How the heck do i get to munich from lake Como?!?!

seth,

That's actually a very easy trip. The route I'd use would be to take the short (20 minute) ferry ride from Bellagio to Varenna and then walk up the hill to the rail station. The train from Varenna to Milano Centrale is about an hour (if using a direct train) and there are frequent departures. That's also the easiest way to get to Bellagio. A departure at 07:37 would get you to Milan at 08:38. From Milan there's a departure at 09:05, arriving Munich at 16:24 (reservations compulsory, one change at Verona Porta Nuova).

One important point to note - the train from Varenna to Milan is a Regionale so you MUST validate your ticket prior to boarding the train on the day of travel, or risk a hefty fine which will be collected on the spot! Also, the station in Varenna is not staffed so you'll need to consider buying your outbound tickets prior to your stay in Bellagio. If necessary, you can buy them at the helpful Tivano Tours office, which is just below the station in Varenna.

The trip described in the first paragraph above would mean a VERY early departure from Bellagio. Have you definitely decided to stay there? Staying in Varenna would make your ongoing journey easier and simpler.

Happy travels!

Ken,

I've been looking on Trentalia and do not see an option for Varenna to Milan, perhaps a glitch on the site?

Any suggestions?

On the Trenitalia site, either click on the British flag icon to change the language to English, or click on "tutti i treni"; either one will bring up the train schedules for regionale as well as fast trains. The home page default is set for the fast trains (freccie) only.

To see the regionale trains you may need to pick a date a week or less from now rather than your actual travel date. You can buy the freccia ticket online (Milano to Munich) but you may not have the option to include the regionale train; take Ken's advice for buying the ticket from Varenna to Milano (or Como to Milano).

Either way, you will need to be on a ferry before 7 am. The way you show will get you there the earliest. You will need to take the Speed Service boat from Belaggio at 6:47 to get you to Como at 7:30. You will need to get a cab to Como San Giovanni station, which is about a mile from the ferry dock.

Going by way of Varenna, you would need to be on the 6:20 boat to Varenna getting in at 6:55 to get the 7:37 train to Milano Centrale arriving at 8:38 and continuing on your previous itinerary. One small problem may be that you would need to already have your ticket, since there is no ticket vending machine at Varenna station and they need to be bought at a nearby travel agency, which may not be open that early.

One other way is to go north at Como San Giovanni on the EC train to Zurich at 9:05, arriving at 12:28 and changing there to an EC train at 13:16 getting into Munich at 17:28. You could take a slightly later ferry from Belaggio, 7:12 arriving Como at 8:05.

http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/eng/c_orari.asp

i also recommend staying in Varenna and just doing a day excursion to Bellagio. Varenna is cuter, cheaper, and less over run with tourists. ride on train back into Milan is easy

An additional site that will show schedules between Varenna-Esino and Milano Centrale stations is www.trenord.it.

seth,

As mentioned in two of the previous replies, a few points to note.....

1. The official name of the station is Varenna-Esino.
2. Unless you click the Tutti i Treni bar (gray colour) on the Trenitalia website, you won't be able to see those trains.
3. The trains you may be using on the trip from Varenna are operated by TreNord, so you could also check THEIR WEBSITE as Laura mentioned. DON'T forget to validate!
4. The extensive bahn.de site (which is usually one of the best to get information from) does not list the TreNord routes, so doesn't show Varenna at all (however the bahn site is a good one for checking the route from Milano Centrale to Munich).

As I mentioned, that's actually a very easy trip. One nice benefit is that you'll be travelling through the scenic Brenner Pass (north of Verona) during daylight hours, a trip I always enjoy.

It's a shame that EasyJet's Milan-Malpensa to Munich flights don't begin until the 8th of December, 2014. That'd be a great way to do your route.

The Swiss and Austrian Alps are very large barriers to travel. They're just difficult to get around.

Thanks Everyone. Gonna try for the train, how ever I noticed that in one day the connection times have changed.

Would most likely take the 7:38am to Milano arriving at 8:38am

then... do this, however i did notice an only 5 minute connection time. Is this enough for us to switch trains? Do other trains wait if another train is running late, or do they leave on schedule regardless.

24/09/2014 09:35 MILANO CENTRALE
24/09/2014 10:57 VERONA PORTA NUOV
Frecciabianca 9715 - Reservation included

24/09/2014 11:02 VERONA PORTA NUOV
24/09/2014 16:24 MUENCHEN HBF
Eurocitybrenner 80 - Reservation included

seth,

That looks somewhat similar to the train routing I listed in my first reply. One point to note is that if you use the 09:05 departure from Milano Centrale, it's about an hour shorter than the next train. I just checked the routing again on the bahn.de website, and it's the same as I listed earlier....

Dep. 09:05, Arr. Verona PN 10:27 via ES 9713
Dep. 11:02, Arr. Munich 16:24 via EC 80

I'd suggest NOT using the 09:35 departure, as it has FIVE changes and arrives at 18:15. The bahn site doesn't show the connection you listed above, possibly because five minutes is not enough to make the connection. As I recall, Verona PN has two different parts, with one being accessible through a winding tunnel which takes a bit of time to navigate.