Lake Como. Met at the aircraft, then by road or water taxi to your villa's own jetty.
Three airports within reach, one of the most beautiful roads in Europe, and a water taxi that will beat it every time. Which of the three you use depends entirely on your aircraft and your shore.
The essentials
Lake Como at a glance
- The usual choiceMilan Linate (LIN)About 55 kilometres from Como and the natural airport for private arrivals to Milan, with a dedicated business aviation terminal.
- The alternativeMilan Malpensa (MXP)Further west but well placed for the lake, with around an hour to Como and an hour and a half to Bellagio.
- The Swiss optionLugano (LUG)A short runway of about 1,520 metres for light and midsize jets, daytime hours and a demanding approach, then a border crossing to the lake.
- The lake itselfThree branchesComo and Lecco in the south, Colico in the north, meeting at Bellagio. Almost nothing is directly opposite anything else.
How the lake works
The map is misleading
Lake Como is shaped like an inverted Y, and the roads follow the shoreline exactly as the nineteenth century left them: narrow, walled on one side, and interrupted by villages where two vehicles can barely pass. The SS340 along the western shore and the lanes on the eastern side are beautiful and very slow, particularly behind a coach or a delivery lorry, and there is no alternative route to divert onto. Thirty kilometres up the lake can easily take an hour and a quarter.
Across the water, the same journey is minutes. The crossing between Bellagio, Varenna and Menaggio takes about ten minutes by water taxi, against an hour or more by road around the bottom of the branch. Most lakeside hotels and many villas have their own jetties, so an arrival by boat here is the sensible option rather than a novelty. Confirm the jetty with the property, and tell us, because it changes where the car should meet you.
Getting there
Realistic transfer ranges
| From | To Como or Cernobbio | To Tremezzo or Menaggio | To Bellagio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milan Linate (LIN) | 55 to 75 minutes | 1 hour 30 to 1 hour 50 | 1 hour 30 to 2 hours |
| Milan Malpensa (MXP) | 55 to 75 minutes | 1 hour 20 to 1 hour 45 | 1 hour 30 to 2 hours |
| Lugano (LUG) | 40 to 60 minutes | 1 hour to 1 hour 20 | 1 hour 20 to 1 hour 45 |
| Como, by road | Local | 40 to 60 minutes | 1 hour to 1 hour 20 |
| Como, by fast water taxi | Local | About 25 to 35 minutes | About 35 to 45 minutes |
Realistic ranges, not promises. Road times up the lake depend on what is in front of you, and there is usually no way past it. Water taxi times depend on the boat and the weather.
Which airport
The aircraft picks the airport, not the map
Linate is the default for private arrivals to Milan: close to the city, with a business aviation terminal, and able to handle the full range of types. Malpensa is larger and busier with scheduled traffic but sits on the right side of Milan for the lake, and for an aircraft that cannot use Linate it is often the better answer rather than the compromise.
Lugano is the interesting third option: close to the top of the Como branch, and a business aviation airport rather than a hub. It is also constrained. A runway of around 1,520 metres suits light and midsize jets, the operating day runs roughly from early morning to evening with extensions by arrangement, and the approach is steep enough that weather closes it more often than a flat field. If your aircraft fits, it saves you half an hour of lake road; if not, Linate or Malpensa with a longer drive is the honest plan. You also cross a national border on the way in. See private jet charter.
Planning it well
What regular visitors do
- Give us the hotel or villa and ask whether it has a jetty. It is the first question, not an afterthought
- Use the car for the airport transfer and the water for everything on the lake. That single decision solves most of the day
- Allow properly for the drive up the lake. There is no fast route and no way around a queue
- Ask about limited traffic zones and parking in the villages. Drivers often drop and move on rather than wait outside
- Plan weddings and the May and September weekends well ahead. Hotels, boats and drivers are all committed early
- In poor weather, expect the boat plan to move to the road. Build the extra time into the departure, not the arrival
On the water
Water taxis and how they are used
Private water taxis run all day between Como, Cernobbio, Tremezzo, Menaggio, Bellagio and Varenna, and they are used here the way cars are used elsewhere: to get to dinner, to cross the lake for lunch, to reach a villa with no proper road access. A transfer from Como up to Bellagio takes in the region of forty minutes at speed.
The planning question is the handover. A boat arrives at a jetty, not at an address, and the jetty may be a short walk or a steep climb from the house. We put the car where the boat lands rather than where the map says the property is, and we plan for the luggage, which usually decides whether the arrangement works at all.
Request a quote
Tell us which shore
Dates, how many of you, how much luggage and where you are staying. If you know your aircraft type, tell us, and we will say which of the three airports it can actually use and what each one costs you in driving time. Nothing is booked or charged online.
Prefer to talk? +44 2030 048300 or WhatsApp, at any hour.
Questions people ask
About Lake Como
Which airport is best?
Linate for most aircraft and most itineraries, Malpensa when Linate does not suit the type or the slot, Lugano if your aircraft fits its short runway and daytime hours and you are heading to the upper lake.
Is a helicopter useful here?
Sometimes, for the airport transfer on a busy weekend. On the lake itself the water taxi is usually the better answer, and considerably simpler to arrange.
Are these your own cars?
Our own cars and chauffeurs are in London and Manchester, and a trusted global network covers everywhere else. On Lake Como cars are arranged through operators we know, and one person at Odyssey holds the itinerary together.
Can a car reach every villa?
No. Some lakeside properties have no useful road access, and others are reached by steps from a lane. That is why we ask about the jetty first.
When is the lake at its best?
May, June and September. July and August are warm and full, and the roads feel it more than the water does.
