Ferries from Cadenabbia

Cadenabbia is the only terminal on this crossing where Sunday looks exactly like Monday. Both the weekday and the holiday timetable carry 33 departures, split the same way: 27 to Bellagio, 6 to Varenna. Everywhere else on the lake the weekend service is visibly cut back.

Lopsided by design

Those 27 boats to Bellagio take ten minutes. The 6 to Varenna take thirty — it is the long diagonal across the widest part of the junction, and it is the least-served link in the whole system. If Varenna is the destination, the practical route is often the frequent hop to Bellagio and a second boat from there, not the direct crossing you would pick off a map.

First out, last in

The 05:50 weekday departure is the earliest anywhere on this ferry, and the 23:55 is the latest departure before midnight anywhere on the crossing. On Sundays the first boat moves to 06:50; the last stays at 23:55. For a terminal with the second-smallest departure count, Cadenabbia holds the longest span of hours.

Buying on board costs a euro — three times over

Tickets can be bought aboard, but the surcharge is €1.00 for each passenger, each piece of luggage and each vehicle separately. A couple with a car and two bags pays the surcharge five times. It is waived only when the ticket office ashore is closed, so the sensible move is to buy at the kiosk while it is open. Fares themselves are not set by the operator at all — they are fixed by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and can be changed by it.

Where this is

Cadenabbia lies on the west shore in the comune of Griante, opposite the Bellagio promontory. Its neighbour Menaggio, a short way north along the same road, has no ferry link to here at all — the two are connected by land, so the service does not duplicate it.

Dates behind these figures

Summer traghetto timetable, valid 1 July to 4 October 2026. The operator republishes the document each season rather than amending it, so counts from a spring or winter timetable will not match. Departure times can also shift on the day according to traffic conditions at the landing stages.