Every Mistake We Made Trying to Get to Naboo
When we decided to visit Northern Italy on vacation, one destination ranked at the top of our list: Villa del Balbianello, the filming location for the Palace of Naboo in the Star Wars films. But getting there was more difficult than we expected.
Villa del Balbianello is located in the Lake Como region of Northern Italy, and the town of Como itself is about an hour train ride from Milan. Before our trip, we bought tickets to the Villa on an official website, securing admission to one of the daily tours to see the palace and surrounding gardens. The tours are offered in English and Italian to small groups, so we were pretty smug about having booked in advance. We’d done some preliminary research on Google Maps so we knew that to go from Como to Lenno, the town near the Villa, we needed to allow for a couple hours to get there by car or boat.
But we’re writing this blog post, so clearly things didn’t go as planned! So if you’re looking to visit Naboo for yourself, here are a few things we learned from our misadventures.
American Mistake #1: Thinking it’s easy to book a car service.
After looking into different Lake Como cities to stay in, we selected the town of Como at the southern part of the lake. It had a good variety of hotels and Airbnbs available and was walkable from two nearby train stations. We planned to stay for just two nights, making the trip up to Lenno during a Saturday afternoon. We woke up early, donned our Padmé and Anakin-inspired outfits, and hailed an Uber. The app confirmed our booking and said the driver would arrive in 5 minutes. We waited. The app said the driver was delayed and extended the arrival time by 5 more minutes. And then it canceled the ride completely with an apology that no drivers were available. Not to worry; we tried again, this time selecting the more expensive Uber Black version. The same thing happened: confirmed, driver arriving shortly, time extended, then ultimately canceled. We did this once more, this time with Alex’s account, just in case it was related to cell service. No luck. We tried other taxi apps on our phones, and even walked to the city center to see if there were taxis waiting that we could ask. What we have since discovered is that, unlike in the US, drivers in the Como region won’t drive 30-50 minutes in one direction. They’ll just decline the ride. So despite our planning, there were no drivers willing to haul us to and from Como to Lenno. We watched as our tour time got nearer and nearer, still stranded 25 kilometers away.
American Mistake #2: Thinking all public transportation in Europe is readily available.
We’d been spoiled by the efficient train service we’d taken all over Italy thus far, so we assumed that we could hop on the next ferry from Como to Lenno and then walk the 20 minutes from the ferry to the Villa. Fools! The Lake Como region is an incredibly popular tourist destination, with the public ferries hauling folks to the lakefront towns like Bellagio and Varenna hourly. And those ferries book up in advance. As we stood in the lengthy line for Como ferry tickets, we realized the morning’s ferries were already completely sold out. By the time we got to the ticket window, we could purchase one-way tickets to Lenno for 15:30, hours after our 13:30 tour reservation time. And even if we got there, there was no guarantee of how we would get back to Como after the tour, since they didn’t sell the return tickets. So that option was out. We briefly looked into the public bus service, but that option would take 2 hours in each direction and stop at over 40 bus stops along the way. By this point, our tour was set to start in an hour, and so we kissed our pre-booked Villa tickets goodbye.
American Mistake #3: Thinking private watercraft have a set price.
As we were waiting in line for the ferry tickets, we were approached by representatives for private watercraft tours. They’re the small speedboats that take tourists around the lake on guided tours. We initially dismissed them, shocked by the cost to have a boat all to yourself for a few hours. But as we realized that our only chance to see Villa del Balbianello may just be from the lake, we slowly talked ourselves into this final option. We approached the gentleman who had first offered to take us to the villa in a private speedboat: 400 euros for two hours, and they could drop us off at the Villa. When we asked him about his initial offer, he called his boss to confirm and was told we could only do the three-hour booking for 500 euros, but they would take us to see the villa and bring us back without disembarking. A small fortune just to see the filming location from a sci-fi movie! All out of options, we agreed. But the story has a happy ending! Our three-hour tour included a friendly captain who pointed out destinations and offered us a bottle of Prosecco to enjoy along the journey. It turns out it really is a solid 90 minutes, even going at high speeds, just to get from Como to Lenno. We saw stunning hotels and homes along the way, and even the Alps off in the distance. We made it to the Villa where we had stunning lakeside views of the castle, and our captain even drove us right up to where Padmé and Anakin disembark from their boat in Episode II. It was a once-in-a-lifetime splurge, but one that I’ll never forget. We got beautiful photos and a crazy story to take home with us about our escapades trying to get a ride to Naboo.
So what should you do differently?
Depending on your price point, there are two things I’d suggest.
If you’re looking to use public transportation, I think the Como ferries are a great option, as long as you can book in advance, study the routes, and prepare for the longer travel times. Do not wait until you’re in Como to figure out how to use the ferries, or you’ll end up like us! The official booking site - navigazionelaghi.it - is complicated to navigate, but it has all the timetables available. You could probably get there by car or Vespa, but we’re not quite comfortable driving rental vehicles in foreign countries.
If you want to do the private watercraft, I’d reach out to a tour company in advance to arrange a package that includes transport to the villa, waiting time to walk around the grounds, and transportation back to Como. Booking in advance would lock in a time, rate and terms of service so you could just roll up and then enjoy your own little boat to Lenno. It really was a stunning experience, but be prepared to pay hundreds of dollars for the exclusivity of it. The one plus side is that booking rates usually cover the whole boat, so if you’re traveling with friends or family, that could help offset the cost per person.
So how was the tour of the Villa?
Unfortunately we forfeited our pre-booked tour tickets when we couldn’t get transportation, so we weren’t able to see the palace or gardens on foot. We were able to see the whole palace exterior, including the landing that Anakin meditates on, the balcony where the wedding ceremony takes place, and the canal where the couple arrives by boat, all from the lake. We’d love to see the grounds on a future trip, but now we know it takes a lot of time and effort to get there. If you do plan a tour, just know that there is also a 20-30 minute walk from the gate to the villa itself, even if you get a ride there.
If you, too, are seriously nerdy about Star Wars, we hope you found this deep dive on Villa del Balbianello transportation options helpful! And if you ever make a trip out there, may the Force be with you. Truly.