The Quieter Side of Lake Como

Lake Como's fame concentrates on a tiny triangle: Bellagio, Varenna and the villa towns of the center lake. Beautiful, yes, and in high summer, heaving. But Como is a big lake shaped like an upside-down Y, and most of its shoreline remains startlingly quiet. Here is where to find the version the postcards forget.

Key facts

• Region: Lombardy, northern Italy, about an hour from Milan by train
• Best months: May, June, September and October; midweek beats weekends everywhere
• Getting around: lake ferries connect the main towns; buses and boats reach the small ones
• Budget: famously expensive at the center; noticeably gentler on the quieter shores

Nesso and its gorge

On the winding eastern shore of the Como branch, the stone village of Nesso tumbles down a ravine where a waterfall, the Orrido di Nesso, crashes beneath an ancient humpbacked bridge. Most visitors see it for thirty seconds from a boat; walk down the stepped lanes instead and have the bridge nearly to yourself.

Torno and Careno

A few bends closer to Como city, Torno gathers around a miniature harbor piazza that feels like Bellagio forty years ago: a church, a couple of cafes, green water slapping the quay. Further north, the hamlet of Careno is barely more than a cluster of stone houses stacked between mountainside and lake, reachable by boat or a footpath. Neither asks anything of you except lunch and stillness.

Walk the Greenway del Lago

On the western shore, the Greenway is a signposted walking route of roughly ten kilometers linking villages around Lenno and Tremezzo through olive groves, lakeside lanes and villa gardens. Do a section of it in the morning and you will meet more cats than tour groups, then reward yourself near Villa del Balbianello, the lake's most cinematic promontory.

The Abbey of Piona

Near the lake's quiet northeastern tip, the Abbazia di Piona sits on a small peninsula of cypress and silence. The Romanesque cloister is the draw; the resident monks traditionally sell herbal liqueurs made on site. It may be the calmest place on the entire lake.

The high villages

Above the shoreline, villages like Pigra, reached by a cable car that typically runs from Argegno, look down on the lake from cooler air. The view flattens the famous towns into toy models and explains the lake's geography better than any map.

When the famous towns are worth it

Even the celebrated center lake plays quiet if you time it: Varenna at eight in the morning, before the day-trippers' ferries, or Bellagio on a late September evening after they leave, are different places entirely.

Tip: Base yourself in a smaller town such as Torno, Lenno or Menaggio rather than Bellagio itself, buy a day pass for the ferries, and treat the famous stops as visits rather than home base. You will see more and spend less.