A quick guide to Bellagio on Lake Como – a recap of our day trip!

Getting There

Getting to Bellagio isn’t the easiest thing to do.  You can drive around the lake (uhh, the roads are curvy and somewhat scary… not for the faint of heart!).  The easiest way is to take the ferry.  We stayed in the town of Como and took the ferry over.   You can get to Como from Milan via train.  Or you can get to Varenna and take the ferry over to Bellagio.  You can get to Varenna via Train from Milan as well.

Things to Do

1. Take a Stroll.  We strolled up and down the streets.  And by up, I mean UP. This town is on a hill.  The majority of the town is a pedestrian only zone because the streets came from ancient Roman times and were made this way so the rain runoff would go straight into the lake.

I’m going to let you on a secret.  There isn’t really anything “to do” in this town.  It is a small town with a few streets.  We actually toured the whole town in about 1 hour (we are speed walkers).  You just need to relax and enjoy the quaintness of this town!

2. Sit Back and Relax.  We sat by the Lake and simply enjoyed the view on a beautiful day.  It is vacation after all… who says you have to be in a hurry?

3. EAT!  Eat some good Italian food.

We dined at Ristorante La Barchetta. There is an upper terrace with a better view, or a few tables down an alley which serve the same food but at cheaper prices. We ate in the cute alley and enjoyed the food below. YUMMMMM.

The little alley we dined in. 

This wine bar below also is a popular place to eat.

4. Go on a Boat Ride.

Depending on how you got to Bellagio, you may not have been out on the lake yet.  I HIGHLY recommend going for a boat ride.  Here’s a huge money saving tip.  Just take the ferry and sit outside or by a window.  You don’t need to pay tons of money for a private boat ride.  The ferry does the same job for literally a fraction of the price.

There are a ton of tourists, as pictured below.  There are tons of shops, but honestly we weren’t there for shopping.  we were there just to enjoy the town!   While this town is beautiful, I actually enjoyed our impromptu decision to go to Varenna across the lake – and Varenna ended up being my favorite town on Lake Como!

I’d love it if you’d pin away!

Our next stop on our trip to Lake Como was Villa Carlotta.

Villa Carlotta has beautiful gardens and has a museum inside.  The Villa was completed in 1745.

We went for the botanical gardens.  Isn’t it pretty??

The inside was beautiful too!  Why yes, I’ll take this tapestry for my house, he he…

I thought this ceiling was pretty.

A view from the Villa… you can see Bellagio in the distance.

To get to Villa Carlotta, you take the ferry.  You can get off at the stop Tremezzo.  Some of the ferries will stop at Villa Carlotta, but not all of them.  You’ll want to check the time table.  We got off at Tremezzo, ate lunch and walked a short distance to the villa.  Then, on the way back we hopped on a boat at the Villa Carlotta stop.

Continuing my Swiss/Italy trip recap today, you can read about our visit to a Swiss chocolate factory and Lake Maggiore here. We were up early the next day and drove to Lake Como in Italy.  It was just over an hour drive from Lake Maggiore.

The fastest way to travel to the various villages around Lake Como is to take a boat. They have a very great ferry system which surprisingly runs on time. Just buy your ticket at the office at the dock. We just told the boat dock guy where we wanted to go and he would give us the right ticket.  We parked at the Tavernola stop, which has free parking. 

Our first stop was the Villa del Balbianello. It is located off of the Lenno stop. After deboarding, you can walk from the ferry terminal to the villa which is uphill and apparently a 20-30 min walk.  Alternatively, you can catch a small private boat shuttle for €7 round trip. It leaves at the opposite side of the bay from the ferry dock.

First, we grabbed gelato because we were starving.  What we didn’t realize was how long it takes to get around the lake by boat.  It takes about 1.5 to 2hours if you are staying over by Como and are trying to get the touristy spots.

I recommend taking the boat shuttle to the villa because it’s quite romantic to arrive to the villas private boat entrance! You also get great views of the villa.

Below, the entrance via boat!

If the villa looks familiar to you, it may be because this villa is where they shot some scenes for James Bond Casino Royale where he is recovering. Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones was also filmed here. This was Padme’s house and where Anakin and Padme got married at the end of the movie.

The Villas gardens were pretty. I loved the big tree below! It was so pretty!

I also loved all of the floral pots!

You can tour the inside but we opted not too. The only option was a guided tour and we don’t like guided tours.

Then we took the boat back and caught a ferry to the next town.