If you are planning a first trip to the Italian lakes, Lake Como is almost certainly the name that came to mind first. It has the villas, the films, the famous residents. Lake Orta, an hour to the west, has none of that — and that is the entire point. Here is how they actually compare, including the cases where Como wins.

Size and crowds: the number that explains everything

Lake Como covers 146 square kilometres and is Italy's third-largest lake. Lake Orta covers 18.2. Como is roughly eight times larger, and it absorbs as many as 1.4 million visitors a year.

That pressure has become a local political issue. The mayor of Como has floated a Venice-style day-tripper charge, and some lakeside villages have introduced fines for tourists wandering through town shirtless. None of this makes Como unpleasant — but it does mean that in July and August you are sharing it with a lot of people, and that ferries, parking and restaurant tables all need planning.

Lake Orta has no such problem. Even in high season the shoreline stays quiet, and the loudest thing on the water is usually a rowing boat.

Atmosphere: grand versus intimate

Como is theatrical. Steep wooded slopes drop straight into deep water, the shore is lined with the great nineteenth-century villas, and the scale is genuinely impressive. It is a lake you look at.

Orta is smaller in every dimension and behaves differently. You can see the far shore clearly from your own. Orta San Giulio's centre is closed to cars, so the loudest sound in the lanes is footsteps on stone. In the middle sits Isola San Giulio, with a working Benedictine monastery whose "Way of Silence" is exactly what it sounds like. It is a lake you sit beside.

Getting there

Como is closer to Milan and better connected — that is a real advantage if you are combining the lake with a city break. The flip side is that the roads along Como's shores are narrow, busy and slow, particularly on the Bellagio branch.

Orta is under an hour from Malpensa by car and, once you are there, you can leave the car alone for a week. If you want the details, we have written a full guide on how to get to Lake Orta.

And you do not have to choose exclusively: Orta to Como is about 83 kilometres, a little over an hour by motorway. Basing yourself on Orta and spending a day on Como is entirely reasonable. The reverse — a day trip from Como to Orta — works just as well.

What there is to do

Como offers more, simply because it is bigger: Villa del Balbianello and Villa Carlotta, the funicular at Brunate, Bellagio, a proper ferry network, and a nightlife that actually exists.

Orta trades quantity for concentration. The Sacro Monte di Orta is a UNESCO World Heritage site with twenty frescoed chapels in a wood above the village. Isola San Giulio takes a morning. Villa Crespi, Antonino Cannavacciuolo's three-Michelin-star restaurant, is a genuine destination in its own right. Beyond that: walking, swimming and water sports without booking anything.

Cost

Como's popularity is priced in. Accommodation, restaurants and boat hire all cost noticeably more, and the gap widens at the top end. On Orta the same budget stretches considerably further — a lakefront house on Orta costs what a room with a partial view costs on Como.

When Como is the better choice

We are not going to pretend otherwise. Choose Como if it is your first trip to Italy and you want the postcard; if you are travelling without a car and need frequent public transport; if you want the great villa gardens; if you want bars open late; or if you are combining the lake with Milan and want to minimise transfers.

When Orta is the better choice

Choose Orta if the crowds are the thing you are trying to escape; if you are travelling with small children or a dog and want space rather than logistics; if you would rather swim off your own shore than queue for a ferry; if you want the same money to buy a better house; or if you have already done Como and found it beautiful but busy.

The verdict

Como is the more famous lake and, on a first visit to Italy, a perfectly sound choice. Orta is the one people come back to. If what you want from a week by the water is quiet, space and the feeling that you found somewhere rather than queued for it, the smaller lake wins — and it is only an hour away if you change your mind.

Curious how Orta stacks up against the others? We have done the same exercise for Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore.