Walks in Como

The Loop

Start at Como Cathedral on Piazza Duomo. The tourist visit, which opens the transept, the wooden choir, the sacristies and the upper walkways, runs Monday to Friday 10:30-17:30 and Saturday 10:45-16:30. Sundays and holy days are closed to tourist visits in 2026, so plan the ticketed interior for Monday to Saturday. The ticket costs $6.92 (€6) standard, with a reduced rate of $4.61 (€4), a 6-18 rate of $3.46 (€3) and a Family Pass at $17.31 (€15). Paper tickets are sold at the Broletto Infopoint on Via Pretorio, next to the cathedral, open daily 09:00-13:00 and 14:00-18:00. There is also a free route without a ticket through the Porta delle Virtù along the right aisle, and prayer access on weekdays from 07:30 to 19:00.

From the cathedral it is 242 m in a straight line to San Fedele, an active parish church, free to enter, whose reported hours conflict between sources, and from San Fedele 340 m further to Porta Torre, the gate in the medieval walls. Back to the cathedral is about 580 m in a straight line, so the loop is roughly 1.2 km of straight lines, our estimate 20 minutes of walking. The basilica of Sant'Abbondio stands 590 m beyond Porta Torre in a straight line. Its hours were not confirmed on an official page for this guide, so check its own page before you go.

If you would rather have someone explain what you are looking at, the guided city walk is a two-hour walk through the historic centre with an English-speaking guide, and what to see in Como lists the buildings in the order most people meet them.

Distances and What You Pass

The lakefront promenade is described in full on the lungolago page. In short: from Piazza Cavour it is 500 m in a straight line to the Tempio Voltiano, the neoclassical museum dedicated to Alessandro Volta that stands alone on the lakeshore at Viale Marconi 1. That is about a 9-minute walk on our estimate. The Comune's own figures put the Tempio at 900 m (12 min) from Como Lago station and 800 m (12 min) from Como San Giovanni, which are the only official walking times on this page.

The Tempio Voltiano opens Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00, last entry 17:30, and closes Mondays, 1 January, 1 May, 15 August and 25 December. The civic single ticket is $6.92 (€6). From the Tempio it is another 895 m in a straight line to Villa Olmo, about 15 minutes on our estimate, or a total of 1,394 m from Piazza Cavour, about 23 minutes on our estimate.

At Villa Olmo the situation is simple: the villa building is closed for restoration, and the park is regularly open and free to enter. The Comune's own page says exactly that. Park opening hours are not stated on the Comune page, so treat the park as open in daylight and check the notice boards at the gate. The route also appears on free things to do in Como.

Hours, Entry and the Saturday Trap

One conflict needs resolving in your favour. The regional portal in-lombardia.it claims Villa Olmo's park is under renovation and inaccessible. The Comune di Como's own page says the opposite: the villa is closed for restoration, the park is regularly open.

The Comune wins for Villa Olmo, because it runs the park. The table below pulls together the opening details for all three parks. Note the Saturday rule at Villa del Grumello, which catches people out, and its closures in bad weather for safety.

The stage-by-stage version, with the park hours and the return times, is on the Como to Cernobbio walk page. The practical point is that the walk does not have to be circular: ordinary boats run back from Cernobbio to Como in about 13-14 minutes for $3.46 (€3) in band 1, and the C110 bus reaches Como San Giovanni from Cernobbio Mazzini in 11 minutes. The village itself is on the Cernobbio page.

Funicular, Trail and Ridge

The Brunate funicular runs daily from 06:00 to midnight, every 12 to 15 minutes, and takes 7 minutes. A one-way ticket is $4.27 (€3.70), return $8.54 (€7.40), and the lower station is at Piazza Alcide De Gasperi 4, a short walk from the lake. Italy's tourism portal says the funicular replaced the old mule track between the two towns. Blogs and hiking apps describe footpaths up the hill, but no official page read, not the Comune di Como, not the Comune di Brunate, not ATM, not the regional or national tourism portals, describes it with a route, distance or time. That is stated plainly, and the alternatives are set out on the Como to Brunate trail page.

Once at the top, official material does exist. Regione Lombardia's in-lombardia.it describes the route from Brunate to the Faro Voltiano as a panoramic mule trail of about 1.2 km through chestnut, birch and pine woods, suitable for everyone. italia.it says walkers reach the lighthouse from the centre of Brunate in less than half an hour. Our straight-line figure from the upper station to the lighthouse is 896 m, about 15 minutes on our estimate, consistent with both. The lighthouse itself, an octagonal tower of 29 metres built in 1927, has been closed since 2024 for repairs with no reopening date, so the walk ends at its outside.

Beyond the lighthouse, the Lake Como DMO describes the Dorsale del Triangolo Lariano, the ridge path that connects the San Maurizio lighthouse to the Bellagio peak. No distance or time is printed for it on the pages read, so plan it from a proper hiking map, not from this page.

Two practical warnings. First, the bus: ASF urban line N9 from Brunate to the Faro Voltiano and Cao is currently suspended for works, so the lighthouse is reached on foot. Second, the funicular's own excursions page lists three walks, the Dorsale in two variants, the San Maurizio lighthouse and the S. Rita to C.A.O. locality, and all of them start at the top in Brunate. Nothing official describes a walk that starts in Como. If you would rather do the hill with a guide, the Brunate guided walking tour bundles the funicular ride, the lighthouse area, Villa Olmo and the old town into four hours on foot. The lighthouse and the Villa Olmo building are closed, so both are seen from outside.

Averages by Month

The table shows the six months that matter most for planning a walking trip, with average highs and lows in Celsius and the Fahrenheit figure from the same dataset in brackets, plus average rainfall.

• Shoes, our advice: trainers are enough for the walled city, the lakefront and the Chilometro. The lanes and stairs above the Brunate funicular are steep. Closed shoes with a grip sole are the sensible minimum for the hill.
• Water: no official source read lists drinking fountains along these routes, so carry a bottle on the Brunate and Cernobbio walks.
• Bad weather: the Villa del Grumello park closes in bad weather for safety. If the forecast turns, swap the hill for rainy day options in Como.
• Dogs: no dog rules for the villa parks were printed on the pages read, so check the notice boards at each gate. On the funicular, pets travel on a $4.15 (€3.60) ticket and dogs must be muzzled, per the fare sheet.
• Getting back from Brunate: the funicular runs until midnight, every 12 to 15 minutes, so the hill never strands you. One way is $4.27 (€3.70).
• Getting back from Cernobbio: ordinary boats return to Como in about 13-14 minutes for $3.46 (€3) in band 1, and the C110 bus reaches Como San Giovanni from Cernobbio Mazzini in 11 minutes, mostly at 01 and 31 past the hour on weekdays. For the rest of the town's transport see getting around Como and the Como ferry pages.
• Money: everything in this page's walks is free except the funicular and any museum you enter. A fuller budget is on Como costs.
• Eating: the pages read publish no restaurant or bar names along these routes, so this guide prints none. The options in town are on where to eat in Como.