Grand villas and their gardens, ferries between pastel villages, island palaces on Lake Maggiore and lemon terraces on Lake Garda: our advisor’s guide to northern Italy’s lake country.
Photo: Nirmal Rajendharkumar / Unsplash
At the foot of the Alps, glaciers carved a string of long, deep lakes that have drawn visitors since Roman times. Pliny the Younger, born in Como, kept villas on the shore; Milanese nobles, Napoleonic officials and nineteenth-century industrialists followed, building the villas and gardens that make the region so beautiful today. Mountains drop straight into the water, palms and camellias flourish in the mild microclimate, and moving around by boat is part of the pleasure rather than a chore.
Our main Italy guide mentions the lakes only briefly, as a side trip from Milan. They deserve far more. Lake Como is the most famous, but Lake Maggiore has the Borromean Islands and their palace gardens, little Lake Orta is a romantic secret, and Lake Garda, the largest, has castles, lemon houses and some of the best sailing and cycling in Italy. This guide helps you choose which lakes to combine and where to base yourself on each.
Our take: Late April through June and September are ideal. Plan villa visits between late March and early November, when most gardens are open.
The best way to experience Lake Como is from the water. The public ferry service links the lakeside towns, and the short crossings between Bellagio, Varenna and Menaggio in the central lake run frequently in season, so you can visit three villages in a day without a car. For more freedom, a private boat with a driver lets you hop between villas, stop for lunch and see the shore at your own pace.
Como and Maggiore are about an hour and a half apart by road, with Orta just beyond Maggiore, and Garda lies about two hours east of Como toward Verona. A classic combination is three or four nights on Lake Como, followed by two on Lake Maggiore with a day at Orta. Garda pairs naturally with Verona, the Valpolicella wine country and Venice.
Regional trains run from Milan to Como, Varenna and Stresa in about an hour, and Desenzano and Peschiera on Lake Garda are stops on the high-speed line between Milan and Verona. That makes the lakes easy to reach without driving and easy to combine with Milan, Verona or Venice.
Getting there: Nonstop flights connect several US cities with Milan Malpensa, and many travelers connect through other European hubs. Lake Como is about an hour from Malpensa by car. U.S. citizens can visit Italy visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, and the State Department advises that your passport be valid for at least three months beyond your planned departure from the Schengen area. The EU’s Entry/Exit System registers fingerprints and a photo at your first Schengen border crossing, so allow extra time at passport control. ETIAS, the EU’s planned travel authorization, is not yet in operation, and no application is needed today. Switzerland, just across the border from Como and Maggiore, is also in the Schengen area, so day trips there are simple.
Travel advisory: As of October 2026, the U.S. State Department rates Italy at Level 2, “Exercise Increased Caution,” due to terrorism (reissued September 10, 2026). No part of Italy is rated higher, and the lakes are among the country’s most relaxed regions to visit, but the advisory recommends staying alert in tourist areas and on trains, where pickpocketing is the most common problem. Please read the full advisory on travel.state.gov and enroll in STEP before you go.
The lakes have some of Italy’s most storied grand hotels, many in former villas with private gardens, lakeside pools and their own boat docks.
Private villas on Lake Como and Lake Maggiore, often with staff, terraces and boathouses, are ideal for multigenerational trips and celebrations.
Small hotels in Varenna, Bellagio, Orta San Giulio and Sirmione put you in the heart of the village, steps from the ferry landing and the evening stroll.
Wine estates in the hills around Lake Garda and in nearby Valpolicella offer relaxed rooms among the vines.
Advisor tip: As Fora advisors, we can often add amenities at select hotels, such as daily breakfast, a property credit or an upgrade when available.
Lake Como is shaped like an upside-down Y, and Bellagio sits on the point where its two southern branches meet, with views up all three arms of the lake. It is one of the deepest lakes in Europe, plunging more than four hundred meters in places, and the steep mountains on every side give it its dramatic, fjord-like feel. The village is a tangle of stepped lanes, called salite, climbing from the waterfront arcades past silk shops, cafes and flower-filled balconies to the church of San Giacomo, which dates to the twelfth century.
