Lake Como in August

Anon751117000 · 2025-06-03T12:54:36+00:00

I'm flying to Milan early August and having 4 nights in Como then down to Monterosso for 3 nights (single mum with 2 kids). I'm really stressed about this. I knew it was a mega busy time to go but don't have many options with school holidays. I keep reading threads on the Lake Como facebook group about horrific the queues will be for everything - trains, ferry's etc and I'm starting to regret this. To make matters worse, some of the train lines are under maintenance over the summer so getting from Milan to Varenna means a train then a bus replacement. Has anyone been to Como right at peak times and is it really bad? Any tips on getting from Milan to Varenna would be appreciated too. A taxi would cost too much money. I was thinking of train to Lecco (that's where maintenance starts) and getting a taxi from there rather than the replacement bus. Any other general tips would be very welcome so I am prepared.

LIZS · 03/06/2025 17:26

We did Como early August one year and it was not as busy as the other lakes or cities. Monterosso on the other hand will be heaving.

BrunchBarBandit · 03/06/2025 17:35

We did Como last August - Varenna in fact. It’s a beautiful town. I would say that it was sometimes difficult to get a table for lunch due to all the people, but it was much quieter in the evenings after the ‘day trippers’ left. There’s several swimming places and we enjoyed a couple of longer boat trips. There’s a walk up to a waterfall and a castle that were good days out for our 2 teens.

We arrived by train from Milan and it was straightforward.

Original poster

Anon751117000 · 03/06/2025 19:12

@LIZS oh that's good to know. We are only in Monterosso for 3 nights and have a boat trip booked so hopefully we can cope with that!

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Toomuchleopard · 03/06/2025 19:22

I went to Lake Garda last August and it wasn’t that bad. We also went on to Venice for bank holiday weekend and was expecting it be heaving but it wasn’t

Bandycoot12 · 03/06/2025 19:24

Just checked and it’s only 25 mins on the bus so hopefully not too stressful. We are going in early July. Will report back!

Original poster

Anon751117000 · 03/06/2025 20:30

@Bandycoot12 yes i saw that but was hearing horror stories of the number of people that would be cramming on the buses! I hope its ok for you and please do report back!

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Bandycoot12 · 12/07/2025 06:40

So we had 3 lovely days in Varenna this week. It was busy but never too busy. Bellagio was heaving and we found that a bit too much. The ferries are very efficient and there was always plenty of room. As someone else has already said, the day trippers make a big impact between 11 and 5 and outside that time, it was quite calm. There are smaller quieter places that are worth visiting on the lake that don’t get so many day trippers. We loved Lenno, home of the Star Wars villa if your kids are into that but check it’s open as it shuts 2 days pw. Maggiore was a nice spot too as it seems big enough to cope with the volume of people.

Getting to and from Varenna by train does mean a bus from Lecco. When we did it was a bit of a scramble to get on the bus, with nobody checking tickets or standing in line, but there did seem to be enough buses to take all the passengers. If your budget will stretch to it, you may want to look at the express bus direct from Milano Centrale to Varenna. We took this on the way back. It goes twice a day, costs 29 euros pp and avoids all the chaos. www.varennaexpress.it

Hope you enjoy your trip. We certainly did. Lake Como is very beautiful.

Original poster

Anon751117000 · 12/07/2025 12:20

Bandycoot12 · 12/07/2025 06:40

So we had 3 lovely days in Varenna this week. It was busy but never too busy. Bellagio was heaving and we found that a bit too much. The ferries are very efficient and there was always plenty of room. As someone else has already said, the day trippers make a big impact between 11 and 5 and outside that time, it was quite calm. There are smaller quieter places that are worth visiting on the lake that don’t get so many day trippers. We loved Lenno, home of the Star Wars villa if your kids are into that but check it’s open as it shuts 2 days pw. Maggiore was a nice spot too as it seems big enough to cope with the volume of people.

Getting to and from Varenna by train does mean a bus from Lecco. When we did it was a bit of a scramble to get on the bus, with nobody checking tickets or standing in line, but there did seem to be enough buses to take all the passengers. If your budget will stretch to it, you may want to look at the express bus direct from Milano Centrale to Varenna. We took this on the way back. It goes twice a day, costs 29 euros pp and avoids all the chaos. www.varennaexpress.it

Hope you enjoy your trip. We certainly did. Lake Como is very beautiful.

Thanks so much!! I heard about rh express bus but the website looked a bit dodgy. No contact details. I also heard they only allow hand luggage. Do you know if that’s true?

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Bandycoot12 · 12/07/2025 14:12

No it’s fine. You can take all your usual luggage and put it in the hold below. We had two large suitcases and that was okay.

MrsFeljne · 12/07/2025 14:18

We’ve just got back from Verona/Garda/Como.

Hardly anywhere on the lakes had air con, make sure you take some mini fans. It was 36ish at Lake Garda but AccuWeather kept saying feels like 39/41. You might be ok for air con in Milan but not on the lakes as there are a lot of listed buildings. We actually had to leave a few restaurants after being seated as we were too hot and felt faint with it.

Id also recommend pre-booking places for dinner, we did a lot of walking round restaurants and finding them fully booked.

It didn’t seem too busy in the daytimes but evenings felt really busy.

Original poster

Anon751117000 · 12/07/2025 16:50

MrsFeljne · 12/07/2025 14:18

We’ve just got back from Verona/Garda/Como.

Hardly anywhere on the lakes had air con, make sure you take some mini fans. It was 36ish at Lake Garda but AccuWeather kept saying feels like 39/41. You might be ok for air con in Milan but not on the lakes as there are a lot of listed buildings. We actually had to leave a few restaurants after being seated as we were too hot and felt faint with it.

Id also recommend pre-booking places for dinner, we did a lot of walking round restaurants and finding them fully booked.

It didn’t seem too busy in the daytimes but evenings felt really busy.

Thank you for the tips! Lucky I made sure I got an apartment with AC but thanks for the tips on the fans. I have booked one restaurant for dinner in Como so far so need to look at booking another.

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Original poster

Anon751117000 · 14/07/2025 08:51

@MrsFeljne can I ask how you booked the restaurants in the end? I've managed to find a couple that take online/email bookings. Not sure if its just a case of popping in earlier in the day and doing it.

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