Lake Como Food Tours

We had a fantastic time with our wonderful guide Cristina! She was fun and knowledgeable.

We had a wonderful time on this tour with Elisa (forgive me if I am misspelling her name!). The tour of the old olive oil mill was a fun way to kick things off, the walking tour of Varenna was enjoyable and we learned a ton at the same time. The tour has a little bit of everything, from a lunch in Varenna, to a tour of a villa, to a boat ride, to a walk through gardens in Bellagio. I highly recommend if you are looking for a full day and the chance to see a lot of different sites!

This review is long overdue, as our tour was in May. We had such a great time on this tour! We had a group of 34 colleagues and spouses for a professional meeting. Laura was incredibly helpful and responsive in our weeks leading up to the event, including some crazy billing problems which she handled with great humor and patience. We were picked up at the boat dock of our hotel (the Royal Victoria hotel in Varenna) and were entertained for the next hour by Cristina's fabulous tales of the victories and haunts that are Lake Como. It was a picture-perfect evening in a week of rain, and the guests were thrilled with the ride. The tour of the gardens were spectacular, and we had a guide there to help us understand the flora and fauna of the space. The tour landed us almost at the doorstep of our charming and cozy restaurant. We had great food and service, and they accommodated a litany of dietary restrictions. There was, of course, wine. :-) We left fat and happy and I felt like I had a new best friend in Laura. I would recommend Laura highly - she takes her business seriously and will bend over backwards to accommodate your needs. Grazie per tutti, Laura e Cristina! Ci vediamo un' altra volta!

Alessandra was our tour guide and she was great! We were late arriving to Lake Como as our train broke down and we had to transfer to another one, but Alessandra was there waiting for us at the appointed place as promised. We went to a mill up the hill (via van) where we learned about the mill workings and renovation and had a tasting of cheeses, meats, olive oil and wine. Superb! Then on to a tour of Varenna and the quaint churches and lunch. As my personal favorite, we had a private captain take us across the lake to tour Menaggio and Bellagio. To be on the lake with such gorgeous scenery and a picture perfect day was divine. We ended with a dinner in Bellagio on our own. A five star day!

Our tour guide was very nice and answered questions well when asked. We were a party of 4 people doing the 2.5 hour walk around Bellagio with a lunch at a Michelin-listed restaurant. The tour was 2.5 hours and included a 6.50 euro ticket per person to some villa gardens. We were asked to rate the your before lunch and did so willingly expecting that the $650 the tour cost would be validated by a great lunch. It wasn't. The restaurant we ate at had very, very reasonable prices (approx Euro 15 per main). Our food was so cheap it wasn't even on the menu. We were offered 2 mini bruschetta and a choice of pasta with some tomatoes (only) or gnocchi with olive and tomato. One glass of wine, one glass of water. We met a couple of Americans on the tour who were lovely but we felt completely and utterly ripped off and could not get rid of that feeling. We travel a lot and go on walking/food tours frequently and this is the first time we have felt utterly robbed. Do not recommend at all.

Lovely walking tour of Bellagio and surrounding areas. The walks are steep, I would say this tour is intermediate in exertion. Lunch was delicious, there was some confusion about coffee not being included, I think it is water or coffee is included, not both. Either way the cappuccino was worth the 3 euro! The botanical gardens were incredible!

My husband and I had a fantastic day in Como and Bellagio. We were staying in Milan and decided to take the train to Como for the day. Laura put together the perfect itinerary. Our tour guide Maddi met us right at the train station and we started with a walking tour of the old town. Maddi, who grew up in the area, was extremely knowledgeable and passionate and the tour was the right balance of being informative and fun. Along the way we stopped at a local pasticceria and sampled some focaccia and we finished the tour with an authentic home cooked lunch at Osteria del Gallo. After lunch we took the high speed hydrofoil to Bellagio - it was off season but a beautiful day for a walk to the Punta Spartivento. We capped it off with an aperitivo at sunset overlooking the water. We always try to use local tour guides when we visit new places. I’d rate Lake Como Food Tours as one of the best we have experienced. Extremely well organized (Laura even told us specifically which train to take) with an outstanding tour guide. We will be back again for one of their wine and food tours.

Last month (June of 2019), we rented a villa in Lake Como to celebrate my 50th birthday along with over 20 friends. We hired Lake Como Food Tours (my contact was LAURA, who was AWESOME!!!) to put together the evening of the actual birthday dinner... with a tour around the lake, followed by dinner at a beautiful restaurant, and then transportation home. Laura was very detailed, and got an idea of my tastes, likes and dislikes and came up with a most impressive evening at a price per person that was very reasonable: * Large water taxi that picks us up at our private dock and takes us on a 2-hour tour around Lake Como (Bellagio and Varenna of course), pointing out several hot spots/villas along the lake * A choice between two or three restaurants: we eventually landed on a farm to table restaurant in Garlate * Transportation home on a charter bus The water taxi came to pick us up at the villa ON TIME. They were at the right pier (I however was at the wrong one haha but was literally 30 yards away). The captain was extremely helpful and knowledgable, even took our group pic once we docked at the restaurant. Once at the dock, the restaurant cars picked us up (some of us walked) and took us to the most magical place I’d ever seen, a TRULY farm to table restaurant… everything (and I do mean everything) was fresh from the on-property farm… the meat, the fruits, the veggies. And the view of the lake was to die for. My guests were flabbergasted. Laura had even worked with the restaurant to ensure that all allergies were accounted for, and Laura even had them make a gluten free birthday cake for me (which was the best gluten free anything I’ve ever had). Laura was SO KIND and even threw in an extra or two which made the trip even more thoughtful. Then as promised, the bus charter met us and took us back to our villa. All in all, Lake Como Food Tours was professional, on time, expedient with answers during planning, and knowledgeable about the lake and the restaurants, and truly cared about our experience. And the price per person was actually a little less than a catered dinner at the villa itself. Thank you! I will forever remember this night!!!