Lake Como Favorites 2022

Before things start up for Domenico and me this fall, we decided to extend summer by just one more week. Domenico, who is an architect, restored a villa on Lake Como about 6 years ago. Since then, the owners have very graciously offered us the use the villa any time, but somehow the years sped past and it wasn’t until last week that we made it. We finally found the time and luckily my sister and her husband were able to join us too. We had an amazing week.

The villa is located just outside of Cernobbio and before you ask: no, it’s not for rent. Sorry. So although I can’t share a place to stay with you, I can share all of the fabulous places we ate, as well as things we visited and did.

A few things to keep in mind if you do go to Lake Como: it’s not cheap. Both hotels and most restaurants are extremely pricey, especially in high season. And if you are thinking of going in high season? Book way ahead of time.

If you’d like to see more of what we did, make sure you are following me on Instagram where I’ve saved much of this on my highlights and many reels, and also on TikTok. I also wrote this post in 2016 when I was last there.

Restaurants

Cernobbio

Trattoria Il Vapore – Very cute simple trattoria where locals go. There are tables in the back outside, but the inside is cute and cozy. We had an amazing tomato topped fried veal chop.

Osteria del Beuc – Another local favorite in Cernobbio, a bit more sophisticated than Vapore. It’s very cute and also has outside tables.

Villa D’Este: This historic hotel has several restaurants, all rather formal. We would have gladly gone to any of them, but they were all completely booked for the entire week we were there. I have a feeling there was a big wedding going on (this happens).

Ristorante Trattoria del Glicine – a local friend recommended this lovely restaurant high up the hill above Cernobbio and it was the perfect last meal of our trip. This incredibly romantic restaurant is surrounded by a wisteria bedecked terrace. We had one of the best meals of the trip here.

Around the Lake

Crotto dei Platani – I first visited this lovely restaurant in 2016. At the time it was a simple trattoria. They have completely redone it and it is now extremely upscale. But the food remains excellent and the views – perched over the lake – can’t be beat. We arrived by boat, which I’d recommend, since they only have about 4 parking spots. The restaurant has it’s own dock.

T-Bar – The Grand Hotel Tremezzo is one of the great hotels of Lake Como. While you might not be able to stay there, you can certainly enjoy lunch. There are three restaurants. Giacomo is by the pool, right on the lake and is probably the most casual of the bunch (but it’s the same Giacomo as in Milan, so not that casual). La Terazzo is Gualtieri Marchesi’s restaurant and has a fabulous dining room and terrace, and I believe a michelin star. We opted for T-Bar which was in between the two and had a fantastic lunch before we visited Villa Carlotta which is next doo.

Bellagio
La Golletta – Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni
Bellagio can be hard to navigate since it gets a lot of tourists, but the pool side La Golletta at the Grand Hotel Serbelloni is a little oasis. Great food and a very beautiful setting. We went here after visiting the gardens at Villa Serbelloni

Bellavista Brunate – This very old fashioned restuarant is part of the hotel Bellavista in Brunate. It’s located on the top of the hill above Como where the funicular goes. Amazing views! It’s a great place to have lunch, then take a walk or longer hike.

Crotto di Lierna
After running as fast as we could away from Varenna, which was completely jammed with tourists, we found refuge in this perfect family run restaurant. It’s about a 10 minute drive south of Varenna and we had a marvelous meal.

Menaggio
Bar Centale – Hotel du Lac
If you find yourself in Menaggio the Bar Centrale which is part of the historic Hotel du Lac, is a lovely place to just hang out. We had late morning cappuccino and ‘toast’ which is bascially a grilled cheese sandwich.

Villas & Gardens

One of the great things to do on Lake Como is visit villas and gardens. We visited:

Parco di Villa Serbelloni, Bellagio – Not to be confused with the hotel Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, this Villa Serbelloni is now owned by the Rockefeller foundation. They open the garden to 60 visitors per day (you can book here) and we had a lovely 2 hour guided tour. The villa itself is not open to visitors, but the garden is magnificent and the views stupendous.

Villa Carlotta – One of the most important gardens on Lake Como, it’s easy to visit and you can combine it with lunch at Grand Hotel Tremezzo.

Villa Balbianello – This is by far the most famous and beautiful garden on Lake Como. Located on a spit of land just south of Lenno, it’s not so easy to get to. You have to reserve tickets ahead of time here. If you arrive by boat, you have to either park and walk (it’s about a 20 minute walk) or take a water taxi from Lenno. Or else arrive by private boat, which is easiest (but costly). But it is worth the effort, as this fairy tale like place is just magical.

Getting around

We took the train from Rome and rented a car in Como. Although a lot of people don’t like to drive around the lake we enjoyed it. Yes, it’s narrow and if you’re not used to it I guess it can be a bit scary, but the speeds are slow and you really get a sense of the lake.

Boat: We did take a private boat out for a morning and LOVED it. We used Taxi Como Lake and our captain Andrea was an amazing guide. I would have gladly booked another day of boating, but he – and all the boats on the lake – were completely booked up. So if you’d like to do this, book ahead. A perfect thing to do is have a late morning drive around the lake looking at villas, then stop for lunch at a place like Crotto dei Platani or La Tirlindana.

You can also take the ferry to the different towns, but we found it a bit awkward to use, since they don’t run that often and are quite slow. But it’s certainly possible.