Como Guide: 15 Best Things to Do in Como + Itinerary

This Como city guide covers exactly the best things to do in Como, and we’re honest about when the city is the right base and when you should push north instead.

We visited Como in September 2025 and May 2026 and wanted to share our honest opinions.

👉 KEEP IN MIND: Como is super beautiful, but it feels more like a real city than a lakeside village. If you want to see the cliff-hugging villages, then we recommend going to Bellagio and Varenna, where you will get the real Lake Como feeling.

For us, Como is the main gateway to the lake and the easiest place to reach from Milan, about an hour by train covering 48 km (30 miles).

Is Como city worth visiting?

Yes, but go in knowing exactly what kind of trip you’re getting.

Como is the main gateway to Lake Como and the easiest place to reach from Milan by train, about an hour, covering 48 km (30 miles).

It feels a lot more like a real city than paradise, with more restaurants, shops, and transport options, but less of the postcard charm you get in Varenna or Bellagio.

Stay here if:

• You’re visiting Lake Como for just 1 to 2 days.
• You want the easiest access from Milan, and you book ferry day trips from Como to Bellagio, Varenna, Colico, Gravedona…
• You prefer convenience, restaurants, and transport links over pure scenery.

Skip it if:

• If you want that postcard-perfect Lake Como experience, then go to Bellagio or Varenna instead.
• You’re planning a longer, slower trip and want a slow lakeside-village feel. Then we recommend going to the northern towns of Colico and Gravedona, where life stands still.

Not sure where Como sits relative to the rest of the lake? Our Map of Lake Como post explains the Y-shape geography and why the central towns are further from Como than they look.

Best things to do in Como at a glance

Best things to do in Como
⛪ 1. Como Cathedral (Duomo)	🚤 2. Boat tour on the lake	🏛️ 3. Piazza Cavour
🌅 4. Lakeside promenade	🚠 5. Brunate funicular	🔦 6. Faro Voltiano lighthouse (closed ATM)
🌳 7. Villa Olmo & gardens (closed due to restoration)	⚡ 8. Tempio Voltiano	🏰 9. Porta Torre
🚶 10. Old Town streets	🧵 11. Silk Museum	🍝 12. Pasta class
🚲 13. E-bike tour	🛵 14. Vespa tour	🍷 15. Wine tasting

Map of all Como attractions

Top things to do in Como

We’ve ranked the top things to do in Como first, so if you only have a few hours before your next Lake Como town, you can start at the top and work down.

1. Visit Como Cathedral (Duomo di Como)

The Duomo is the number one activity in Como!

Officially the Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta, it was begun in 1396 and built over centuries, blending Gothic architecture with Renaissance touches, and holds statues of Pliny the Elder and Younger, both Como natives.

It sits right on Piazza del Duomo in the heart of Como town. It’s completely free to visit (which is rare for a cathedral this size).

We absolutely loved the amazing ceiling with its golden/blue colors! It does make you stand still for a moment.

👉 INSIDER TIP: It’s also the perfect place to cool down a bit from the hot city center. It’s quite cool inside the cathedral.

Summary:

• ⛪ What you’ll see: Gothic-Renaissance interior with 16th-century tapestries
• 💵 Cost: free entry
• 📍 Getting there: in the historic centre, two minutes’ walk from Piazza Cavour and the ferry docks
• 💡 Our tip: dress modestly (shoulders and knees covered), no hats… or you may be turned away at the door

More information is available on the official Como Cathedral website.

2. Head out on a boat tour

If you do one thing in Como, get out on the water.

From the shore, it’s a nice enough city, but from the middle of the lake, with the villas up against the green hills and the mountains behind, it’s the postcard Lake Como you came for.

You’ve got two ways to do it.

A shared cruise with an aperitif is a super good option. Relax while your guide pours you a glass of Prosecco as you pass the villas.

Or take a private 4-hour boat with your own driver on a Cranchi yacht if you’d rather set your own route and stop for photos where you like.

Summary:

• 🚤 What you’ll do: cruise past the lakeside villas and mountains, shared aperitif tour, or private yacht
• 💵 Cost: shared aperitif tours from €55 pp. Private charters are around €350 pp.
• 🕘 When: For the best possible cruise, book a sunset tour!

