Lake Como villas: which ones you can visit, tickets and ferries

Tickets, opening hours and ferry fares below were checked on the villas’ official sites and on Navigazione Laghi on 5 October 2026. Several villas close or cut their hours in November, so check the dates in the table if you travel late in the season.

Lake Como villas you can visit

Villa	Town and ferry pier	Adult ticket, 2026	Booking	Open in autumn 2026
Villa del Balbianello	Lenno (walk 25 min)	€15 park, €25 villa and park	Required	Daily in November, set days in December
Villa Carlotta	Tremezzo, own pier	€17.50	No	Until 8 November, then some weekends
Villa Melzi gardens	Bellagio	€10	No, pay at the gate	Until 1 November
Villa Serbelloni park	Bellagio	€13, guided tour only	Required	Tuesday to Sunday; check the last date online
Villa Monastero	Varenna	€15, garden only €13	Online or at the desk	All year, fewer days from November
Villa Cipressi garden	Varenna	€13	No	10am to 5pm in October
Villa Bernasconi	Cernobbio	€10	Pay at the door	Friday to Monday

Most villas are on the central lake, around Bellagio, Varenna, Tremezzo and Lenno. One ferry fare of €5.50 covers each hop between them, and a €17.50 day pass covers unlimited hops. Our Lake Como travel guide explains how the towns fit together.

Villa del Balbianello (Lenno)

Villa del BalbianelloMap sits on the tip of the wooded Lavedo peninsula, near Lenno. Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini turned an old Franciscan convent into a retreat here at the end of the 1700s and built its panoramic loggia. The explorer Guido Monzino, the first Italian on Everest, bought it in 1974 and left it to FAI, the Italian National Trust, in 1988.

Tickets. Every ticket must be booked online on the FAI site, with no booking fee.

• Park only: €15; €11 for ages 6 to 18 and students up to 25; free up to age 5.
• Villa and park: €25; €17 for ages 6 to 18 and students up to 25. The rooms can only be seen on a 50-minute guided tour in Italian or English, for up to 16 people. The desk gives you the tour time when you arrive, with a wait of up to an hour.

Inside you see Monzino’s 18th-century French furniture, Beauvais tapestries and, in the attic, the Museum of Expeditions with the sledge from his 1971 North Pole expedition.

Hours in 2026. From 14 March the villa opens 10am to 6pm (last park entry 5pm, last villa tour 4pm). In November it opens 10am to 5pm, and in December only on set days: 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, 19, 20, 22, 26, 27 and 29 December. The booking calendar shows which days are open, so pick your date there before you plan the ferries.

Getting there. There is no car access. Take the ferry to Lenno and walk 1 km uphill on a partly gravel path, about 25 minutes, or follow the longer 2.5 km trail (about 45 minutes). Neither suits strollers. The alternative is a paid taxi boat from Lido di Lenno, booked in advance and not run by FAI, which points visitors to Bellagio Boat ServiceMap. Dogs on a leash are allowed in the garden only.

Villa Carlotta (Tremezzo)

Villa CarlottaMap is a museum and garden with its own ferry pier, “Tremezzo - Villa Carlotta”. You visit both on your own, with no booking.

• Tickets: €17.50; €15 over 65; €7 for students aged 6 to 18; €12 for ages 19 to 25; €35 for a family. Show a Trenord train or ASF bus ticket issued that day and ask for the discount at the desk.
• Hours in 2026: 10am to 7pm until 18 October (last ticket 6pm); 10am to 6pm from 19 October to 8 November (last ticket 5pm). After that it opens only on 14-15, 21-22 and 28-29 November and 5 to 8 December, 10am to 4pm.
• Spring: the rhododendrons are in full bloom between mid-March and mid-April, after the camellias.

From Como the boat takes about 45 minutes. From Bellagio or Varenna, take a boat toward Tremezzo. ASF bus C110 from Como also stops at Tremezzo - Villa Carlotta. Dogs on a leash are welcome in the garden.

Villa Melzi and Villa Serbelloni (Bellagio)

The Villa Melzi gardensMap run along the lake south of Bellagio’s center, on Lungolario Manzoni. The villa itself is private; your ticket covers the gardens, the chapel and a small museum.

• Tickets: €10, or €14 for two days. Free up to age 11. No booking: pay at the gate.
• Hours in 2026: daily 10am to 7pm; 10am to 6:30pm from 12 to 24 October; 10am to 5pm from 25 October. The gardens close for the season on 1 November.

The Villa Serbelloni parkMap, owned by the Rockefeller Foundation, covers most of the promontory above the town. You can only see it on a 2-hour guided tour, booked online, Tuesday to Sunday at 11am and 3:30pm. It costs €13 for adults and €7 for ages 7 to 13, and the first hour is uphill. Check the booking page for the last tour date of the season. Grand Hotel Villa SerbelloniMap on the lakefront is a separate place, a 5-star hotel.

Our Bellagio guide covers the rest of the town and where to eat.

