Lake Como Dons Its Autumn Colours

Lake Como dresses for autumn with foliage, hikes and the season's last events

Autumn is confirmed, according to quicomo.it and giteinlombardia.it, as the ideal season to admire the foliage on Lake Como and more broadly across Lombardy, when the Lario area takes on the colours typical of the season. Both outlets also agree on another point: during this period tourist numbers drop compared to high-season peaks, offering calmer conditions for visitors.

Weather: a mixed picture

On the climate front, sources diverge sharply. According to climieviaggi.it, Como sees an average of 125 mm of rain in October, a figure disputed by dove-e-quando.it. The two outlets also clash on temperatures: dove-e-quando.it puts the average high at 16°C and the low at 10°C, while climieviaggi.it does not confirm these figures. There is also disagreement over hours of sunshine: climieviaggi.it cites an average of 4.5 hours a day, a figure not shared by dove-e-quando.it.

Beyond the disputed numbers, dove-e-quando.it describes October as a good month to visit Como, ranking it fourth out of twelve for favourable conditions, alongside April, July and September, with tourist turnout described as strong. According to the same source, October days last on average nearly 11 hours, with sunrise around 06:40 and sunset around 17:38, and there are said to be about 12 days with temperatures above 18°C. Climieviaggi.it, for its part, identifies spring and early summer as the best period, with September as a further recommended month, and provides a broader climate picture for the area: average temperatures of 4°C in January and 23.8°C in July, annual rainfall of around 1,300 millimetres, and a local breeze system with the daytime "Breva" and the nighttime "Tivano."

Itineraries and places to discover

Several single-source outlets add colour to the picture of the area with details on places and hikes. Quicomo.it describes the Val Mara, a valley mostly on Swiss territory with a small portion in the province of Como, and recounts how, on the lake, foliage follows a progression that begins on the higher slopes and later reaches the water's edge as the season advances, aided by the spread of beech woods. The same source mentions the Civera bridge, of Roman origin with a medieval outline, and the Nesso gorge, carved out by the Touf and Nosè streams.

Giteinlombardia.it, meanwhile, proposes a route that includes the Piona Abbey, where Cistercian monks are said to still live today, Bellagio, described as the "pearl of the Lario," and the Sacro Monte di Ossuccio, which according to this source is part of the Unesco World Heritage sites alongside that of Varese and includes fourteen Baroque chapels with more than 230 statues. Comoeilsuolago.it, finally, points to boat connections between the lake's main towns and a number of circular hikes, such as the one from Torno to the Pietra Pendula or the one from Menaggio to the Rogolone, the latter leading to a centuries-old oak tree recognised as a natural monument by the Lombardy Region.

Villa Carlotta heading towards its seasonal closure

A separate chapter concerns Villa Carlotta, whose winter closure is confirmed by both mylakecomo.co and villacarlotta.it: the villa remains closed to the public during the colder months, awaiting its seasonal reopening, though it can still be visited by prearranged groups by booking, according to villacarlotta.it.

Meanwhile, according to mylakecomo.co, the 2025 season is set to close on 8 November, with a calendar of events in the preceding weeks: a guided visit to the garden's monumental trees, part of the Interreg MARKS project; Sunday guided tours run by Mondo Turistico; the exhibition "Le ceramiche di Villa Carlotta"; and events such as "L'ora del tè a Villa Carlotta" and the presentation of the book "La nerina del marchese. Sulle tracce di un fiore perduto." The same source attributes to director Maria Angela Previtera the description of the villa's new digital project as "an open window available to the public."