.
On our way to Varenna! A nice change of pace after driving here from Grindelwald, Switzerland ! We had departed Grindelwald about 7AM and it is now after 2PM, and the "traffic caused tension" from driving all of those city streets to get here is making me glad to be out of the car.
Click here to go to a Google Images set for the Menaggio Ferry Terminal and Lake Como.
We are looking forward to getting the luggage into the hotel room and then heading out to do some exploring.
It isn't obvious in this picture, but these are very small ferry boats. It held fewer than 15 vehicles, and it was able to do that only by careful positioning & parking by the crew.
From Switzerland, we drove on the Italian E35 autostrade to the Lugano area, where we got onto the SS340 to Menaggio. This was a very challenging drive, as the SS340 was frequently a narrow two lane road with numerous side streets. There are not many street or highway signs, so you have to be utilizing your mapping Application, or you will never find the Auto Ferry dock in Menaggio!
After a "false stop" (we discovered that there is more than one Auto Ferry dock), we arrived and are now waiting for the Auto Ferry to Varenna. You never have to wait very long for another ferry to show up, they are frequent!
However, you must pay attention to where each Auto Ferry is going, otherwise, you might wind up in Tremezzo when you really wanted to go to Varenna! Not to worry though, each boat crew shouts out what their destination is before they load cars or passengers.
Posing with the statues; If you saw the "Amazing Race" (April 27, 2017) several years ago, Castello di Vezio is the place in Varenna where all the teams had a competition.
The Castle is located on a hill (1.1 miles) behind our hotel, in fact the walking path (the Scabium Trail) to go up to the Castello is adjacent to the hotel. Bellagio is on the right side of image # 2 (right) and Fiumelatte is on the left, approximately 6 kilometers from Varenna.
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Steep Cobblestone Access Path
View from Ferry Boat
Distant View from Ferry BoatImage # 1: The Scabium trail was very steep, and it was very hot that day! We quickly became convinced that this trail was really meant for goats or donkeys! Halfway up the trail, was a spring fed water "shed" and that water was ice cold. We weren't sure about drinking it, because the building (shed?) it was in looked ancient, but the water was very clear.
Image # 2: The Castello di Vezio is at the top center of the image, as seen from the ferry boat. The mountains surrounding Lake Como are all limestone and granite mountains rising to a height of 2,000 feet in the south and more than 8,000 feet (2,400 meters) in the northeast. On the way back to Varenna from Bellagio, we noticed that we had a great view of the Castello di Vezio from the ferry boat. This picture gives you an idea of how high above Varenna the Castello is.
Image # 3: See the area below the tower on the left center of this picture? That is where the unusual statues were located.
Those statues are made out of wire, paper and plaster. The wire frame gives the statues their basic form, and the paper and wet plaster are applied and allowed to dry to achieve the final form.
It was fascinating to be in a place that we first learned of via a TV show, and to be able to walk about and see the results of a "team competition" where each team had to create new statues!
The stone building on the left, is the tower of the Castello di Vezio. It was built in the late 11th-early 12th century and was restored several times in the following centuries. In the late 19th century and in 1956 remains of tombs from the Iron Age, as well as weapons and armor were found in the area.
The local fishing community pulls their boats out of the water and onto that small beach in the center of this picture. The main part of the town of Varenna is to the right in that picture, approximately 1 kilometer past the fishing boats.
We are on one of the lake ferry boats, which has just departed the Varenna dock and are on our way to Bellagio. Such a beautiful morning, that we decided that we needed a selfie to remember that beautiful backdrop!
Approaching Bellagio Docks
Approaching Bellagio Docks
Approaching Bellagio DocksSIt isn't a very long boat ride from Varenna to Bellagio (1.9 miles) , and riding the Ferry Boat there as a pedestrian is preferable as we don't have to find parking, nor drive on the narrow Italian city streets.
The ferry boat is just arriving at the Bellagio dock, you can see another ferry just about to depart the dock. In fact, our Ferry Boat has slowed to a crawl to wait for the dock area to clear so that we can pull in.
The ferry boat captains always were quick & efficient in getting the boats docked & unloaded. One of the crew would then go ashore and yell out their destination so that everyone waiting for a ferry knew whether to board or not.
Our hotel is in the left center of the third image, it is the first building to the left of the dock (yellow exterior green awning at the lower right of the building). We were on the third floor, right side center window, so we had an excellent view of Lake Como.
