Como Ferry: Fares by Band, Fast Boats and the Bellagio Run

The ordinary battello is the classic slow boat. It works its way up the shore calling at nearly every pier in the timetable column, which is why Como to Bellagio takes it through Argegno, Lenno and Tremezzo before arriving. It is the cheapest service, it is the one the band fares in the table above are built on, and it is the one where the ride itself is the sightseeing.

The servizio rapido, marked SR in the timetable, is the fast boat. It costs the ordinary fare plus a supplement for your band, with no reductions on that supplement, and the ticket is strict: it is valid only on the day of issue and allows no intermediate stops, so you cannot hop off at Varenna and continue later on the same rapido ticket. Bicycles are not allowed on the rapido at all, while on ordinary boats they travel subject to vessel space and traffic.

The third service, the traghetto or car ferry, is the one to discount entirely from Como planning. It runs only between Bellagio, Cadenabbia, Varenna and Menaggio in the mid-lake triangle, and there is no car ferry from Como, which is passenger-only. If you hoped to drive onto a boat at Como, you cannot: the car ferry does not call here.

Which One to Take From Como

Take the rapido when time matters and you want to go straight to Bellagio or Menaggio without touching the shore. The 8:40 SR4 has you in Bellagio by 9:20, which a slow boat leaving at 9:10 only manages at 11:45. That two-and-a-half-hour difference is the whole decision on a short day trip.

Take the battello when the ride is the point, or when you want to break the journey at Moltrasio, Torno, Argegno, Lenno or Tremezzo, none of which a rapido ticket permits. The slow boat is also the family and cyclist option, since it takes bikes if there is room. Note that the over-65 reduction applies Monday to Friday only, and children 4 to 11 have their own fare column on the ordinary service.

Forget the car ferry from Como, it is a mid-lake service between Bellagio, Cadenabbia, Varenna and Menaggio, useful later in a day trip but not a way out of the city. And if the published times leave a gap in your plan, remember the alternative of a boat tour, which runs on its own schedule rather than the ferry timetable, and which we compare further down this page.

Reading the diagram is a two-step lookup. Find your destination pier in the list down the left of the diagram, and the first number in its row is the band from Como. Then price that band in the fare table.

The operator's own worked example is Como to Sala Comacina, which sits in band 5. From Como the bands run like this: Tavernola is the special urban band U, Cernobbio and Blevio are band 1, Moltrasio, Torno and Urio are band 2, Carate, Faggeto, Pognana and Careno are band 3, Nesso, Brienno, Argegno and Colonno are band 4, Sala Comacina, Isola Comacina, Campo, Lezzeno and Lenno are band 5, Tremezzo, Villa Carlotta, Cadenabbia, San Giovanni, Bellagio and Menaggio are band 6, Varenna, Bellano, Dervio, Cremia and Pianello are band 7, and Musso, Dongo, Gravedona, Domaso, Piona and Colico are band 8. Two details catch people out.

First, the minimum non-reducible fare is $2.08 (€1.80) single, $4.15 (€3.60) return, which matters on the shortest runs. Second, the over-65 reduction applies Monday to Friday only, so a senior travelling on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday pays the full adult fare. The same column serves groups of 15 or more.

Children aged 4 to 11 have their own reduced column, and under-4s travel free if not occupying a seat, at a ratio of one adult per three children.

The biglietto di libera circolazione, the one-day free-circulation ticket, gives unlimited trips between the piers it was issued for, with stopovers explicitly allowed. It is personal and non-transferable, and it is valid on the fast servizio rapido runs only if you also pay the supplement, so you can mix slow and fast travel on one pass. It is not valid on night cruises.

Price it by band, so a day pass covering band 6 from Como costs $31.10 (€27.00) and one covering band 7, which adds Varenna, costs $34.00 (€29.50). Six-day versions exist for longer stays, $93.40 (€81) for band 6. The arithmetic on when the pass pays is worth doing with the Bellagio fares.

A Como-Bellagio return on the ordinary boat is $27.70 (€24.00), only €3 under the band 6 day pass, so the pass usually wins once you add a stopover, say Tremezzo on the way, and clearly wins if you ride three or four legs in a day. For Varenna the return is $31.10 (€27.00) against a $34.00 (€29.50) band 7 day pass, a gap of €2.50, so almost any extra leg tips it. If your plan is more structured, the operator also sells circular tickets with fixed intermediate stops: Como-Urio is $12.00 (€10.40) adult and $6.69 (€5.80) for children 4 to 11, Como-Nesso is $19.27 (€16.70) and $10.73 (€9.30).

Those are cheaper than a full day pass if you know your exact route in advance.

