One of the quiet perks of being based in Switzerland is how close everything else in Europe suddenly feels. Lake Como was one of those trips that came together almost on a whim, close enough to grab for a weekend without it turning into a whole production. My friends and I rented a villa in Tremezzo, right near Menaggio, and the view from up there was good enough to make me want to cancel every other plan I had for the rest of the year.
Day oneThe villa and the pool
We arrived, dropped our bags, and that was more or less it for ambition. The first day was just relaxing at the house and by the pool, and I want to be clear that this was entirely the right call. There is a version of this trip where we try to cram in every villa, every viewpoint and every town on the first afternoon, and I am glad we did not take it.
Tremezzo sits on the lake with the mountains rising straight up behind it, and from the pool you get all of it at once: water, peaks, the light doing something slightly different every hour. We swam, we ate lunch outside, we did not check our phones for anything that mattered. It sounds like nothing to write about, and maybe it is, but it was the part of the trip I keep coming back to.
"The first day was just the house and the pool. It was the right call."
That first eveningThe pizza lesson
That first evening we decided to head out for dinner, and made the classic mistake of assuming a table would just be there for us. It was not. We ended up walking into the first place that would take us, and it gave us, without exaggeration, the worst pizza of the whole trip.
I am not going to pretend I remember the name of the restaurant, and honestly it does not matter. What matters is the lesson underneath it: this part of Italy runs on reservations, especially anywhere near the lake in the warmer months. Walk in without one and you take whatever is left, which is sometimes fine and sometimes a very average pizza eaten in a slight state of denial.
Como needs bookings. Reserve dinner before you leave the villa, not after, especially anywhere near the lake in the warmer months.
Day twoThe ferry to Bellagio
Day two we headed down to Menaggio and took the boat across to Bellagio. I would do the ferry again on its own merits, never mind the destination. Gliding across the lake with the villages and the hillsides sliding past on both sides is one of those rides that makes you understand why people fall in love with this part of Italy in the first place.
Crossing the lake by ferry, and the pastel harbourfront of Bellagio coming into view.
Bellagio itself is a harder thing to sum up honestly. It is beautiful, no question, all pastel harbourfronts and steep little stepped streets lined with geraniums. But it is also busy, and by the time we were climbing those narrow staircases shoulder to shoulder with everyone else who had the same idea, some of the charm had worn thin.
Bellagio's stepped streets: beautiful, and never empty.
I would still say go, once. Just do not expect it to be the quiet, private version of Lake Como you saw in the photos before you booked the trip. That version was back at the villa.
"Bellagio is stunning, no question, but the crowds took some of the charm off. Worth seeing once, not the highlight."
Before you goWhat I'd tell a future traveller
If you are planning your own weekend on Como, keep it simple. Pick one villa to actually visit rather than trying to see them all, either Villa del Balbianello or Villa Carlotta, both are well known for good reason and one is plenty for a short trip. Use the ferry between towns instead of driving, it is faster, calmer and honestly more scenic than sitting in lakeside traffic. Book your restaurants before you leave the villa, not after you have already worked up an appetite. And leave real gaps in the plan. The temptation on a lake this photogenic is to fill every hour with a new view, but the hours with nothing scheduled were the ones that stayed with me.
Pick one villa: Villa del Balbianello or Villa Carlotta. Take the ferry between towns. Book dinner early. Leave room to breathe.
SignoffThe real highlight
If I am honest, the real highlight of the trip was not Bellagio or any single sight. It was villa life. Slow mornings with the mountains right there out the window, a pool to fall into whenever the heat got to be too much, and time with friends with nowhere in particular to be. That is the magic of a weekend like this, and it is the part I would go back for.
