Lake Como Walking

Our trip begins today at Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP), where we'll meet to transfer to Gravedona as a group. We'll meet at 1pm in the Terminal 1 Arrivals Hall (Arrivals B), of Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP). If your flight arrives into Terminal 2, you can catch the complimentary shuttle bus to Terminal 1. The shuttle runs approximately every ten minutes. If you'd like to be a part of the airport transfer today, the latest your flight can arrive is 12.30pm. After we've gathered our group, we'll travel to our lakeside hotel in Gravedona, our base for the week - a journey of around 90 minutes/two hours. Gravedona is a pretty little town, situated on the deep blue waters of Lake Como. It's a jumble of pastel-coloured houses with a few shops, cafes and restaurants. This week, we'll stay at Hotel Regina, a small, family-run hotel with a lakeside swimming pool and views across the water and surrounding mountains. The hotel is just a ten-minute walk from the town centre. Our time in Gravedona promises to be a quintessentially Italian experience, with friendly people and restaurants serving classic Italian dishes and fish from the lake, including the local speciality of fish risotto. Please note, that all rooms occupied by two people enjoy a view of the lake. Solo travellers opting to pay for a guaranteed single-occupancy room will be accommodated in a non-lakeview room, designed for double occupancy. It's possible to upgrade to a lake view room (all are designed for double occupancy) for a fee. Please contact our sales team for availability and price.

Long associated with poets, artists, world leaders and, lately, film stars, Lake Como is undoubtedly the most beautiful of all the well-known Italian lakes. The Southern Alps - which are still snow-covered until May - surround the lake which is dotted with small harbours, stately villas and traditional towns. Our first walk takes us high above Lake Como offering fabulous views and a good orientation of the region. We'll hike from the hotel, through villages and then into a thick forest. Near the village of Livo is a deep cleft in the ground that is the boundary between the African and European tectonic plates. After two and a half hours, we'll reach Livo, located 430 metres above the lake: it feels remote and very different to the lake-side villages. A little on from Livo there is the 15th-century church of San Giacomo, standing way above the impressive Valle de Livo. After a picnic lunch, we'll descend back through the forest to the hotel via a different route. Today's 12-kilometre/7.5-mile walk is expected to take approximately six hours with a total ascent and descent of 550 metres/1,804 feet.

Our walk today is once again direct from our hotel and is a 7-kilometre traverse from Gravedona to the village of Sorico, located on the northwest shore of Lake Como with an impressive church. We'll pass through the pretty town of Domaso and then slowly climb up through meadows, vineyards and chestnut groves to the ancient village of Aurogna. We'll get views of the high Alpine peaks that straddle the border between Italy and Switzerland. At Sorico, we'll have a picnic by the lake and then either take a short bus ride back to the hotel or walk along the newly constructed path that contours along the lake shore. Today's 7-kilometre/4.4-mile walk is expected to take approximately three to four hours with a total ascent and descent of 350 metres/1,148 feet. From Sorico, there's the option to extend this walk by a further 7 kilometres/4.4 miles on the flat along the lake shore back to the hotel which will take a further 90 minutes to two hours.

We'll take the bus south along the lake to Menaggio today - a small town with a pretty piazza - from where it's a short ferry ride across to Bellagio on the eastern shore. From the ferry, you can see the fabulous lake-side villas that have played host to royalty and world leaders. Bellagio, often described as the 'Pearl of Lake Como', is charming with cobbled lanes, boutiques, cafés and two gardens you can visit. You can either choose to spend today exploring the town or head up by bus to Civenna from where we walk on a ridge overlooking the lake back to Bellagio. The route takes us through pretty forests, passing isolated farms and villas with wonderful views of the lake. Today's 9.5 kilometres/5.9 mile walk is expected to take approximately four hours with a total ascent of 300 metres/984 feet and descent of 700 metres/2,296 feet.

Today has been left free so you can explore solo. Close to Menaggio is the impressive Villa Carlotta with stately rooms and manicured gardens that are well worth seeing. Como town can be reached by ferry or public bus in 90 minutes: the old town has many churches, piazzas and museums together with lots of shops, cafés and restaurants. There are also boat tours from Menaggio that take you past the villas along the lake shore.

Today is a wonderful walk with outstanding views across the lake to Bellagio. We'll take the bus to Croce and head up a zig-zag path to the chapel of Madonna della Grazie di Paullo. Further up, we'll reach a mountain pass with panoramic views of the lake. We'll then descend to the town of Griante and on to Cadenabbia, located on the western shores of Lake Como. Our return to Gravedona skirts along the side of the lake by local bus. Today's 12-kilometre/7.5-mile walk is expected to take approximately six hours with a total ascent and descent of 550 metres/1,805 feet.

For our final walk, we'll take the 20-minute bus ride to Rezzonico which has flights of cobblestone steps, a beautiful harbour and a 13th-century castle. It's one of the few lakeside villages to have maintained its original structure. From here, we'll climb above the lake through vineyards and orchards leading to a succession of pretty hamlets along today's 10-kilometre/6.2-mile walk. The trail gently undulates through more villages and farmland with fabulous lake views. Towards the end of the walk, we'll arrive at the magnificently situated church of St Eufemia. Our destination is Dongo where Mussolini was caught in 1945 whilst trying to escape to Spain. The war museum is well worth a visit. We'll take the five-minute bus back to Gravedona, or you can walk in around one hour. Today's undulating 10-kilometre/6.2-mile walk is expected to take approximately five hours.

Departing Gravedona this morning, we'll drive to Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP), Terminal 1, where our trip ends. We aim to arrive at around 10.15am, so the earliest your flight can depart today is 12.15pm.