Weekly note
Lake Como
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Photo by Ray in Manila, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Best time to visit Lake Como

Italy · Europe

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Lake Como

Tap a month for its page

  1. Lake Como in January: ok
  2. Lake Como in February: ok
  3. Lake Como in March: ok
  4. Lake Como in April: sweet spot
  5. Lake Como in May: good
  6. Lake Como in June: sweet spot, busy
  7. Lake Como in July: sweet spot, busy
  8. Lake Como in August: sweet spot, busy
  9. Lake Como in September: ok, busy
  10. Lake Como in October: good
  11. Lake Como in November: ok
  12. Lake Como in December: ok
  • Sweet spot
  • Good
  • OK
  • Avoid
  • Busy
Go in Apr, Jun, Jul or Aug — these months score within a whisker of each other; 28C max, 8 rainy days. Oct is the next best.

Things to do in Lake Como

  • Villa Balbianello Villa in Lenno, Italy
  • Madonna del Ghisallo Church building in Magreglio, Italy
  • Como Cathedral Master cathedral in Como
  • Casa del Fascio Rationalist building located in Como…
  • Villa Carlotta Building in Tremezzina, Italy
  • Villa La Gaeta Villa on Como lake
  • Monza Cathedral Cathedral church of Monza, Italy

Tours and tickets in Lake Como

Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank

Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.

Month by month

No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.

MonthMax °CRain days HumiditySun h/day VerdictWhy
Jan 10° 6d 73% 6.7h ok 10C max, 6 rainy days
Feb 12° 6d 73% 7.1h ok 12C max, 6 rainy days
Mar 14° 9d 69% 8.2h ok 14C max, 9 rainy days
Apr 18° 10d 68% 9.8h sweet spot 18C max, 10 rainy days
May 21° 15d 73% 10.4h good 21C max, 15 rainy days
Jun 26° 11d 72% 12.7h sweet spot busy busier than usual
Jul 28° 8d 70% 13.2h sweet spot busy busier than usual
Aug 28° 8d 71% 11.6h sweet spot busy busier than usual
Sep 23° 10d 75% 9.7h okbusy busier than usual
Oct 19° 10d 79% 7.3h good 19C max, 10 rainy days
Nov 13° 11d 79% 6.0h ok 13C max, 11 rainy days
Dec 10° 7d 78% 5.8h ok 10C max, 7 rainy days

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

Weather read at Bellagio: ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

How busy it gets

Busiest from June to September; quietest from November to March.

Then and now

Lake Como's February days now average 11.8°C, 4.1°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 11 of 12 months are clearly warmer.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
1981–907.1°7.6°11.2°14.7°19.1°23.0°26.4°25.3°22.5°17.7°11.4°8.1°
2017–269.6°11.8°14.0°17.6°20.7°26.2°28.2°28.0°23.2°19.2°13.5°10.5°
Change+2.5°+4.1°+2.8°+2.9°+1.6°+3.3°+1.8°+2.7°+0.7°+1.4°+2.1°+2.4°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Getting there

Fly into Ferno (VA) (MXP), then drive. The flights under Where to book are to Ferno (VA).

The drive from each airport is the road's, from openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT: typical, not a schedule.

How far Lake Como is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Before you go

Type C and F and L plugs at 230 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the Euro. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Everything for Italy: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Being there

On arrival

  • Paying — By law, shops, cafés and bars must take a card payment of any amount, and refusing one is fined. Carry a little cash for tips.
  • UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
  • Tipping — Not customary; restaurants outside Rome often add a cover charge (coperto). Leaving the change in cafés and taxis is common.

Getting around Lake Como

From Malpensa, Flibco buses run to Como, and ASF bus C130 runs on from Como to Bellagio: tap a contactless bank card or phone on the green validator on board for a flat €4.40 a trip. Navigazione Laghi boats and car ferries link Bellagio with Varenna, Menaggio and Cadenabbia (€5.50 a ride) and with Como. Buy at the ticket office by the pier, as a ticket bought on board costs €1 more where an office is open; tickets are good only on the day of issue.

  • Apps — Rides: FreeNow, itTaxi, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: WhatsApp. In Rome these apps book licensed taxis; Uber also offers the dearer Uber Black.

Frequent buses run up the Western Shore from Como to Menaggio. A few then continue on to Colico. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Lake Como, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Help

  • Emergency — police 112 · ambulance 118 · fire 115.
    TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (105)

Lake Como in pictures

What Lake Como is like

Lake Como (Lago di Como; also called: Lario) is in the provinces of Como and Lecco in Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is part of the Italian Lake District. It has been popular with visitors since the early 20th century for its combination of fresh air, water, mountains and good weather. More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing
Villa Carlotta in Tremezzo offers great views of the lake from its large impressive gardens which are famous for the wide varieties of plants. The villa is also a museum containing a number of sculptures and artworks. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing
Take a boat trip. The most popular tourist towns seem to be Bellagio, Menaggio, and Varenna. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in
The main access to the lake is from Milan and Bergamo. It is also possible to cross the border from Lugano (Switzerland), and arriving at the lake at Menaggio. More on Wikivoyage
Staying safe
Beware of wild boars in the forests surrounding the lake. Expect motorcyclists to overtake in a seemingly suicidal manner. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Lake Como, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Around Lake Como

Also in Italy

Nearby

Kind of place

Lake Como is in Italy, Europe. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

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