Just south of the village, the gardens of Villa Melzi, built in the early nineteenth century for a vice-president of Napoleon’s Italian Republic, run along the shore with lawns, a Japanese-style pond and ancient trees. Walk out to Punta Spartivento, the tip of the promontory, for the best view of where the lake divides. Bellagio is busiest in the middle of the day, when ferries bring visitors from around the lake, so staying overnight lets you enjoy it in the quiet of morning and evening. Standout experience: A sunset aperitivo on a private boat at the point, watching the light fade on the mountains of all three branches.
Photo: Julia Solonina / Unsplash
Across the water from Bellagio, Varenna is a fishing village of painted houses stacked above a tiny harbor, and many travelers find it the most charming town on the lake. A walkway hangs above the water along the shore, linking the harbor with the ferry landing, and narrow stairways climb between houses to the main square and its churches. Above the village, the medieval tower of Vezio Castle looks out over the central lake, a short, steep walk from town.
The gardens of Villa Monastero, a former convent turned into a grand villa, stretch along the lakeshore with citrus trees, agaves and statues facing the water. Just north of the village, the Fiumelatte, whose name means river of milk, tumbles white down the hillside for only a few hundred meters, and it flows only in the warmer months. Varenna also has a train station on the line from Milan, making it the easiest Lake Como village to reach without a car. Standout experience: Breakfast on a lakeside terrace, then the first ferry across to Bellagio before the crowds arrive.
Photo: Julia Solonina / Unsplash
On a wooded point near Lenno, Villa del Balbianello is the most photographed villa on Lake Como. It was built in the late eighteenth century for a cardinal on the site of an old Franciscan monastery, and its terraced gardens of clipped plane trees and climbing fig wrap around a loggia with views up and down the lake. Its last private owner, the explorer Guido Monzino, led expeditions to the Arctic and Everest, and the rooms display maps and objects from his travels. He left the villa to Italy’s national heritage trust, the FAI, which opens it to visitors. Film fans may recognize it from Star Wars: Episode II and Casino Royale.
The stretch of western shore between Lenno and Cadenabbia, known as the Tremezzina, is prized for its mild, sheltered climate and is lined with gardens and villas. In Tremezzo, Villa Carlotta is famous for its spring display of azaleas and rhododendrons and for a collection of neoclassical sculpture that includes a celebrated copy of Canova’s Cupid and Psyche. Offshore, Isola Comacina is Lake Como’s only island, with ruins of medieval churches. A lakeside walking path, the Greenway, links the villages for those who prefer to explore on foot. Standout experience: Arriving at Balbianello by private boat, as guests of the cardinal once did.
Photo: Stefano Bucciarelli / Unsplash
Lake Maggiore, the second-largest lake in Italy, stretches north across the border into Switzerland. Its most famous sights are the Borromean Islands off Stresa, held by the aristocratic Borromeo family for centuries. On Isola Bella, pictured here, Count Carlo III Borromeo began transforming a rocky islet in the seventeenth century, naming it for his wife, Isabella. The result is a Baroque palace with grand reception halls and grottoes lined with pebbles and shells, and a garden that rises in ten terraces like a ship’s stern, topped with statues and roamed by white peacocks.
A short boat ride away, Isola Madre is quieter and greener, a botanical garden of rare plants and flowering shrubs, while the tiny Isola dei Pescatori is still a working fishing village with narrow lanes and lakeside restaurants. On the western shore, the gardens of Villa Taranto in Verbania were created in the twentieth century by a Scottish captain and are known for their spring tulips and summer water lilies. Across the lake, the hermitage of Santa Caterina del Sasso clings to a cliff above the water. Stresa itself, a Belle Epoque resort, appears in Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. Standout experience: A private boat day linking all three Borromean Islands, with lunch on Isola dei Pescatori.
Photo: Yoanna Yordanova / Unsplash
West of Maggiore, Lake Orta is small, quiet and enchanting, and it is one of the few lakes in the region whose waters drain north rather than south toward the plains. Its jewel is Orta San Giulio, a village of frescoed houses and cobbled lanes around a lakeside piazza. Boats leave from the square for the island of San Giulio, pictured here, a few minutes offshore. According to legend, Saint Julius rid the island of serpents in the fourth century and founded the first church, and the basilica, with its carved marble pulpit, is still the heart of the island.
