This is the long one.
And before anything is booked, I tell people exactly that.
Lake Como can be done privately from Zurich in one day. Leave early enough and a few hours later you can be having lunch beside the water in Italy.
But if you give me one night, or even two, I can turn it into something completely different.
Because for me, Lake Como is not only Bellagio.
It is the boat, the villas, long lunches, little villages and the beautiful stretch of Switzerland and northern Italy surrounding it.
The journey south is part of it
As you come down towards Ticino, Switzerland starts changing.
The roofs change. Palm trees appear. German disappears from the road signs and Italian takes its place.
Depending on the route, I can already make Lugano part of the journey.
Have coffee beside Lake Lugano. Walk through the centre. Or stop somewhere above the lake for the view before continuing into Italy.
Then cross the border and suddenly the next lake is Como.
Two countries. Two lakes. One journey.
Once you reach Como, get onto the water
This is the first thing I would change from a standard Lake Como tour.
Do not spend the afternoon driving around the lake.
Get on it.
A private boat with your own skipper gives us much more freedom than trying to connect everything by road.
Bellagio.
Varenna.
Menaggio.
Little villages and villas along the shoreline.
You see Lake Como completely differently from the water.
And your skipper knows what you are passing.
The famous villas, private residences, gardens, hotels and little corners of the lake that disappear behind walls when you are travelling by road.
Stop somewhere for lunch.
Get off in a village.
Have a swim in summer if the conditions are right.
Or do almost nothing.
A few hours on a beautiful boat can be the entire reason for coming.
Bellagio, Varenna or Menaggio?
I would not try to collect all three.
Bellagio is the famous one, and I still think you should see it.
Varenna is smaller and romantic, with the village running down towards the water.
Menaggio has a different feeling again and works particularly well depending on where we are staying or how I am routing the boat.
I choose according to the day.
Lake Como is much better when you stop trying to complete it.
Stay somewhere special
This is where giving me one night changes everything.
Lake Como has extraordinary hotels, but it also has private villas that can become part of the experience themselves.
For a couple, I might choose a beautiful hotel directly on the water.
For a family or group of friends, I can look for a private villa, with the boat collecting you from the lake if the property has suitable access.
And sometimes I would go in the opposite direction.
Away from the grand hotels and into the countryside.
A beautiful agriturismo, a smaller property surrounded by nature, somewhere where dinner is based on what is grown or produced nearby.
Luxury does not always have to mean marble and a concierge desk.
Sometimes it is waking up somewhere nobody else thought to book.
And eat properly
I would build food into this journey from the beginning.
There are Michelin starred restaurants around Lake Como and excellent restaurants recognised by the Michelin Guide, but I don’t automatically send everybody to the most formal dining room.
Maybe you want the Michelin experience.
Maybe you want a long lunch overlooking the lake.
Maybe you want an agriturismo outside the busiest villages.
Maybe I would rather send you somewhere for excellent pasta and local fish where lunch lasts two hours and nobody cares what time you leave.
Tell me how you like to eat.
Then I choose the table.
A few places I keep for the right guest
There are villas and gardens I would add for somebody interested in architecture.
There are small villages where I would rather stop by boat than spend another hour in Bellagio.
There are beautiful properties that make sense for one particular family and absolutely no sense for another.
And there are restaurants I don’t particularly want to turn into recommendations for everybody reading my website.
This is the part I keep personal.
And it doesn’t have to be only Lake Como
If you give me more than one day, this becomes one of my favourite little journeys from Zurich.
We can connect Lake Lugano with Lake Como.
Or continue through Ticino towards Locarno and Ascona on Lake Maggiore.
Ascona is particularly beautiful when you have time to slow down. A completely different atmosphere from Zurich, colourful houses, palms, restaurants along the waterfront and mountains rising behind the lake.
Suddenly we are no longer talking about a day trip.
We are travelling through the lakes of southern Switzerland and northern Italy.
Zurich.
Lugano.
Como.
Perhaps Bellagio and Menaggio by private boat.
Then Locarno and Ascona.
A villa one night.
An agriturismo another.
A Michelin starred dinner somewhere in between.
That is a journey I can have some fun arranging.
If you only have one day
Then I keep it simple.
Leave Zurich very early.
Private driver south.
Lake Como.
Private boat if you want it.
One or two villages.
A proper Italian lunch.
Maybe a villa or garden.
It is a long day, and I will tell you that before you book it.
But give me one or two nights and I would do something else entirely.
I would stop calling it a Lake Como day trip and start building you a journey through the lakes.
This is one of the private days we arrange from Zurich. Begin the conversation.