Lake Como from above: three viewpoints you reach by car

Brunate sits about 700 metres above sea level, straight over Como. A funicular has climbed to it from the lakefront since 1894, in seven minutes; by road it is about half an hour from the centre.

The highest part of the village is San Maurizio, where the Volta lighthouse stands: an octagonal tower of 29 metres, built in 1927 for the hundredth anniversary of the death of Alessandro Volta. A spiral stair of 143 steps leads to its balcony, but the town of Brunate reports the tower closed to visitors while its structure is examined; the terrace at its foot has the same view of the town, the harbour and the lake. Check the town's page before you go up for the climb.

The view is at its best in the last light. Our sunset and dinner in Brunate times the car by the sunset and books a table with a view: from €750 per group.

The road from the south to Bellagio climbs over the Ghisallo pass, between the two southern arms of the lake. It is one of the best-known climbs in cycling, on the route of the Giro di Lombardia.

At the top is the small chapel of the Madonna del Ghisallo, proclaimed patron of cyclists by Pope Pius XII in 1949. Beside it the cycling museum, opened in 2006, keeps nearly 3,000 pieces. The museum is open every day from the first Saturday of March to 1 November, from 9:30 to 17:30; a ticket was €6 in 2026. A few minutes further on, the village of Civenna has a viewpoint over the lake, and from there the road drops to Bellagio.

Our day to Bellagio from above stops at the chapel, the museum and Civenna, with lunch at a table with a view and the afternoon in Bellagio: from €1,312 per group.

At Argegno, on the western shore, a road leaves Lake Como and climbs in hairpins into the Val d'Intelvi, the valley that joins it to Lake Lugano. At the head of the valley, above Lanzo, is Sighignola: a mountain on the border between Italy and Switzerland whose terrace, at 1,320 metres, is known as the Balcony of Italy. Lake Lugano lies directly below, and the valley's tourist office describes a view that reaches Monte Rosa and the Matterhorn.

At Argegno a cable car goes up to the village of Pigra. The town of Pigra gives it as running at weekends and on public holidays, from 9:00 to 17:00, every 15 minutes, at €5.50 return.

Our Balcony of Italy by private car leaves from Como, with lunch at a trattoria in the valley: from €1,090 per group.

• For an evening: Brunate. It is the closest to Como, and the only one of the three that is about the town's lights as much as the lake.
• With Bellagio in the same day: the Ghisallo pass, which is on the way there.
• For the widest view, and a place few visitors reach: Sighignola. It takes a morning and has nothing to do with the usual villages.

None of them needs walking beyond a few minutes from the car. All three depend on the sky: in low cloud the terraces show little, so look at the forecast the day before.

The roads to all three climb in hairpin bends. On our tours a business sedan, for up to four, or a business van, for five to seven, collects you at the address you give and waits while you look, eat or walk. The driver drives and does not lead the visits.

Each tour is a request: you choose the day and the group, we confirm the car and the table within 5 days, and the amount is held on your card, not charged, and charged once the day is confirmed; if it can't be, the hold is released. For the villages and the villas by car, see Lake Como by car in one day.