A single lane circles the island past the walls of a Benedictine convent, with signs encouraging visitors to walk in silence and reflection. Above Orta San Giulio, the Sacro Monte is a wooded hillside of twenty chapels illustrating the life of Saint Francis with frescoes and life-size terracotta figures, part of a group of sacred mountains in Piedmont and Lombardy listed by UNESCO. Orta works beautifully as a day trip from Stresa or a peaceful overnight at the end of a lakes itinerary. Standout experience: An early-evening boat to San Giulio, when the day visitors have gone and the island falls silent.
Photo: VINCENZO INZONE / Unsplash
Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy, shared by Lombardy, the Veneto and Trentino, and its southern shore is wide and gentle, with vineyards and olive groves running down to the water. Sirmione sits at the end of a narrow peninsula reaching far into the lake. You enter the old town across a drawbridge into the Scaliger Castle, built by the della Scala lords of Verona in the thirteenth century, and one of the few castles in Italy with its own fortified harbor. Climb the keep for views along the peninsula.
At the tip of the peninsula, the Grottoes of Catullus are the ruins of a vast Roman villa, among the largest in northern Italy, set among olive trees above the clear, shallow water. The poet Catullus wrote fondly of his home on Sirmione, though the villa’s ownership is uncertain. The town is very busy on summer afternoons, so arrive early or stay the night. Around the southern shore, vineyards produce Lugana, a crisp white wine from the Turbiana grape, and Verona is less than an hour away. Standout experience: A boat tour around the peninsula at sunset, when the castle walls glow.
Photo: Patrick Pahlke / Unsplash
Garda’s northern end is narrow and fjord-like, with cliffs rising straight from the water. Limone sul Garda is named, or so the story goes, for the lemon houses that once covered its terraces. These limonaie, tall stone pillars that were roofed and glazed in winter, allowed citrus to grow far north of its usual range, and one historic lemon house has been restored as a museum. A cycle path cantilevered from the cliffs runs along the shore near the village, one of the most spectacular bike rides in Italy.
At the northern tip, Riva del Garda and Torbole are a center for windsurfing and sailing, thanks to reliable winds: the Pelèr blows from the north in the morning, and the Ora from the south in the afternoon. On the eastern shore, a cable car with rotating cabins climbs from Malcesine to the ridge of Monte Baldo for views over the whole lake. On the western shore, at Gardone Riviera, the poet Gabriele D’Annunzio’s eccentric estate, the Vittoriale, even includes the bow of a warship set into the hillside. Standout experience: Riding the Monte Baldo cable car in the morning, then lunch in Malcesine’s harbor.
Photo: Marco Ghirello / Unsplash
Lake cooking is built on freshwater fish and mountain ingredients. On Lake Como, look for risotto topped with butter-fried perch fillets and missoltini, sun-dried shad grilled and served with polenta. From the nearby Valtellina come pizzoccheri, buckwheat pasta baked with cabbage, potatoes and cheese, and alpine-style Nebbiolo reds. Lake Garda produces delicate olive oil and the light red Bardolino from its eastern shore. Evenings start with an aperitivo on the waterfront, and the passeggiata along the lakeside promenade is a ritual in every town.
As of October 2026, the U.S. State Department advisory for Italy is Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution, due to terrorism (reissued September 10, 2026). No region of Italy is rated higher. Pickpocketing in crowded tourist areas and on trains is the most common problem. Read the latest advisory on travel.state.gov and enroll in STEP before you travel.
Lake Como, based in the central lake around Bellagio, Varenna or Tremezzo.
Three to four nights lets you visit the main villas and villages without rushing.
Yes, Como and Varenna are about an hour by train, but staying at least two nights is far more rewarding.
Not for Lake Como or Lake Maggiore, where boats and trains work well. A car or driver is useful for combining several lakes or touring Garda’s wine country.
April and May, when the azaleas, rhododendrons and camellias bloom.
The right lake for your style, a lakeside room with the view you came for and the private boats and villa visits that make it special are what make an Italian lakes trip great. As independent affiliates of Fora Travel with IATAN accreditation, the Novera Travel team will match you with the right itinerary and hotels and look for added amenities at select properties, then handle every detail, from boat days to wine tastings.
Novera Travel will be happy to arrange your international flights when you’re traveling first class.
Call +1 33 22 NOVERA – +1 (332) 266-8372 or email info@noveratravel.com