Book the shared aperitif boat tour or a private boat with a driver.

3. Walk around Piazza Cavour

You’ll pass through Piazza Cavour whether you plan to or not; it’s the connection between the ferry dock, the station, and the old town.

We ended up back here every day. It’s a nice place to sit at a café and enjoy an espresso and watch the boats.

👉 INSIDER TIP: Try the local pesce persico (lake perch) for lunch!

4. Stroll around the lakeside promenade

This is another one of our favourite things to do in Como.

The path, officially the Passeggiata Lino Gelpi, curves from Villa Olmo toward the Passeggiata degli Innamorati with open water on one side and beautiful buildings on the other, and in the evening, once the day-trippers have gone, it’s quite beautiful.

Halfway along, you hit the Life Electric monument, a modern steel sculpture out on a pier by Daniel Libeskind, dedicated (like half of Como) to Alessandro Volta.

Summary:

• 🌅 What you’ll see: curving lakefront walk, mountain views, boats, the Life Electric sculpture
• 💵 Cost: free
• 🕘 Hours: any time; best at golden hour and after sunset
• 📍 Getting there: runs along the waterfront from Piazza Cavour toward Villa Olmo

5. Ride the Como–Brunate funicular

The 7-min ride itself is quite okay, but the main reason to take the funicular is for the view at the top.

👉 BEWARE: the queue. On summer afternoons, queues can go up to one hour, and there’s no online ticket to skip them.

Summary:

• 🚠 What you’ll do: steep funicular up to hilltop Brunate for panoramic lake views
• 💵 Cost: €3.10 one-way, €5.70 return ($3.40 / $6.30)
• 🕘 Hours: every 30 min, Sun–Fri 6:00–22:30, Sat until 24:00.
• 📍 Getting there: the lower station is a 10-minute walk northeast along the lakefront from Piazza Cavour

More information is available on the funicular ticket and schedule page.

6. Climb the Faro Voltiano (Volta Lighthouse)

The Faro Voltiano is a 29-meter-high lighthouse in Brunate.

It sits on top of Monte Tre Croci overlooking Lake Como and commemorates the centenary of the death of Alessandro Volta. Its tricolor lantern shines up to 50 km away.

Most people ride the funicular up, take their Instagram pictures at the top, and take the funicular straight back down.

If you keep walking uphill for 20 to 30 minutes, you reach the Faro Voltiano, a little octagonal lighthouse, and the 143 steps inside lead to the widest view of the whole trip, the lake splitting into its three arms with the Alps behind.

👉 BEWARE! The Volta Lighthouse has been CLOSED since April 2026 following a dispute between the municipalities of Brunate and Como. We’ll update our post when the lighthouse reopens!

Summary:

• 🔦 What you’ll see: octagonal lighthouse, 143-step climb, the widest panorama over the lake and Alps
• 💵 Cost: about €2 ($2.20), but suspended as long as the lighthouse is closed. The grounds themselves are free to enter at the moment.
• 🕘 Hours: high season (mid-Apr–Oct) most days except Wed from 10:30 to 18:30; closed in bad weather
• 📍 Getting there: 20–30 min uphill walk from the top of the Brunate funicular. The route is signposted
• 💡 Our tip: check the sky before you commit to the walk; it closes in with wind and rain

7. Explore Villa Olmo and its gardens

You don’t need a ticket or a plan for Villa Olmo.

The free lakeside gardens are actually where you want to be.

Wide lawns are running down to the water with the town framed across the lake.

Next door, the Lido di Villa Olmo is a summer swimming and water sports beach spot if you fancy a dip.

👉 BEWARE: due to ongoing restoration works, only the park is currently accessible. The reopening date has yet to be determined; we’ll update our post when the date is available.

Summary:

• 🌳 What you’ll see: neoclassical villa, free gardens, views over Lake Como
• 💵 Cost: gardens free; interior paid when open, but renovation is going on at the moment
• 🕘 Hours: park daily from 07:00, closing at 19:00 in winter and 23:00 in summer
• 📍 Getting there: 20 to 25 min lakeside walk northwest of the centre, or a short local bus

More information at the Villa Olmo Tripadvisor page.

8. Visit the Tempio Voltiano Museum

If you are wondering why Como is obsessed with Alessandro Volta. Then you should visit the Tempio Voltiano museum.