The summer timetable runs from 1 July to 4 October, and an autumn timetable follows from 5 October to 1 November. No winter timetable has been published yet, so plan cold-weather trips around the autumn document and re-check before travelling. In the summer schedule the first departure from Como is 7:33 on the SR102, which runs Monday to Saturday, and the last is 19:45.

Ten rapido runs leave Como in total, and the table below lists each one with its days and Bellagio arrival. One practical detail: the timetable prints the Como pier number, 1 to 5, above each column of every run, so read it before you walk to the water. The day codes are Fer. for Monday to Saturday, Gior. for daily, and Fest. for Sundays and holidays including 15 August.

The operator adds two caveats to every timetable: places are limited to the maximum capacity of the boat, and times may vary with traffic at the piers. Wheelchair users should call ahead on +39 031 579211 or the freephone 800-551801 from within Italy.

A Day to Bellagio on the Published Times

Here is a worked day built entirely from times printed in the summer timetable. Take the SR4 at 8:40 from Como and you reach Bellagio at 9:20, in forty minutes. The alternative on the same morning is the ordinary battello leaving Como at 9:10, which calls at Argegno, Lenno and Tremezzo on the way and reaches Bellagio at 11:45, nearly two and a half hours later but with the western shore seen from the water.

That slow run is the better choice if you have not been on the lake before and the journey itself is part of the day. Once in Bellagio you have the whole afternoon, and the return options on the fast boat are the SR21 leaving Bellagio at 17:05 and reaching Como at 17:50, or the SR23 leaving at 18:20 and arriving at 18:58. Both fit an early dinner back in the city.

If you would rather not work around published times at all, a guided 4-hour boat tour with stops in Bellagio and Varenna bundles the crossing and the two towns into one fixed booking, and our day trips page compares that kind of tour with the do-it-yourself ferry version in more detail.

These are the operator's own conditions, and most of them matter only once. Buying on board when departing from a pier with a working ticket office costs a fixed $1.15 (€1) extra per passenger, bag or vehicle, and the surcharge is not applied when the ticket office is closed, so buy at the window in Como. Single and return tickets are valid only on the day shown, and rapido tickets and supplements only on the day of issue with no intermediate stops, so a fast-boat ticket cannot be saved for later in the week.

Luggage is generous: one free bag per passenger, longest side up to 60 cm and volume up to 40 dm3, and every bag beyond that is charged. Small dogs under 50 cm at the withers travel free, larger dogs pay the reduced child-rate fare with no fast-boat supplement, and guide dogs are free. Under-4s ride free if not occupying a seat, one adult per three children.

Refunds, Capacity and Access

If things go wrong, a refund is due when a departure is delayed 60 minutes or more or a run is cancelled, and you can renounce a journey within 30 minutes of issue, with up to $3.46 (€3) deducted. Places on every run are limited to the boat's maximum capacity, so the timetable is not a seat guarantee. Wheelchair users are asked to call ahead on +39 031 579211, or the freephone 800-551801 from within Italy.

• Single and return tickets are valid only on the day shown, and rapido tickets and supplements only on the day of issue with no stopovers
• Buying on board costs a fixed $1.15 (€1.00) extra per passenger, bag or vehicle whenever the pier's ticket office is open
• One free bag per passenger, longest side up to 60 cm and volume up to 40 dm3
• Small dogs under 50 cm at the withers travel free, larger dogs pay the reduced fare with no fast-boat supplement
• A refund is due for a 60-minute delay or cancellation, and voluntary renunciation within 30 minutes of issue deducts up to $3.46 (€3.00)
• Places on every run are limited to the maximum capacity of the boat
• Wheelchair users should call +39 031 579211 or 800-551801 in advance

On pure numbers the public ferry is cheaper. Como to Bellagio return on the ordinary battello is $27.70 (€24) per person, and the fast-boat return is $39.20 (€34). A whole day on a band 7 day pass, which reaches Varenna, costs $34.00 (€29.50).

Against that, the 4-hour Bellagio and Varenna tour costs $172.38 and buys what the timetable cannot: an hour on foot in Bellagio and an hour in Varenna, photo passes at Cernobbio, Lenno and Tremezzo, a live guide in English and Italian and free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead. The 3-hour boat tour with a Bellagio stop is $136.43, with about an hour ashore in Bellagio, and runs at half length if fewer than 4 guests book. The limousine-boat cruise at $171.97 is capped at 11 passengers, runs four and a half hours with drinks included, and spends about an hour in Bellagio and about 50 minutes in Varenna.

For a short outing, the one-hour small-group cruise at $56.40 stays on the first basin with a Prosecco toast and a captain naming the villas. The rule: take the ferry when you want to stay in Bellagio all day on your own clock, and take a tour when you want both towns in half a day with commentary and no ticket window.