Mattia and his newly launched Lake Como Water Taxi is a luxury speed boat taxi and tour service…read morethat's a welcome addition to the old-school water taxi businesses that used to dominate the scene here. After earning his degree in mechanical engineering, Mattia decided to invest his money in a custom designed high-performance speed boat that he and his father designed and built. This young Italian entrepreneur is working hard to demonstrate the best in luxury service and custom-designed guided tours. Just outline what you'd be most interested in seeing, how much time/€£$ you'd like to spend, and Mattia will curate a memorable time! Mattia knows a great deal of history regarding historical buildings and towns along Lake Como (from ancient bridges and waterfalls, to famous olive orchards, to natural scenery and grand villas). Mattia is a consummate professional boat captain with years of experience as a Lake Como police officer as well as a captain and guide before starting his own premium service in May of 2015. His English and his restaurant recommendations are both excellent and he accepts credit cards as well as cash. His rates are comparable to other water taxi services with a captain, but they don't all include an eloquent guided tour for the same money. Be sure to call or text him to reserve your time slot during the peak summer months!

Wow! All I can say is that this is an absolute must do if you are visiting Lake Como!! We did this…read moreprivate boat tour of the lake for an hour on the day we arrived and it was the best part of the whole trip. The boat is gorgeous, we were greeted with champagne. And got to explore the lake and see all the different villas. Our driver didn't speak the best English but he was so sweet and took so many great photos of us and play THE BEST MUSIC!!! 10/10 experience. It is pricey, but worth every penny.

These guys were amazing and professional. We had a fantastic experience. We were in Italy…read morecelebrating my parents 50 wedding anniversary. Taxi boat Varenna really did it up right. Everything from the wood trimmed boat, chilled prosecco, to the Andrea Bocelli sings playing in the background. It was truly an amazing experience. Luca was funny and informative and balances out the right amount of commentary to go along with our 1hour tour. I highly recommend and thank them for a great experience.

Very rude staff. Saw them mistreat some vacationers that mistakenly confused their location for…read moreanother boat rental.

We had a great experience renting a boat with Turari in August 2021 one day prior to showing up!…read more We opted for 4 hours -- anything shorter might feel a bit rushed, especially if you want to take some time and just lounge around/swim in the lake. The boat were in great condition and the owner gave us a thorough overview of features, being out on the lake etc. Performance is tame as its meant to be accessible to anyone, but we still enjoyed cruising fast enough to need to hold on at times :). Everything was very transparent in terms of charges (including gas usage charges) all represented on paper. We liked that it was clearly a family-owned business (they all sat down to lunch together as we departed, which added to the Italian charm).

Had a great tour of Lake Como. Beautiful day with beautiful views. It was booked directly by our…read morehotel. We did the hour no stops around the lake. There are different tours available. We paid with cash so we got a small discount. Captain Luca was great. He had lots of knowledge and a few jokes to throw in. He knows where the George Clooney Villa is but I'm not sure which tour takes you there ;) Would highly recommend this tour.

After arriving in Bellagio for a short stay we were looking to get out on the water. Our high-end…read morehotel recommended these guys and we booked a 1-hour, private, "highlights of the lake tour" (230€). It was a 15 minute walk down to the waters edge (look for the blue and white striped poles) where we met the Australian wife of the operation and checked in. She was warm and friendly and gave us some good tips for other sight seeing during our stay. We boarded precisely at 4:30 and headed out right away. There wasn't much in the way of narration, in fact we had to keep asking questions just to get some information in between the pre-planned sights like the villa featured in the bond film Casino Royale and one of Richard Branson's houses. Most of the tour was spent at slow wake speed going along the shore. Not really any effort to try to help you get great pictures. In the end this didn't quite live up to expectations-just someone going through the motions and collecting a big fee. While it was great being out on the water, the high sides of the boat and slow speeds did little to cool us off on the very very hot day. Luckily we had brought along our own water! For 230€ per hour you'd think they'd serve prosecco and caviar. Cannot recommend

Don't understand the negative reviews, because our experience was seamless and absolutely amazing…read more We got there about 15 mins early and we were immediately given a run down of the boat, a map with some highlights, and set loose on Lake Como for three hours. When we were done, we docked the boat and were on our way. I cannot recommend a better way to see the beauty of Lake Como. This was the best way to end our time here. Highly recommend!

Perfect ! Super easy, kind staff, great boat... don't hesitate. Good advice on places to visit,…read morewhere to swim. Wonderful day on the water. Perfect ! Super easy, kind staff, great boat... don't hesitate. Good advice on places to visit, where to swim. Wonderful day on the water.

I highly recommend the lake transport as the way to get from Bellagio to Menaggio when traveling…read morearound Lake Como. For just 4.60 Euro, this ship was safe and took about 15 minutes for the trip. There were lots of seats above deck, below deck outside, and under the covered deck, and still the ship was crowded on a September weekday. It sure better than driving though, and made the trip enjoyable on the water. For safety, speed, efficiency and a great lake view, this was a wonderful experience.

The fast ferry was not operational from Como to Bellagio but we decided to take the slow ferry from…read moreBellagio to Como - it took about two hours. Multiple stops along the way but the ferry runs on schedule. Nice staff, got tickets at the window. Suggest being there about 30 minutes prior to departure.

An easy, relaxing yet exhilarating way to see Lake Como! We did their tour of the lake and will…read moredefinitely recommend it to anyone who wants to see the highlights of the lake. We customized the tour and for 8 people it came up to 350 Euros. The tour boat picked us up from Varenna, and proceeded to go by Bellagio, Menaggio, George Clooney's villa (haha...he was still with Elisabetta Canalis during that time), and then dropped us off in Como. The tour took 2 hours total and was worth every penny! Make all reservations through their website. Luca Valsecchi, our tour guide and captain, was very friendly, spoke excellent English and was knowledgeable about all the places that we buzzed by. I wish I could remember some of the stuff he talked about but I was enjoying just looking at the water, hills and villas that I was spacing out most of the time. Check out the pictures!

Fantastic customer service. Friendly and accommodating staff. We had a great time cruising Lake…read moreComo. Fair price for the use of a like new boat. I have been around boats and boating my entire life. I highly recommend AC boat. Have fun and enjoy the spectacular views.

I am writing this as a warning to other travelers, since time on vacation is precious and I feel…read morethat a considerable amount of ours was wasted completely unnecessarily by AC. We made a reservation for to rent a boat for 6 hours, starting at 10:30 and going until 4:30. When we woke up, the weather forecast for the morning was not great, however as we would have to pay the full rental amount for a reservation no show, we headed out at 9am as we were staying in Como and needed to stop for groceries first. AC did email us and tell us the weather wasn't going to work and that we could either try for closer to Noon that or the next day, however we didn't see this email until after we arrived. When we arrived it was pouring rain, so I talked to the men staffing their booth who told me it was unlikely they'd be letting anyone out that day, but maybe at noon (same message as the email). I asked if I'd be charged for the rental and they said no. Since we had driven an hour, we went to get a coffee and see if we could wait it out. At about 11:45, the weather had improved considerably and the rain had all but stopped. We went back to the booth, and the man working was completely dismissive, rude and disrespectful. I tried asking if he thought they'd be opening soon, and he just said it was about more than just rain and it was unlikely. I told him we'd be back later if the weather got nice. About 20-30 minutes after the sun had completely broken through the clouds, we came back to the booth (this was about 2pm). I saw they were sending boats out, and asked if we could still use the rest of our reservation. The man staffing the booth acted like I was crazy, and told me they had no boats until almost 4. I asked what happened to the one we reserved and he said since we had canceled they'd given our boy to someone else. We absolutely never cancelled our reservation, and I made it very clear I wanted to take the boat out. I completely understand the weather is out of anyone's control, and my frustration isn't with AC not letting us out in dangerous weather. However, at no point was it communicated that they'd give away our boat (especially so quickly) if they suddenly decided the weather was permissible. The company had our email, and phone number. It wouldn't have been hard for them to send a quick follow up email letting us know they were sending boats out. And if they had communicated that I needed to be sitting at their booth the second that they decided it was safe, I would have done so (My wife and I were in Como for her birthday and our anniversary, and it was very important for us to have this experience). I emailed my concerns to the company with how the situation was handled, and received what I perceive as a quite hostel response back (accusing me of lying basically). They have a tendency to do this on Trip Advisor to negative reviews, it's probably worth reading how they treat customers when things aren't right. TLDR - Poor communication about their policies for rain delays caused my wife and I to waste a considerable portion of our vacation on a boat ride that didn't happen.

The water taxi is a faster yet more pricy option comparing to the public transit service. The…read morecurrents on the lake are likely more than you expected, so expect bumpy rides if you're taking the water taxi instead of bigger public boat.

From the owner: Varenna Water Taxi provides a safe and reliable water taxi service at Lake Como, Italyread more

Awesome tour company! Carlotta designed a bespoke tour for…read moreour wants - it was fabulous. And so reasonably priced. Highly recommended.