In short, Volta is the local who invented the electric battery and gave the world the word “volt“, and this lakefront museum is the best place to understand why.

👉 DID YOU KNOW: Even the main square nearby is named Piazza Alessandro Volta.

It’s a nice museum to fill up some time, but it shouldn’t be the highlight of your trip.

Summary:

• ⚡ What you’ll see: temple-shaped museum to Volta, original scientific instruments, and documents
• 💵 Cost: €6,50 for adults
• 🕘 Hours: 10:00–18:00 (last entry 17:30), closed Mondays [Medium confidence — 2026 listings]
• 📍 Getting there: on the lakefront in the park just west of Piazza Cavour, next to the Life Electric monument
• 💡 Our tip: pair it with the Life Electric sculpture and the lakeside promenade for one easy waterfront loop

9. See Porta Torre

Walk to the inland edge of the old town, and the streets open onto Porta Torre, a 40-metre medieval gate tower that has guarded this entrance to Como since 1192, built after the city’s war with Milan.

It’s the most beautiful piece of Lake Como’s medieval past, and you can still see parts of the old city walls going back to Roman times.

👉 KEEP IN MIND: You cannot enter the gate tower; you can only walk around it and take some pictures.

Summary:

• 🏰 What you’ll see: 40 m medieval gate tower (1192), remnants of Roman walls, Piazza Vittoria
• 💵 Cost: free
• 📍 Getting there: inland edge of the old town on Piazza Vittoria, five minutes from the Duomo

10. Wander through the Old Town streets

A hidden gem in Como is the streets of the Antico Quartiere Cortesella between the lake and Porta Torre.

You’re literally walking in the old town between silk-shop windows, tiny cafés, and the Basilica di San Fedele.

It’s such a nice feeling to walk in medieval-like streets. This is the part of Como that rewards slow travel, and it’s completely free.

Summary:

• 🚶 What you’ll see: cobbled lanes, silk shops, cafés, Basilica di San Fedele
• 💵 Cost: free
• 🕘 Hours: any time
• 📍 Getting there: the historic centre between the lakefront and Porta Torre

11. Explore the Silk Museum (Museo della Seta)

Como made its name in silk long before it made it in tourism, so of course you can have a look through history at how it came to be.

We have not done this ourselves, but others have told us it’s a nice activity to pass a few hours. So nothing special.

Summary:

• 🧵 What you’ll see: historic looms, dyeing machinery, silk garments, the story of Como’s silk trade
• 💵 Cost: €10 adult, €5 under-18 ($11 / $5.50)
• 📍 Getting there: near Como Borghi station, around a 15-minute walk from the historic centre

More information is available on the Silk Museum page.

12. Take a pasta and tiramisu cooking class

No trip to Italy is complete without one pasta you actually made yourself.

We have done this in Florence, Rome, and Lake Garda, but our favourite class was in Como!

There is something special about making your own pasta and tiramisu that gives you skills for years to come!

It’s also the perfect weatherproof backup if the funicular or lighthouse is closed for weather.

Summary:

• 🍝 What you’ll do: hands-on fresh pasta and tiramisu class, then eat it with Italian wine
• 💵 Cost: 89 euros
• 🕘 Duration: about 3 hours

Book the Como pasta and tiramisu class.

13. Discover Como by electric bike

Como sits in a bowl of hills, which makes it more tiring to explore on foot than it looks (it’s almost never just flat).

An e-bike tour solves that.

Summary:

• 🚲 What you’ll do: guided e-bike tour through Como and along the lake, with a guide
• 💵 Cost: varies by operator [Low confidence — check the booking page]
• 🕘 Duration: about 3 hours

Book the Como e-bike tour.

14. Rent a Vespa and cruise the lake

Few things feel more Italian than a Vespa on a lakeside road.

We did this around Lago Di Trasimeno, and doing it around Lake Como has been a bucket list item for 5 years!

This guided tour runs about three hours from Como toward Tremezzo, stopping at overlooks and photo spots.

Summary:

• 🛵 What you’ll do: guided vintage Vespa ride from Como toward Tremezzo with scenic stops
• 💵 Cost: 80 euros
• 🕘 Duration: about 3 hours
• 📍 Getting there: central meeting point (confirm on booking)
• 💡 Our tip: only book this if you’re comfortable riding a scooter; the roads get busy in summer

Book the Como Vespa tour.

