3 Perfect Days in Lake Como

First of all, of course three days isn't enough time to enjoy the Lake Como area of northern Italy! But sometimes a few days is all someone has for a long weekend or as a tag-on to another trip, so here are some thoughts about how to at least get a "taste" of the region and decide whether a longer return visit is worth making. 
     For our first trip in late June, we were breaking one of my cardinal rules of travel: don't go to Europe (or anywhere, really, if you can help it) in June-July-August. That's because not only is it typically hot, but everyone else in the world is traveling to Europe for summer break/vacation, so it's hot AND crowded, a very bad combination for trying to enjoy oneself. But somehow, we managed to enjoy ourselves for the most part (and save some money) by doing a few strategic things despite visiting Lake Como in prime tourist season:
    1) Don't stay in Como (or Bellagio). Como is pretty much the southernmost entrance point and closest city to Milan, so you may get there and get settled in faster than staying in other places, but if you want to explore the lakes you will spend a LOT of time taking crowded ferries from way down there up to the popular areas like Tremezzo, Bellagio and Varenna. Sure, part of the fun of exploring the area is taking a boat on the lake to see all the towns, but it won't feel so charming when you're facing another two-hour ride home to Como from your day visit to Varenna. Yes, there are some fast ferries that help cut down that ride, but if you don't read the schedules carefully or manage to get on those, it's a tedious ride home on a hot, crowded ferry. Ditto with Bellagio: it's further up the lake and therefore reduces ferry travel time, but because it's a popular town, it's crowded with tourists all day long and not a very fun place to make as your home base, IMHO. 
     2) Don't stay in a hotel. Actually there are several hotels in the area that would have been very nice to stay in, IF I had wanted to pay $400 a night. But hotels are crowded, almost none of them have parking available even for guests, and you'll have to pay extra to hope for a lake-facing room. Instead, look up the many AirBnb options in the area that have patios, bedrooms and living rooms with amazing lake-facing views, either right on the water or just up the hillside. We stayed at a rustic place in a tiny town called Sala Comacina (on the west side of the lakes), that was steps from a ferry terminal, as well as in a town full of small, friendly butcher shops, bakeries and restaurants.
     A highlight of the trip was buying groceries each day and chatting in broken Italian with the local merchants, who seemed to appreciate foreign visitors who had chosen to stay here instead of the bigger cities. The best part, though, was that it never felt crowded. This was just a sleepy little fishing town with quick ferry access to all the more popular ports across the water. And I was easily able to book my choice of many places just a month ahead of time for less than $200 a night. My host was also happy to recommend and book restaurants and help with other necessities. 
     3) Don't expect to drive a car around. Truth be told, I rented a car from the Venice airport where we landed (not a fun experience), mainly because we were on a time crunch to get to a cruise port following our brief Como stay. But I parked it and never drove it until we left. So if you do rent a car, be sure the place you're staying has a guaranteed parking space, or you'll be in a big pickle (as I mentioned above, most of the hotels don't have parking spaces available even for their paying guests, and street parking is rare). And if you rent a car, be ready to navigate the VERY narrow streets along the lake, which are just barely two cars wide and are fraught with lots of obstacles (especially pedestrians who have no sidewalks available) along the way. 
     And if you don't rent a car, then you can easily take a train out of Milan to a town like Varenna on the east side of the lakes, where AirBnb stays are within steps or a short cab ride (or a pick up from your AirBnb host) away. Training up the extra distance from the bottom of the lakes only takes a little longer than a train to Como, and will pay off in shorter ferry rides and a more relaxing stay during your visit.   
     4) Do visit the many gardens, palaces and castles in the area. At the end of the day, all the towns feel the same whether jockeying to eat at a restaurant, board a ferry, or buy a souvenir in Como, Bellagio, Varenna, Tremezzo, or any of the other popular ferry stops. But what helped us avoid/escape the crowds and REALLY get well-framed (i.e., Instagram-worthy) photos was a small entry fee to gain access to some historic and beautifully maintained gardens including Villa Carlotta in Tremezzo, Villa del Balbianello in Lenno (where Padme and Anakin secretly got married in Star Wars), Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, and Castello di Vezio or Villa Cipressi in Varenna.
     If you can climb the long hill to the Castello in Varenna to get a sweeping view of all the lakes at once and check out a really cool medieval castle and dungeon, be sure to take the hidden street Via Alla Riva straight up the hill from the ferry terminal (and to the left of restaurant Locanda Cavallino) instead of the more popular path that cuts to the right through town and takes the much longer and is a more difficult path to get to the castle. Bonus: there is a cafe just outside the castle with reasonably priced bottles of water and refreshments to enjoy on either side of the journey! 
     5) Do consider hiring a private boat to take you around the lakes on your first day. There are many options available on AirBnb or by searching directly online (to save the fees the apps charge). It's not cheap, but with the money you save NOT staying at a hotel, you can afford this private tour with champagne and tips from a local. For an added bonus, have them drop you off at a dock in one of the towns you want to visit to save you an extra trip to get there by ferry. Instead of starting and ending at the standard location, we had our driver pick us up just outside our rented place and drop us off in a quiet place at the far end of the gardens in Bellagio to allow us a one-way tour of the Serbelloni gardens. Felt very VIP.