Lake Como: Alpine Foothills Picnic & Wine with Varenna Pickup

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.98 (106 reviews) 98% rated it 5 stars

Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/19

Duration4h

GroupUp to 8

LanguagesEN · RU +1

Mobile ticketAccepted

Lunch 2,000 Feet Above Lake Como, With a Glass of Wine and No Crowds

You get picked up at the Varenna pier, driven forty minutes into the Alpine foothills, and guided through a quiet forest walk to a private picnic spot overlooking the entire lake. Lunch includes local cured meats, cheese, fresh produce, and wine selected from regional producers, with your guide explaining where each item comes from. The whole experience takes three and a half hours and ends by mid-afternoon, leaving your day open.

Step-by-step itinerary

Picnic and walk in Alpine foothills

Meet at Hotel Olivedo pier
Drive 40 minutes to mountains
Admire landscapes and lake views
Park car and start forest walk
Walk 20-30 minutes with panoramas
Arrive at picnic area with views
Learn about local products and farms
Enjoy picnic with local food and wine
Take photos and relax

The Experience

The car climbs out of Varenna in tight switchbacks, and the lake starts to shrink below you. Forty minutes of winding road through half-abandoned stone churches, orchards heavy with fruit, and the kind of silence that only happens when you leave the waterfront behind. Your guide sits up front. The driver knows every turn. And then the forest opens, and you step out into air that tastes different — thinner, cooler, the kind of air that makes you breathe deeper without meaning to. This is the foothills of the Alps, and Lake Como spreads out beneath you like something from a postcard someone actually sent.

The walk itself is short — maybe twenty or thirty minutes depending on pace — but it's the kind of walk where you stop every few steps because the view keeps changing. Your guide points out the villages across the water, names the valleys where the food you're about to eat actually comes from. Valtellina and Valsassina aren't just names on a menu; they're the farms and producers your guide has worked with, people he can tell you about. The forest floor is soft. There's no noise except your footsteps and the occasional bird. You're not thinking about your phone or the time.

When you reach the picnic area, everything is already there — the table, the glasses, the light music playing softly in the background. The spread is small but deliberate: local cured meats, cheese from the valleys below, fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, water, and wine (white or red, your choice). It's not a catered event or a performance. It's what someone would actually eat if they lived up here and had an afternoon free. You sit for as long as you want. The view doesn't change, but the light does. The lake catches it differently every few minutes. Your guide leaves you to it, and you understand why they call this the best picnic venue in the region — it's not crowded, it's not trying too hard, and it's the kind of place where a photograph of you actually looks like you belong there.

The whole thing wraps by three in the afternoon, and you're back in Varenna by late afternoon. You've been gone three and a half hours. You've eaten better than you expected, walked through a forest most tourists never find, and seen Lake Como from the angle that actually makes sense — from above, where you can finally see the whole thing at once.

What’s included

Your day includes private transportation from Varenna up to the Alpine foothills, all picnic equipment and setup at the venue, a guided forest walk with lake views, and a curated lunch of local cured meats, cheese, fresh produce, bread, bottled water, and wine (white or red). All fees and taxes are covered.

Good to know

Easy physical levelInfant seats availablePets welcomePublic transport nearby

Operated by Picnickle

Is this one for you?Book this if you want to eat well and see Lake Como from a perspective most visitors never reach — the drive, walk, and meal are all arranged, so you show up at the pier and everything else unfolds without planning.