Best way to get to Lake Como (Italy) from Innsbruck (Austria) without a car

You don't say where on Lake Como this hiking tour is kicking off from. It is a big long lake with 3 arms.

It is straight forward to get to anywhere on the West shore by train. Innsbruck to Verona to Milan to the west shore, like Lecco or Varenna. Or to Como city on the other leg.

You could also make a day of it by going through Switzerland via Sargans, Chur, St Moritz, over the Bernina Pass to Tirano, then Varenna. A little more time and money, but nicer scenery.

You can fly from Innsbruck to Milan for not that much $. Then catch the train up to Lake Como.
If you went by train down to Verona and west over to Milan and north by train to Lake Como area, you could spend 18 hours or more.

Train with changes in Verona and Milan is 7-8 hours. The itinerary through Switzerland is much slower but you would have the possibility of riding the famous Bernina line.
Flying is not really an option, no direct flights. It won't be cheaper than a train and it won't be faster. Also, reaching some places on lake Como from MXP is time consuming.

norika,

It would help to know which location on Lake Como you need to go to.

NO, it's not realistic to fly to Milan. It's an easy trip by train from Innsbruck Hbf to Milano Centrale. For example there's a departure at 09:24, arriving at 14:45 (time 5H:21M, 1 change at Verona Porta Nuova). That route goes through the Brenner Pass, which is very scenic.

I am doing almost this exact trip by train in a few weeks. Starting in Salzburg, ending in Varenna, over the Brenner pass. It's the one day of our month long Europe trip that will be devoted almost entirely to travel.

OK thanks for your input and help everyone!!!! The train certainly sounds like the best option, combined with transportation to whichever destination on Lake Como we're supposed to meet at (I don't have the details of that yet).

Also thanks Sam for the interesting and obviously well-informed suggestion of the alternative scenic train route and the details about the different cities on the lake!!!!

And thanks to Ken for the interesting details!

Hi,

It's a long trip that I would break into 2 days. Start on the 26th, stop for the night somewhere and move on to Lake Como the next day.

The ideal place for the stopover would be Chur. Spending the night there would let you take the direct Bernina Express train from Chur(8:32) to Tirano(12:49).

From Tirano you have frequent trains to Lecco and Milano which stop at many lakeside towns.

Getting from Innsbruck to Chur takes about 3 hours by train. Taking one of the Innsbruck - Zürich trains and transfering at Buchs SG or Sargans to Chur.

I recommend to transfer in Buchs SG where you have 15 minutes wait for the other train, while in Sargans you have only 4 minutes.

You can do the whole trip in 1 day without stopping for the night, but it involves additional transfers between Chur and Tirano, because the direct train runs only at 8:30.

You can find detailed information on the trip(including where and how to book tickets):

https://www.seat61.com/BerninaExpress.htm

The route suggested might sound counter-intuitive initially. But it really isn't.

There are those pesky mountains all around and they get in the way of quick travel.

So the easiest thing to do from Innsbruck - which has mountains all around (and trains hate mountains, they much prefer level and straight to go fast and not hurtle passengers all around the cabin) - is to immediately get away from the highest and most in the way ones. Going south from Innsbruck - over the Brenner Pass - immediately starts you down, and pretty straight too. Sidestepping much of the Dolomites and swinging gently down the passes towards Verona achieves easy yet very scenic running.

An easy change in Verona put you on Italian high speed (well that line is reasonably fast) straight and level tracks which follow the valley of the Po river, straight into Milan. Then a very easy change onto the little train up the east coast of Lake Como and Verenna, or a different line to Como if you want the south shore of the lake...

The scenic train on the Bernina line takes so much more time because it goes through the mountains and around them rather than bypassing them and using low passes.

If your destination is somewhere along the east side of Lake Como (Varenna for example), you have the option of the Bernina rail route OVER the Alps. Superscenic:
Innsbruck - Buchs - south to Chur - Bernina Route over the Alps - Tirano - Varenna.

If you are elsewhere on the lake (Como town), this route doesn't make sense. For Como town:
Innsbruck - Zürich (via Buchs) - Como town.

Menaggio on the west side of the lake is accessable from Lugano by bus:
Innsbruck - Zürich (via Buchs) - Lugano - Bus - Menaggio.

Anywhere else on the lake gets more complicated, buses and/or feries.

The problem with a rented car, is returning an Austrian car in Italy would incur a large surcharge.