CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
curated scenic road. lake, villas, Alps. 124 km from Como to Como, about 3 h 02 of riding. It goes by way of Bellagio, Varenna, Colico Piano and Menaggio. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,650 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 24 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Lake Como is shaped like an upside-down Y, with the city of Como at the end of one leg, and it is the deepest lake in Italy, plunging to over four hundred metres. The Alps rise straight from the water, with villas and gardens on the shores, and ferries zigzagging between the villages. Como itself is a small and elegant city, with a Duomo that took centuries to build and mixes Gothic and Renaissance styles, a walled old town and a lakefront with a funicular climbing to the hill village of Brunate. It was the birthplace of Alessandro Volta, the inventor of the battery, and the unit of electrical potential carries his name.
Read the complete Como write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lake Como Scenic Circuit point 1 sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Lake Como Scenic Circuit point 2.
Bellagio sits at the end of a long peninsula where Lake Como splits into two arms, in a spot so well placed that the Romans and then the Milanese noble families all wanted a villa here. It is a town of steep stone lanes, stepped alleys lined with shops and cafes, and houses in warm yellow and ochre with green shutters. The waterfront is a line of arcades and terraces, with boats coming and going and a view across the water to the mountains. It is often called the pearl of the lake, and for once the cliche is not too far off.
Read the complete Bellagio write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lake Como Scenic Circuit point 2 comes up 17 km in. Next is Lake Como Scenic Circuit point 3.
Varenna is a small, tidy village on the eastern shore of Lake Como that looks like a set designer's idea of an Italian lake town. Houses in orange, yellow and rose crowd down to a little harbour, a lakeside path runs along the water, and steep stepped lanes climb between them with flowers on every windowsill. Above the village, the ruins of Castello di Vezio look down from a hill, and the best views across the lake to Bellagio are from its walls.
Read the complete Varenna write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
34 km in you reach Lake Como Scenic Circuit point 3. Next is Lake Como Scenic Circuit point 4.
Lake Como Scenic Circuit point 4, about halfway. Next is Lake Como Scenic Circuit point 5.
Menaggio is the western door of the lake, a handsome small town with a ferry quay, a lakefront of cafes and a population that doubles with visitors in summer. It sits at the foot of the mountains on the western shore of Lake Como, opposite Bellagio and Varenna, and its position is the reason for its life: the road from Switzerland through Porlezza and Lake Lugano reaches the water here, and so does the old route along the shore from Como to Colico. Behind the town, the steep slopes rise to a ridge where the mountain paths of the Via dei Monti Lariani run along the top, giving views of the lake from above.
Read the complete Menaggio write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lake Como Scenic Circuit point 5 sits at 68 km, late in the day. Next is Lake Como Scenic Circuit point 6.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Como write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lake Como Scenic Circuit point 6 comes up 124 km in.