Summer 2026: Lake Como leads Lombardy's lake destinations
Seven in ten visitors to Lombardy's lakes are high spenders. Confcommercio Lombardia's analysis of July and August mobile data puts the Lario first, ahead of Lake Maggiore, Limone del Garda and Varenna.
Translated from the Italian original. Leggi in italiano
Summer 2026 ends on a positive note for tourism in Lombardy, and Lake Como confirms its place as the region's most sought-after lake destination. That is the finding of a Confcommercio Lombardia analysis based on mobile phone data (Cities Analytics) collected in July and August 2026 and released at the end of September.
The most striking figure concerns the makeup of visitor flows: foreign tourists accounted for 64% of visitors across Lombardy, with a significant share of high-spending travellers. Region-wide, six visitors in ten fall into the high-spender bracket.
On Lombardy's lakes the share of high-spending visitors rises to 70%. Here, visitors from another Lombard province account for 16%, Italians from outside the region for 13% and foreign tourists for 57%. The leading foreign markets are France, Germany and the Netherlands, with a significant decline in the German component compared with previous periods.
The Lario first choice, Varenna among rising destinations
Lake Como tops the ranking of the most coveted lake destinations, followed by Lake Maggiore, Limone del Garda and Varenna. The market map confirms the weight of neighbouring countries and Northern Europe: French and Dutch visitors remain among the most present, while the decline in the German component stands out as the clearest sign of change compared with previous seasons.
In the provincial capitals, the analysis notes the growth of Swiss and US tourists, confirming the appeal of art cities and high-end shopping. Here the high-spender share stands at 60%, concentrated in central Milan, Como and Bergamo Alta.
September benefited from major events capable of drawing crowds from abroad: the Monza Grand Prix, Milan Fashion Week, the Mantova Literature Festival and the Guzzi motorcycle rally in Mandello del Lario sustained flows beyond the summer. In Bormio and Livigno, in the first post-Olympic summer, accommodation occupancy rose compared with summer 2025.
For the Lario, confirmation of its leadership among lake destinations comes in a season when competition from other destinations remains strong. Lake Maggiore and Lake Garda hold prominent positions, but it is Lake Como, with Varenna among the localities expressly cited in the analysis, that leads the ranking of the most sought-after destinations of summer 2026.
The picture fits into a broader positive trend for the region. In the first five months of 2026, overnight stays in Lombardy reached 21.2 million, up 8.7% on the same period of 2025, according to data released in July by Confcommercio Lecco, while the regional observatory estimated 27.7 million stays for June to September.
