6 Best Lago di Como Cruises in Italy

No visit to Lake Como would be complete without a boat ride on its waters. And the best perspective of its beautiful villages and the surrounding mountains of the Alps is obtained by sailing on the lake itself. Aware of this, there are many tours and boat trips organized to get around and enjoy all that Lago Di Como has to offer.

If you have already seen all the attractions of Milan, a visit to the lake is one of the best excursions we can do if we are traveling in the Italian city. And to make this excursion as fruitful as possible you should complete it with a boat trip. Here I leave you all the information about what are the options of the different boat trips on Lago Di Como.

The best option

Como Lake and Bellagio Day Trip from Milan

This guided excursion from Milan will take you to the most beautiful villages around Lago di Como.

This complete tour also includes a one-hour boat ride on the lake itself from where you will have the most amazing views of your trip to Milan.

From $94 at Hellotickets

The best way to discover Lago di Como and the beautiful landscapes that surround it is by taking an organized excursion to Lago di Como and Bellagio. The tour, which lasts about 11 hours, includes transportation, which will make you forget about the logistics of getting there.

In addition, the boat ride included in the tour will allow you to travel the waters of one of the largest lakes in Italy and enjoy from there one of the most spectacular views of northern Italy, with the snowy backdrop of the Alps.

Recommended if... You want to comfortably enjoy a boat trip on Lago di Como without having to look for a way to get there and get to know the surrounding villages with an expert guide.

However, if you prefer to explore other ways, I will tell you more options below:

One of the best options to go to Lago di Como is to book one of the excursions from Milan. This way, you will get to know some of the most popular towns in the region such as Bellagio, Lecco, Lugano or Verenna. This type of tour usually includes the transfer from Milan to the city of Como, the accompaniment of an expert guide and a cruise on the lake. Are you up for it?

Another option we have to take a ride on the waters of Lake Como, in addition to booking your excursion to Lake Como is to do it with a voucher valid for a whole day. The starting point from where the boats leave is the city that gives its name to the lake, Como, a town located on the southern shore of the lake and the closest to Milan, so we can call it the "access" to the lake. From its port most of the boats and tours we are interested in depart.

At the ticket offices located at the dock of Como you can buy vouchers that will allow us to move freely to the town of Varenna located more or less in the central part of Lake Como and stopping in many of the villages that lie between these two locations.

This type of voucher allows us to travel around the lake freely choosing ourselves in which stops to get off and stop to admire its villages. In this case, it is important to know all the schedules that you can check in advance on the official website of Lake Como transport

Details of interest

• Price: 25 € per day or 72 € per week.
• Duration: It depends on the destination we choose. From Como to Varenna about 1 hour.
• Means of transport: Boat.
• Advantages of this option: It gives us total freedom to move around the lake and get off at the stops we want.
• Disadvantages of this option: We must be aware of departure times and we do not have a local guide.

Lago di Como is synonymous with luxury. Not in vain, it is home to luxurious villas, some of the best hotels in the world and the place chosen by many celebrities for their vacation periods. And, because of this, there are also luxury options to take a boat ride on its waters, in addition to of course booking an excursion to Lago Di Como at a more economical price.

There is the possibility of hiring a small private yacht with a skipper on board to cruise the lake in luxury. There is a great variety of prices depending on the boat, the extras and the duration, but generally the minimum is about 200 € per hour. The minimum includes the skipper, drinks and meals on board, plus a tour of the lake with the possibility of stopping for a swim.

It is an experience more suitable for very special occasions, but it is the best way to fully immerse yourself in the luxury that surrounds Lago Di Como.

Details of interest

• Price: from about 200 €.
• Duration: hired by the hour.
• Means of transport: small private yacht.
• Advantages of this option: it is a truly luxurious experience.
• Disadvantages of this option: price.

Not all the experiences you can book to get to know Lago di Como are focused on tourism or luxury. There are also experiences for leisure and fun on the water and in Lago di Como you can hire sailing boats ideal for this purpose.

This type of boat has two skippers in charge of navigating the lake and take you to the best areas to enjoy a swim and a day of relaxation and fun outside the more touristy tours.

The price usually starts at 125 € per person, approximately, for half a day. But there are also possibilities to hire the boat for a whole day. In addition to the skippers, these trips include drinks and lunches on board, although limited. If you choose this option, don't forget your swimsuit, sunglasses and above all your desire to enjoy yourself.

Interesting details

• Price: from 125 € approximately.
• Duration: there are half-day or full-day options.
• Means of transport: sailing boat.
• Advantages of this option: it is the best from a recreational point of view.
• Disadvantages of this option: it is somewhat expensive and not recommended if you want to see interesting villages and places on Lake Como.

For those who are looking for the most economical option possible and have less time available, you can opt to book an excursion to Lago di Como. From the city of Como there are tours of only one hour that go around a part of the lake.

It stops in less crowded villages such as Tavernola, Cernobbio, Moltrasio, Torno and Urio. Although less known than others such as Bellagio or Varenna, these villages are equally beautiful and with the advantage of being less crowded.

With this tour you have the possibility of getting off at any of these stops, although if you stay on board you will cover the entire distance covered by these towns in just one hour. Enough time to see much of Lake Como. The great advantage of these tours is that the prices are much cheaper than the other options. They start from about 9 € per person.

Details of interest

• Price: from 9 €.
• Duration: 1 hour.
• Means of transport: boat.
• Advantages of this option: the most economical option and the fastest if we have little time.
• Disadvantages of this option: no stops in the most important towns.

To book a boat tour on Lake Como there are two options. Either you book in advance via online or you get your tickets at the ticket booths at the docks from where you take the boats.

For guided tours and private boats the best option, and the only option in most cases, is to do it online. To take a normal boat with stops in the different villages you can perfectly well get your ticket at the ticket office.

But especially in summer, when it is high season and the demand is very high, it is advisable to book the tour with cruise on Lake Di Como in advance online to avoid queues and waiting.

To make the most of a boat tour on Lake Como it is advisable to keep a number of points in mind:

• If you visit the lake in summer keep in mind that it is a very touristy area and the influx of people is very high. Keep this in mind when booking your excursion to Lago Di Como from Milan, getting your tickets or hiring a hotel if you are staying in the area.
• Temperatures in summer are very high so sunscreen, sunglasses and swimsuit is almost mandatory.
• Since there are dozens of villages worth visiting in the area, it is advisable to decide what to see in Lago di Como in advance and make a tour to find the tour that best suits your tastes.

If you have already seen all the attractions of Milan, I recommend you to book your excursion to Lago Di Como from Milan. The villages in this area are popularly known as the most beautiful in all of Italy.

The list is very extensive so you need many days to see them all. As we do not always have that time, I am going to make things easier for you by leaving you this link with a list of the 10 most beautiful of the entire lake.

As a summary, if you have to prioritize some of them I recommend you to visit mainly Bellagio and Varenna. They are two of the most beautiful and also the most accessible. Out of the best known, Nesso is a real hidden gem and one of the most picturesque. Whichever one you choose, you are sure to be disappointed.