15. Join a local wine tasting tour

Last but not least, when you visit Italy, you must do a wine tasting!

It’s the easiest way to taste the Lombardy region beyond the lake.

It’s such a nice change from all the villas and sightseeing.

Summary:

• 🍷 What you’ll do: guided tasting of local Lombardy wines, a relaxed evening beyond the lake
• 💵 Cost: €65 per person

Book a wine tasting tour here.

Day trips and boat tours from Como

Most people arrive in Como, visit it one day, and then take a ferry or car ride to Bellagio or Varenna for 2-3 days.

You can also take day tours from Como.

We recommend the guided boat tour across to Varenna and Bellagio, the two most photogenic central-lake towns, so you finally get the villa-and-village views Como itself doesn’t have.

Along the way, you can view the lakeside villas, like Villa del Balbianello, Villa Carlotta, and Villa Melzi, plus Varenna’s Villa Monastero, Villa Cipressi, and the clifftop Castello di Vezio.

You can visit them yourself by booking public ferries (Navigazione Laghi), which run year-round.

Just know that from Como, the trip to Bellagio takes 2.5 hours each way, far longer than the hops between the central towns, so start early or, for a longer stay, base yourself in Bellagio or Varenna instead.

Summary:

• 🚤 What you’ll do: guided boat tour to Varenna and Bellagio with wine, or DIY on the public ferries
• 💵 Cost: guided tour priced per person; public ferry tickets cheaper but no guide [Medium confidence — check current fares]
• 🕘 When: start early; Como to Bellagio by ferry is ~2.5 hours each way
• 📍 Getting there: departs from the Piazza Cavour docks
• 💡 Our tip: do the boat trip on your first full morning, not a rushed final afternoon

Book the Varenna & Bellagio boat tour with wine.

A few more things to do in Como if you’re staying longer

We have not done these activities ourselves, but they have been recommended to us by friends!

Visit the weekly Mercato di Como. Fresh produce, flowers, clothing, and souvenirs.

Stop by Chiesa di Sant’Andrea in Brunate. A small church near the funicular station at the top.

Take a seaplane flight with the Aero Club Como. The Aero Club Como on the waterfront runs seaplane flights over the lake.

Suggested one-day Como itinerary

• Morning: Duomo, Piazza Cavour, and the Old Town streets
• Late morning: Brunate funicular (before the afternoon queue) and, if open, the Faro Voltiano
• Afternoon: lakeside promenade, Tempio Voltiano and Villa Olmo gardens
• Evening: dinner in the old town or a late-afternoon boat tour

Where to stay in Como

Plinius Lifestyle Hotel (mid-range)

What’s very nice here is the breakfast, a made-to-order buffet with omelettes and proper coffee.

We were only a short walk from the Duomo and the waterfront!

Check rates and availability here.

Albergo Terminus (luxury)

The selling point of the Terminus hotel is the lakefront setting and its breakfast under Art Nouveau windows.

Check rates and availability here.

If Como feels too city-like, our Bellagio and Varenna guides cover more scenic bases on the central lake.

Best time to visit Como

September is the best time. You can expect warm water, fewer tourists than in the summer months, and all the stores are still open.

April to May and October are the other good windows.

July and August are the busiest and most expensive, and the Brunate queues are at their worst.

Getting to Como

Como is the easiest town on the lake to reach from Milan, about an hour by train, covering roughly 48 km (30 miles).

Trenord trains from Milano Centrale run to Como San Giovanni; the regional line from Milano Cadorna runs to Como Nord Lago, the Como Lago station right by the lakefront.

Flying in?

Milan Malpensa is the nearest major airport, about an hour away. Arriving from further afield? Our Venice to Lake Como guide covers that common route.

Final thoughts on visiting Como

Como won’t give you the lakeside-village charm of Bellagio or Varenna.

It’s the practical, easy-access gateway to the rest of the lake, the right call for a short stay or a Milan day trip, not for chasing the postcard version of Lake Como.

Written by Laura and Alexander, a travel couple who visited Como in 2025 and 2026 and traveled the lake by ferry.