Mention Lake Como and you may think of luxurious waterfront villas, A-list celebrities like George Clooney or bougie getaways for the Insta-crowd.  And while these images certainly uphold the glamour and intrigue of Lake Como, I discovered a perhaps overlooked way to experience a different perspective of the area.

The Greenway del Lago di Como, also known as the Lake Como Greenway, is an easy 7-mile (11.2 kilometer) walking path along the western part of Lake Como between Colonno in the south and Griante in the north.  It generally follows the C10 bus route, making it possible to experience the Greenway in one direction or in sections.  Regardless of which option you choose, you’ll be rewarded by a pleasant walk through an incredibly picturesque landscape defined by its villages, villas and views.

After a rather hot and hectic day of ferry hopping around the mid-lake triangle of Menaggio, Bellagio and Varenna, we were looking forward to a change in both scenery and pace.  The morning started out bright and sunny as we sipped coffee and nibbled on cookies from the patio of B&B Le Eriche where we were staying, but as luck sometimes has it, the weather quickly turned dark and rainy.  We pressed on with our day as planned and parked our car at the northernmost part of the route in Griante and walked about 20 minutes to Villa Carlotta, hoping the conditions might improve during our visit.  The villa was beautiful and its sprawling gardens even more so, which we wandered through with umbrellas in-hand.  By about midday it was apparent that the rain wasn’t going to stop anytime soon, so we wrapped up our visit and headed to the bus stop just outside the villa’s entrance.

If you plan to ride the bus, be sure to purchase tickets in advance, otherwise you’ll pay quite a bit more to purchase on board (we got ours from Alimentari Panatti at Via Roma, 6 in Griante).  Our experience with the bus was a bit frustrating.  It arrived late and was super crowded, both likely due to the rain, and then blew right past our requested stop, which resulted us having to wait for the next bus heading the opposite direction (and pay for tickets a second time).  We eventually made it to the desired Borgo delle Uve stop in Colonno at the southernmost part of the Greenway.

Climbing up to Via Cappella from SS340, we were more than ready to set out despite the ongoing rain.  We followed the path high and low, traveling both up above rooftops and back down along the lake, through quiet little alleyways with colorful doors, along forested paths and past locked gates to magnificent villas as we walked from town to town.  We passed the fairytale-like Villa del Balbianello, which unfortunately was closed on the day of our visit, and stopped for a well-deserved gelato at La Fabbrica Del Gelato along the waterfront in Lenno before carrying on with the final stretch of the Greenway.

The route was easy to follow thanks to clear and frequent signage, including round metal markers in the cobbled ground and the bright blue and yellow signs that pointed out some of the potentially trickier turns and crossings.  It took us about 3 hours to complete the full length of the Greenway in one direction.  Despite the weather, we found it to be a much more enjoyable way to experience the lake without the crowds and chaos of the previous day.  In fact, at times we felt like we had it all to ourselves, a rare opportunity to soak up the tranquility and beauty of the ever-popular Lake Como.  Talk about the silver lining to gray clouds.