Fly to Milan or Bergamo, meet your tour manager, and transfer to Lake Como and your hotel. Settle into your surroundings and enjoy a welcome drink and a get-together with your fellow travellers followed by your first dinner.

On today’s included tour you’ll journey to the lake’s main town (also called Como). Here, the shore-side Piazza Cavour is surrounded by shops and cafés, and leads through to an old town of narrow streets lined with shops and artists’ studios, and crowned by a majestic cathedral. A highlight of your day will be a ride on the historic funicular (first opened in 1894) that climbs the 1600 feet to the mountain village of Brunate. The seven-minute journey in modern, air-conditioned and heated cars offers wonderful views of the lake below, and on clear days spectacular vistas that stretch to the snow-capped Alps beyond. Wander Brunate’s cobbled streets, take in the views and perhaps visit the public viewing gallery, which showcases the railway’s haulage mechanism. You'll return to Como and head back to the hotel this afternoon, for the chance to relax before dinner is served.