Ferries at lake como

As far as I know, you cannot ever buy Lake Como ferry tickets before the day of travel. That is why folks traveling during busy periods sometimes mention having headed over to the dock early to buy a day-ticket (single-ride tickets are also an option, but that means standing in line again to get a ticket for the return trip) even though they didn't plan to get on a ferry until later in the day.

I will say that my ferry experience in early September 2024 was not bad at all. I must have just missed the peak period. The issue I had was in trying to get my hands on a copy of the schedule. It was late enough in the year that stocks had been depleted at most of the ticket booths. I found it very helpful to have a paper schedule I could consult. If you think you'll want one, too, I'd suggest printing out the schedule from the website in case can't get one from the ticket booth. You can go to this website and scroll down to "Schedules", but you need to wait awhile to get the summer schedule.

https://www.navigazionelaghi.it/en/tickets-and-timetables-lake-como/

Perhaps this is a new development, but the link provided by acraven actually leads to online ferry ticket reservations but for now, only through May. I previously thought tickets could only be bought in-person same day as acraven says. The ferry webside says: "The online purchase of travel tickets is not to be considered a reservation and does not give the right to priority boarding. The travel ticket is valid for one day and can be used on any boat run in scheduled service on the purchased route." So, I guess the advantage of buying online is to avoid the lines for ticket purchase that acraven describes. In that case, it might be just as good to purchase online a couple days in advance and not worry about months in advance. I believe I saw something that said the online tickets for summer would be available when the summer schedule comes out, in case that helps.

Thanks, CD. I overlooked that. I think it must be new(ish).