Lake Como is located north of Milan. It is a very touristy place, easily accessible for a weekend from France. You can reach Milan by plane, train or car.
How do I get from downtown Milan to Como?
We’ve written a full article on how to get to Lake Como from Milan, but here’s a quick summary.
The closest you can get to Lake Como is 50 km from the center of Milan if you take the A9 freeway towards the city of Como. It is therefore very easy to visit Lake Como from Milan. It will take you more than 50min if you are not caught in traffic to get to the city of Como. To avoid any disappointment, take an hour and a quarter.
From the Milan train station, you will save time, as it is located to the north, so you don’t have to cross the city. However, allow more than an hour and a quarter if there is traffic and an hour and a half if you leave during the hours when the Milanese leave their work.
1-day excursion to Lake Como
➡️Ifyou are not vehicular, you can book 1 day at Lake Como and its most beautiful villages organized from Milan. Your driver will drop you off in Como, Bellagio and Varenna and then you will explore the lake by boat, for 1 hour, to enjoy beautiful panoramas from the lake.
Distance from Milan airport
Many of you will arrive by plane from Milano-Malpensa airport. The distance to Lake Como is the same, but it will take you only 42 minutes to drive.
The advantage is that you will rarely have traffic jams on this road, so you can leave quietly.
If you arrive at the airport, we recommend renting a car to connect and fully explore Lake Como.
Car rental: To compare rental prices, we recommend the RentalCars website, which compares the prices of hundreds of rental companies to find the best price. To give you an idea of the price, we found a car for 50€ for 4 days through Hertz (in April).
Go to Lecco
On the other side of the lake, much less touristy, is the town of Lecco. From Milan, it takes the same amount of time to get there by car as it does for Como.
However, from the airport, the journey is longer, about 75km. You can count on a good hour to get there
Walk around the lake
Many tourists want to go around Lake Como. It takes about 160km if you take the coastal road, passing through the towns of Como, Menaggio, Domaso, Dervio, Varenna, Lecco, etc. and Bellagio before returning to Como.
For our road trip, we rented a car in order to be able to stop whenever we wanted. The national road that goes around the lake is in very good condition. The coastal road offers nice views of the lake, but it is narrower.
Looking for a place to stay on Lake Como? To make your visit easier, we’ve included an article detailing the most interesting villages to stay in on Lake Como, along with our best hotel addresses.
As you can see, Lake Como is an ideal place for a weekend road trip, as a couple or with friends!