Villa Monastero and Villa Cipressi (Varenna)

Varenna has two lakefront gardens a few minutes apart, and it is the only central lake villa town with a train station, on the line from Milano Centrale.

Villa MonasteroMap is a house museum with a botanical garden at Viale Giovanni Polvani 4.

• Tickets: €15 for the house museum and garden, €13 for the garden only; €9 for ages 15 to 25; free up to 14. Entry is free on your birthday with ID. You can book online through CoopCulture or pay at the desk.
• Hours in 2026: October daily 10am to 6pm, with the house museum closed on Tuesdays (the garden stays open). November 10am to 5pm, closed Tuesday and Wednesday. December 10am to 5pm, closed Tuesday, Wednesday and 25 December. Last entry 30 minutes before closing.

Villa CipressiMap is a hotel whose botanical garden is open to visitors at Via IV Novembre 22. The garden costs €13 (€7 for ages 15 to 25, free under 14) and opens 10am to 5pm in October. On days when both are open, a combined ticket at either desk costs €25 for the two gardens or €27 with the Villa Monastero house museum, saving you €1. It is sold only at the villas, not online. Our Varenna guide has the rest of the village, including the walk up to Castello di Vezio.

Near Como: Villa Bernasconi and Villa Olmo

Villa BernasconiMap in Cernobbio is an Art Nouveau house run as a museum by the town, with an app-based visit through the rooms. It opens Friday to Monday, 10am to 6pm. Tickets cost €10 (€5 reduced, free under 14), and the museum suggests you buy them at the entrance. Cernobbio is a short boat ride from Como: €3 single or €8 for a day pass.

Villa OlmoMap, on the Como lakefront, has been under a long restoration of the villa and its park. Check with the Comune di Como before you plan a visit inside.

Villas you can only see from the water

• Villa d'EsteMap, in Cernobbio, is a 5-star hotel in a 16th-century villa with a ten-hectare park. Its 2026 season runs until 7 January 2027. There is no visitor ticket: you see it from the boat or the lakefront, or book a room or a table (one of its venues is for hotel guests only).
• Villa Oleandra in Laglio is George Clooney’s private home. It cannot be visited, and at most you glimpse it from a boat on the Como branch.
• Villa Erba in Cernobbio is an exhibition and convention center, open only for events.

Boat tours from Como pass Villa d’Este with commentary. Our Lake Como boat tours guide compares tours with the public ferry.

Villa-hopping by ferry: three day plans

All three plans use Navigazione Laghi boats. On slow boats you can tap a contactless card on board (NaviTAP), and the system caps your fares at the day-pass price. Fast boats cost a €3 supplement on the central lake, which the day pass does not cover.

1. Varenna, Bellagio and Tremezzo (from Milan by train). Take the direct train from Milano Centrale to Varenna-Esino (about 65 minutes, €7.40) and buy a €17.50 central lake day pass. See Villa Monastero, cross to Bellagio for the Villa Melzi gardens, then hop to Tremezzo for Villa Carlotta before the boat back to Varenna. Per adult: €14.80 return train, €17.50 ferry pass and €42.50 for the three villas, about €75 before lunch. Three villas make a long day; drop one if you also want time in the towns.

2. Lenno and Tremezzo. Book a morning slot at Villa del Balbianello, take the ferry to Lenno and walk up. After lunch, take the boat to Tremezzo for Villa Carlotta. Both piers are on the €5.50 central lake fare.

3. Como and Cernobbio. Take the train from Milano Cadorna to Como Lago (about 60 minutes, €5.40), then the boat to Cernobbio (€3) for Villa Bernasconi, Friday to Monday, and a look at Villa d’Este from the lakefront. This plan suits a half day.

The full comparison of trains, tickets and timetables is in our Lake Como day trip guide.

When the villas are open

Period (2026)	What is open
Until 18 October	Every villa on this page. Villa Carlotta closes at 7pm; Villa Melzi at 6:30pm from 12 October.
19 October to 1 November	Villa Melzi closes at 5pm from 25 October and shuts for the season on 1 November. Villa Carlotta closes at 6pm. The autumn ferry timetable runs until 1 November.
November	Villa Carlotta until 8 November, then weekends only. Villa del Balbianello daily, 10am to 5pm. Villa Monastero closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
December	Villa del Balbianello and Villa Monastero on set days; Villa Carlotta on 5 to 8 December.

In 2026 Villa del Balbianello opened for the season on 14 March and Villa Carlotta on 20 March, so for a spring trip in 2027 expect the main villas to reopen in mid to late March, and check their sites before you book. Our guide to the best time to visit Lake Como covers weather and crowds.

Staying in a Lake Como villa

Several historic villas on the lake are now hotels, among them Villa d’Este, Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni and Villa Cipressi. Our guide to where to stay on Lake Como compares the towns and hotels, and you can check what is free on your dates with Lake Como stays on Booking.com. If you are touring more of the north, our Northern Italy itinerary shows how Lake Como fits into a longer trip.