A guide to the Lake Como ferry timetables
A ride on a ferry is the definitive Lake Como experience. But the detailed ferry timetables can take some working out, especially when they’re in Italian.
The good news is that there are English versions of the timetables on the website of the service provider – the Gestione Navigazione Laghi. These can be printed either as they appear on the screen or in the denser PDF format, which is much closer to the ‘glossy’ printed version.
Those timetables are listed under three headings: motorships, fast services and ferries.
Motorships
There are two timetables under the heading of motorships.
- One is for service Como and Piona (and reverse), which runs the length of the lake, following the western branch. This timetable also includes short rides between Como and half a dozen nearby communes at the southern end of the western branch – in fact they represent sixty to seventy percent of the total runs on the schedule. And as most of the other routes fall short of linking Como to Colico, the timetable heading doesn’t really reflect its contents.
- The second timetable gives details of services between Lenno on the western branch, and Varenna in the central lake area.
Fast Services
The Fast Services (Servizi Rapidi) timetable gives details of services between Como and Colico, using quicker vessels and stopping less frequently. You pay extra for this. To illustrate the difference it makes, Como to Colico takes about three hours normally and around half that time with the fast service.
Ferries
The Ferries (Traghetti) timetables list vehicle and passenger ferries linking only Bellagio, Varenna, Menaggio and Cadenabbia, at the centre of Lake Como tourism.
We thought the timetables could be simplified, and rearranged the information to make it easier to read. The resulting visitors’ timetables are available in Winter 2008 Lake Como Ferry Timetables for Visitors and, for anyone who is interested, details of how and why we changed the published information can be seen in How and why we re-arranged the ferry timetables
We are arriving in Menaggio on Saturday 23rd August. We need to go to a Wedding in Belaggio on Monday 25th August at 11.30am. There are four of us and we do have a car. What is best way to get to Belaggio. Is there a car ferry from Menaggio to Belaggio? If not, where is the nearest place to drive to, to get one which will take us to Belaggio?
Regards
Sue Hunt
You have two options as there is a car ferry between Menaggio and Bellagio and also between Cadenabbia and Bellagio. Cadenabbia is only a short drive from Menaggio towards Como.
According to the ferry timetable there is only 8am and then 12.15 car ferries from Menaggio to Bellagio.
Car ferry service from Cadenabbia to Bellagio is more frequent so looks like a better bet. Here is the timetable from Cadenabbia http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/eng/com/ora_estivo_2008/nlc_ora_t2a_e.html
and from Menaggio http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/eng/com/ora_estivo_2008/nlc_ora_t3a_e.html
Gosia
My brother and myself are planning a cycle trip – do the ferries take cyclcles with baggage or must we use car ferries.
How would we go from Bellagio to Cadenabia
You will have no problem using car ferries. As far as passenger ferries are concerned this is up to the captain whether you can travel or not. This will depend on how busy it is, is there space to store your bike and so on.
We are travelling from London Heathrow to Milan Malpensa from where we hope to get a shuttle bus to Lake Como which will take us to our final destination in Bellagio.
Could you please inform me as to where we depart from in Como and how frequently the ferries run to and from Bellagio.
Hi
There are 10 (including 2 babies) looking to get from Malpensa Airport to Pianello Del Lario. When considering luggage etc it looks like we’d need several hire cars so are happy to give public transport a go but we’re a bit lost as to where to start! Can you advise please?
How does one determine the duration of a ferry run? For example how long does the regular ferry take from Como to Bellagio or from Bellagio to Varenna? I can find out when the depart, but not the approximate arrival time. Thanks for your help.
Robyn Fea
P.S. We are traveling in October, 2010
Robyn
There is only 10 to 15 min ferry ride between Bellagio and Varenna with regular ferry crossings. It will take around 2h for a ferry ride from Como to Bellagio and 1h for a fast ferry. Timetable should be similar to current spring one
How long will it take to drive from Lugano to Bellagio. Car-ferry seems to be a time-saving. However, it seems to have few service. Any suggestion or advice? How much does it cost for a ferry trip with one small car + 3 persons from Menaggio to Bellagio?
Thank for the suggestion/advice.
Hello. We will be travelling on a motorbike on Friday 9th July 2010 & want to go from Menaggio to Bellagio. What times are the ferries please, how long does it take & how much does it cost ?
Thank you