Olivedo Hotel Varenna
Olivedo Hotel Varenna
Olivedo Hotel VarennaVarenna has a diverse range of accommodations, including hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, villas, and apartments. Specific counts vary by source, but there are approximately 40 to 50 lodging options in total, covering different budgets and preferences.
Some popular hotels include:
During our pre-trip research, we knew we wanted to be in a hotel near to Lake Como, one that was close to restaurants & other attractions and one that provided secure parking. We selected Hotel Olivedo for all those reasons - it is adjacent to the Ferry Boat dock and has a gated parking area behing the hotel.
The hotel served breakfast each morning & it was included in the room price, and the espresso and fresh pastries were good. See the awning in image # 1? Breakfast was served under the awning; coffee, espresso & pastries - a typical "Continental Breakfast".
See how rapidly the hills behind the hotel rise? Castello di Vezio is at the top of those hills, so this picture should give you an even better idea of how steep the walk was to get to the Castello di Vezio!
The Cavallino Ristorante Trattoria dei Pescatori is to the right in the second image. The tree covered area is their outside seating area.
The trail started just to the right of the hotel awning area for our hike up to the Castello di Vezio. That trail was a serious challenge, due to the heat wave that was taking place plus the steepness of the trail!
If you would prefer to do your own research for hotels in or near Varenna, click here to view a Google Search Results list of all of them.
Before we started to walk about Bellaggio, we decided to take one of those touristy small train car tours around the peninsula. This worked out quite well, because the tour driver obviously knows Bellaggio a lot better than we do, and we saw quite a bit more than we would have if we had been walking.
Image # 2 (right) is the bell tower of the Basilica of St. James in Bellagio. Click here to go to a good website for a more in depth description of this beautiful Basilica.
We had lunch at the Splendide bar (a Lakeside Restaurant), and then decided to walk about the Bellagio streets, maybe do a bit of shopping, or should I say "window shopping" as most things we saw were expensive.
This area of Bellagio is close to the Harbor and is only one of several areas where shopping can be found, but since we were really more interested in exploring & taking pictures, this was good enough for what we wanted.
As we were waiting for the Auto Ferry to arrive at the Bellagio dock, we walked over to this park area next to the dock. At the end of the park area was Lido di Bellagio where people were swimming.
The park's history is wrapped tightly with Bellagio's evolution. Originally a landing point for ferries, it has transformed into a vibrant public space. Dotted with sculptures and historical landmarks, it whispers tales of the town's rich past.
As we walked back to the Bellagio docks (center of image # 2). As you can see, it was a beautiful day, Lake Como was placid and there were a lot of boats all over the Lake.
This was a beautiful day for exploring, we had just completed our exploration of Bellagio and were now waiting for the Varenna Ferry to arrive.
Image # 1: We were on our way to the Il Molo Restaurant, which is one of the first sidewalk restaurants nearest the large tree in the right center of this picture.
This walkway along the lake connects the area of Varenna where we were staying at the Hotel Olivedo, to the other end of Varenna where there were more restaurants & shopping.
Image # 1 displays the sidewalk restaurants along the edge of the lake. The restaurant area is adjacent to the shopping area of Varenna.
Image # 2: One of the lake ferry boats gliding into the Varenna dock as we were walking to dinner. There are several ferry boat companies operating on the lake, so their arrivals and departures are frequent. And as I said previously, riding these boats and not driving your car is a great way to see the area.
I had lasagna and it was excellent, we both had prosecco and Celeste had a salmon salad which she said was very good. Not only was the food here quite good, their sidewalk seating gave us a great view of the Lake and the sunset, the vibe was tranquil.
Not sure if you can tell or not, but Lake Como is in the right center background of this picture, beyond the people seated at the next restaurant from where we were seated.
Click here to visit their Restaurant Website
We ate here several times, and one afternoon we had ice cream sundaes after we completed our hike to the Castello di Vezio. Everthing we had here was very good, which includes; Chianti, linguine with clams, fresh baked bread, etc.
You will find a wide range of opinions about this restaurant if you utilize Tripadvisor, our review gave it high marks, but your mileage may vary from what we experienced.
Click here to visit their Restaurant Website
As you can see on this page, we saw a lot of the area and had a huge amount of fun exploring, however, we did not manage to see or do everything that can be found in Lake Como. Here are some good links for you;
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