Lake Como: 145 km2 of water, 410 m at the bottom

Lake Como is the deepest of the large prealpine lakes at 410¹ meters, ahead of Maggiore at 370² and Garda at 350², on a surface of 145¹ square kilometers.

410 meters, on one institutional comparison

The 410¹ meters come from the 2004 report of the Lombardy lakes observatory, which gives Como 410¹, Maggiore 370², Garda 350² and Iseo 251² from the same source, so the four figures can be compared.

That's a claim about the prealpine lakes, not about every lake in Italy or Europe. The wider claim circulates a lot, and it hasn't been checked against a source this site trusts.

Garda's own factsheet puts that lake at 346³ meters rather than 350², so even this short table has a lake with two depths.

A narrow lake with a long shore

Lake Como has 170¹ kilometers of shoreline for 145¹ square kilometers of water, a mean depth of 155¹ meters and a surface that sits at 198¹ meters above sea level on average.

Its shoreline development index is 3.98¹, which is limnology's way of saying the coast folds back on itself: nearly four times the perimeter of a round lake with the same area.

That shape is why the boats matter here. Villages that face each other across the water can be a long way apart by road.

The boats run on two 2026 timetables

In 2026 the Lake Como boats run on a spring timetable from March 23 to May 31, extended to June 30, and a summer one from July 1 to October 4.

The car ferry linking Bellagio, Cadenabbia, Varenna and Menaggio keeps separate timetables for weekdays and public holidays, and it's the only direct link between Bellagio, Varenna and Menaggio. The scheduled boat from Como to Colico takes much longer.

Hydrofoils and catamarans run as a fast service with a supplement and a booking. The two published 2026 timetables stop at October 4, and what runs after that date isn't in the facts here.

The only fares published in plain text

The public operator publishes three Lake Como fares as web pages, all circular tickets in force from April 1, 2026: Como to Urio €10.40⁵, Como to Nesso €16.70⁵ and Lecco to Onno €11.00.

Children pay €5.80, €9.30 and €5.60 on the same three routes. A circular ticket lets you stop along the way, and it ends when you land back at the pier where you bought it.

The full fare table exists only in a PDF that couldn't be read, so single tickets and day passes for Como aren't quoted. Prices are in euros.

A UNESCO site above the water

Ossuccio, above Lake Como, holds one of the nine Sacri Monti inscribed by UNESCO in 2003, one of only two in Lombardy; the other seven are in Piedmont.

The Sacri Monti are counted once as a single serial property shared between the two regions. See Lake Garda or Lake Como, Lake Maggiore and Lombardy.

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