Como to Bellagio: Rapido, Slow Boat, Bus or Tour

Going Out: Como to Bellagio

The 8:40 fast boat is the quickest public start: 40 minutes and no stops. The ordinary boats take far longer because they call along the west shore, which is the reason some people choose them.

Coming Back: Bellagio to Como

SR23 at 18:20 is the latest fast boat back on the runs read for this page. After it, the bus is the fallback, so check the timetable for later ordinary boats on your date before you let the 18:20 go.

Three things to know before you board. First, a rapido ticket allows no intermediate stops, so you cannot hop off at Tremezzo and reboard later on the same ticket. Second, places are limited to the maximum capacity of the boat,, so a published departure is no promise of a seat. Our advice is to be at the ticket office on the Piazza Cavour lakefront before the boat is due. Third, buying on board when departing from a pier with an open ticket office costs a fixed €1 extra per passenger.

The fares come from the current Navigazione tariff: band 6 ordinary $13.84 (€12) one way, plus the rapido supplement of $5.77 (€5) for the fast runs. Children 4-11 pay $6.92 (€6) on the ordinary boat and there is no reduction on the rapido supplement. Under-4s travel free if they do not occupy a seat. Return tickets are simply double the single. Everything about bands, passes and reductions is on our Como ferry page.

Monday to Saturday the bus leaves Como San Giovanni station at 50 minutes past most hours, calls at the Lungolario Trieste stop on the lakefront five minutes later, and reaches Bellagio Lido 69 minutes after San Giovanni. The table picks the departures that suit a day trip from the ASF sheet. On Sundays and holidays the timetable thins out, with the 8:50 run still reaching Bellagio Lido at 9:59.

Coming Back by Bus

Monday to Saturday the returns from Bellagio Lido leave at 13:03, 15:03, 17:03, 18:03 and 19:03, reaching Como Lago 69 minutes later and Como San Giovanni a few minutes after that. The 19:03 is the last regular bus of the day, arriving Como Lago at 20:12 and Como San Giovanni at 20:17. A 20:03 departure exists only on school days, so do not build an evening plan around it. Sundays and holidays run a different return list that includes a 21:31 arriving Como Lago at 22:36. Check the ASF PDF for your exact date.

The fare is a flat $5.08 (€4.40) Como to Bellagio when you tap a contactless bank card on ASF's green validator, under the Swipe on Lake scheme. The charge posts to your account a few days later. You can pay for companions within 5 minutes of your first tap by tapping once per person, and a red light means the card was not accepted and you have no ticket. Paper tickets are sold at the ASF office in the bus station at Piazza Matteotti, Monday to Saturday 07:00-19:30, Sundays and holidays 9:30-12:30 and 13:30-17:30, and buying from the driver carries a surcharge.

The Lungolario Trieste stop sits on the lakefront east of the piers, so a bus rider staying near the water need not climb to San Giovanni. The Como waterfront promenade page covers that stretch of the shore.

Early Start, Most Time Ashore

Take the 8:40 fast boat. It is in Bellagio at 9:20, which gives you the whole morning before any midday departure, and the 17:05 fast boat back puts you on the Como lakefront at 17:50. Two fast singles cost $39.20 (€34), so if you only want speed in one direction, go out fast and come back on the bus.

The Lake Is the Point

Take the 9:10 ordinary boat. It reaches Bellagio at 11:45 after calls at Argegno, Lenno and Tremezzo, which is two hours and thirty-five minutes of the west shore from the water for $13.84 (€12). Come back on the 17:05 fast boat.

Out slow and back fast costs $33.50 (€29).

Cheapest, and the Rain Plan

Take the C130. $5.08 (€4.40) each way by contactless card means a return of $10.15 (€8.80), well under half a boat return. The bus also runs to the same hourly pattern when the boat timetable changes season, which makes it the choice for a grey day or a trip after 1 November, when no winter boat timetable had been published.

Short Stay or No Appetite for Timetables

Book the three-hour boat tour with a Bellagio stop at $136.43. It gives about an hour ashore and hands the timing to the skipper. Check the group size when you book: the operator runs it at half length if fewer than 4 guests sign up.

For a smaller boat with drinks, the 4.5-hour limousine boat capped at 11 adds Varenna.

Pairing Bellagio with Varenna

If you want both mid-lake villages, Varenna is band 7 from Como at $15.57 (€13.50) one way, and the four-hour tour with stops in Bellagio and Varenna covers the triangle without timetable arithmetic. Our day trips from Como page compares the two villages and works out the band 7 day pass.

The Arithmetic

Worked through at the adult fares on the current tariff sheet. On a plain there-and-back the singles win. The pass starts to pay only when the day includes a second stop in band 6.

The pass wins once you add a second stop, because it is valid for Tremezzo, Villa Carlotta and Menaggio as well as Bellagio, all in band 6, with stops allowed everywhere. It is personal and non-transferable, valid on rapido runs only if you also pay the supplement, and not valid on night cruises. Children 4-11 have their own pass column.

If you are crossing to Varenna instead, that is band 7 and the pass costs $34.00 (€29.50). The full pass rules, child fares and six-day passes are on Como ferry.

On our Como in 2 days itinerary, Bellagio is the day two trip, taking the 8:40 rapido out and the 17:05 back, which leaves the evenings free in Como. It does not fit the city plan in Como in 1 day, and it is the wrong shape for a Sunday plus Monday visit, because the cathedral is closed to tourist visits on Sundays and you would want to keep the boat day and the city day on separate days. If your stay is short, the three-hour tour with a Bellagio stop compresses the outing into half a day instead.

Bellagio's own tourist office is at Piazza della Chiesa 14, 22021 Bellagio, tel +39 031 951555. The office does not print its opening hours on its home page. On a wet day the bus is the steadier choice, and Como weather has the wettest months.