Lake Como in winter: what's open and what to do

Winter hours change every year. These are the ones each villa has published for 2026–27, checked in October 2026:

• Villa Monastero, Varenna: the house museum and the botanical garden stay open through the winter. In November and December, from 10:00 to 17:00, closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but open every day from 26 to 31 December; closed on Christmas Day. Last January they opened every day until Epiphany, then at weekends. Opening times.
• Villa del Balbianello, Lenno: in November from 10:00 to 17:00, closed on Mondays and Wednesdays as all year; in December on Tuesdays, Fridays and weekends, except Christmas Day; then on 2, 3, 5 and 6 January 2027. Booking is required. In 2026 it reopened at weekends from mid-February and regularly from mid-March. FAI's page.
• Villa Carlotta, Tremezzo: every day until 8 November 2026, then at weekends until 29 November and from 5 to 8 December, from 10:00 to 16:00; on other days, by reservation only. The 2026 season had opened on 20 March. Opening times.
• The gardens of Villa Melzi, Bellagio: closed from 1 November until spring.
• Castello di Vezio, above Varenna: every day until 1 December, though not on rainy days in November; then at weekends and on holidays in fine weather, from 10:00 to 17:00.

The villas you look at from the boat, Villa d'Este or George Clooney's house at Laglio, are there in every season; the lake is simply emptier. For the full list, read the villas of Lake Como.

Yes. Navigazione Laghi, the state ferry company, is available all year. Its autumn timetable runs until 1 November 2026; after that a winter timetable with fewer boats applies until spring, and the car ferry linking Bellagio, Cadenabbia, Menaggio and Varenna keeps crossing the centre of the lake. In bad weather or rough water some sailings can be cancelled, so check the timetable on the day.

For a private boat, our speedboats and classic wooden boats are available from April to October, but the Venetian limousine is available all year: a wooden boat with a cabin, room for up to eleven, skipper and fuel included, from Como, Bellagio or Varenna. It costs from €780 an hour for the whole boat. From Como you pass Villa d'Este, Moltrasio and Laglio; from Bellagio or Varenna, the villas of the centre lake, under cover and without waiting for a ferry on a cold pier. Plan a winter tour.

Como is a city, not a resort, and it does not close for the winter. The Duomo opens to visitors from Monday to Friday, 10:30 to 17:30, and on Saturdays, 10:45 to 16:30; on Sundays it is open for prayer only. The Pinacoteca and the Tempio Voltiano, the domed museum of Alessandro Volta, who invented the electric battery, open from Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00. A Como Art Pass covers all three for 72 hours.

The funicular to Brunate leaves from Piazza De Gasperi, by the lake, and climbs in seven minutes to a village 500 metres above the city, with the lake below. It runs from 6:00 to midnight, but in some years it has stopped for maintenance in late winter (in 2025 from 10 February to 14 April, with buses instead): check ATM's page before you go.

At Christmas the city dresses up. In 2025 there was a market in the old town from late November, light projections on the Duomo, the Broletto and Porta Torre, and a skating rink by the lake; the 2026 programme was not out when we checked.

Many of the grand hotels on the lake are seasonal. The Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, for example, opens from April to November, and the Mandarin Oriental at Blevio also closes for the winter. A few now open for the festive season: Villa d'Este held Christmas and New Year evenings in 2025.

Before you book, check that the hotel is open on your dates, and in the smaller villages do the same for the restaurant you have in mind. If you stay in Milan instead, the lake is an easy day out, by car or by train to Como or Varenna.

Winter by the lake is mild: the lake keeps the shore at about 7 °C on average, and snow rarely falls down to it. It settles on the peaks instead, so on a clear day the Grigne on the eastern shore, 2,410 metres at the top, stand white above the lake. The sun stays low all day, with soft light on the villas' façades and long shadows on the lake.

The days are short. In December the sun sets around 16:40 in Como, and earlier still behind the mountains of the western shore, so keep the boat and the villas for the middle of the day and Como's streets for the evening. On a boat it feels colder than on land: bring a warm layer, a hat and gloves. For the places where the last light lasts longest, read the sunset on Lake Como.

Como is about 1 h from Milan by car, which makes an easy winter day: a car from your address in the morning, a boat at midday, when the sun is highest, and back in Milan before dark. The day on the lake from Milan books the car and the boat together; if you only need the ride, our driver from Milan to Lake Como costs €175 for up to four people.

End the day at the organ concert in Santa Maria degli Angeli, near Brera: 75 minutes of film music and classical pieces, from €30, on set Saturdays at 21:00. For the rest of the season in town, read Christmas in Milan.