A private boat on Lake Como

Lake Como is best seen from the water. A private boat leaves from your hotel's jetty or from Como, passing villages and the villas that noble families built along the shore from the sixteenth century.

You stop at Villa del Balbianello at Lenno, set on a wooded headland surrounded by water and run by the Italian heritage trust FAI, then at Villa Carlotta in Tremezzo, whose wide gardens are bright with azaleas in spring.

In the afternoon you reach Bellagio, where the lake's arms meet, and walk its stepped lanes and silk shops before returning in the evening light.

We set the route by the weather and the villas' opening days, and arrange lunch at a restaurant serving fish and vegetarian dishes.