The most stylish way from Milan to Lake Como is back

There is nothing particularly romantic about a motorway.

There is even less romance in sitting in traffic somewhere north of Milan wondering how an apparently straightforward drive to Lake Como has taken quite so long.

So this caught our attention.

Trenord has brought its historic train back for autumn 2026, including a series of journeys from Milano Cadorna directly to Como Lago.

Not a heritage railway hidden somewhere in the countryside.

An actual train from central Milan to the edge of Lake Como.

And it looks rather wonderful.

The train is made up of three restored first-class AZ carriages built in 1924 and 1925.

Inside are wooden interiors and cardinal-red velvet seats.

At the front are historic electric locomotives from 1928 and 1949.

Trenord and FERROVIENORD have restored the rolling stock rather beautifully, rather than simply keeping it alive as a museum piece.

The idea is that you actually travel in it.

Costumed characters, musicians and performers join passengers during the journey, creating something deliberately reminiscent of rail travel a century ago.

It is theatrical.

Slightly eccentric.

And very Italian.

The ordinary Milano Cadorna to Como Lago route is already one of the easiest ways to reach the southern end of Lake Como.

The journey is around an hour.

More importantly, Como Lago station puts you almost directly on the waterfront.

Walk out of the station and the lake is there.

No lengthy transfer.

No taxi from an airport-style station on the edge of town.

From there you can walk into Como, take a boat north or simply sit somewhere with an espresso and decide what happens next.

For anyone beginning a few days on the lake, it is an unusually civilised arrival.

The first autumn journey ran on Sunday 13 September.

There are three further Milano Cadorna to Como Lago historic services currently scheduled:

Sunday 18 October

Sunday 8 November

Sunday 22 November

Tickets are being sold through Trenord and its app as part of the operator's historic train programme.

The special ticket includes the return journey on the historic service and connecting Trenord travel from elsewhere in Lombardy to the stations where the vintage train departs.

It makes the whole thing surprisingly practical.

There is something about this that would feel slightly less convincing in August.

Lake Como in high summer is about boats, terraces, swimming pools and finding somewhere cool enough for lunch.

Autumn is different.

The lake becomes quieter.

The mountains become sharper.

Restaurants become easier to book.

The frenetic procession of summer day-trippers begins to slow.

And suddenly arriving on a wooden-panelled train built in the 1920s makes complete sense.

This is the season when Lake Como becomes less of a destination to conquer and more of a place to inhabit.

Our instinct would be not to overcomplicate it.

Arrive at Como Lago.

Walk along the waterfront.

Have lunch.

Then decide whether you actually need to go anywhere else.

If you do, the public boats running from Como open up much of the western shore and central lake.

For something more ambitious, a long lunch somewhere accessible from the water is still one of our favourite ways to spend a day here. Our guide to lunches you can arrive at by boat is a good place to start.

And if the weather is clear, resist the temptation to spend the entire day indoors.

Lake Como in October can deliver those crisp blue days when the mountains seem considerably closer than they did in July.

The modern journey between Milano Cadorna and Como is straightforward.

Ordinary Trenord trains cover the route in around an hour and run frequently throughout the day.

Which rather misses the point.

Nobody boards a 100-year-old railway carriage because it is quicker.

You board because the seat is covered in red velvet.

Because the walls are made of wood.

Because somebody decided that getting to Lake Como should feel slightly more memorable than tapping a contactless card and staring at a phone for sixty minutes.

There are plenty of occasions when technology improves travel.

This may not be one of them.

There is a particular kind of pleasure in starting a trip properly.

Not arriving exhausted.

Not fighting over a hire car.

Not spending the first hour discussing parking.

Leave Milan in the morning.

Sit in a carriage built when people dressed for railway journeys.

Watch the suburbs disappear.

Then step off beside the lake.

From there, Lake Como can do the rest.

For more ideas about what to do once you arrive, start at Como Private.

The old train has remembered something modern travel occasionally forgets.

Getting there can still be part of the story.