Duration: 1 hour

Como villas cruise by classic wooden boat — 1 hour

Our shortest and most photographed departure: the first basin of Lake Como and its historic villas, aboard a wooden taxi boat with a private skipper.

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We leave the Como harbour and within minutes the city gives way to gardens: the neoclassical facade of Villa Olmo, then Villa Erba and Villa Pizzo in Cernobbio, the little harbour of Moltrasio and, across the water, the pastel houses of Blevio.

This is the right cruise if your time is short, if you are in town for a single day, or if you want to introduce someone to the lake aboard a real wooden boat. Your skipper slows down at every villa for photographs and tells you who lived there.

Itinerary

Boarding in Como
We meet you at an agreed jetty in the town centre, quick briefing and off we go.
Villa Olmo and Villa Erba
Slow cruising along the western shore, past historic gardens and stone boathouses.
Cernobbio and Villa Pizzo
Passing the village of Cernobbio, its historic hotels and the Villa Pizzo park.
Back along Blevio
Crossing to the Blevio shore and returning to Como with the cathedral and mountains ahead.

The villas you'll see

Your skipper slows down in front of each villa and explains what you are looking at.

Villa Olmo · Como: Neoclassical villa designed by Simone Cantoni and completed in 1797, named for the elm that once shaded its facade; the gardens are public.
Villa Erba · Cernobbio: Grand nineteenth-century villa with a park that runs down to the water; the film director Luchino Visconti grew up here.
Villa d'Este · Cernobbio: Sixteenth-century cardinal's residence above a cypress avenue, today one of the most famous hotels on the lake.