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6 nights in Italy - questions about train travel on arrival and departure days.

Posted by (North Carolina) on

My husband and I fly to Milan (MXP) on March 31, economy, from the USA, arriving at 9am. My original plans were to stay in Milan for two nights (rest up, get over jet lag, etc...), then proceed to Rome for 2 nights, then Venice for the last two (all via train). I planned for us to train from Venice to Malpensa that final day. Our flight to Munich is at 1:40 pm (overnight there, then back to USA the next day).

My questions are:

  1. Should I move Milan to the last two nights? Thinking trying to get from Venice to MXP in a morning would be very rushed. Would only give us 1 full day in Venice were we to keep original plans.
  2. If I were to move Milan to the last two nights, should I move Venice to the first two nights (rather than Rome)? It seems closer. If so we'd arrive at 9am to Milan, then immediately train to (I assume) Milano Centrale, then Venice St. Lucia, then water taxi to our hotel. Sounds like I really long amount of travel, after 2 domestic and one international flight for me.
  3. Alternatively, we could train immediately to Rome. Only fear is that we'd be super jet-lagged while trying to see numerous historical sites. And we'd barely have 48 hours there.

Thoughts? I realize I could break up Milan (1 night on front and back end) but I'm not super-excited about that. Thanks for your time!

Posted by
16238 posts

The best would be to fly to Milan Malpensa (MXP) or Venice (VCE) in Northern Italy, work your way south by train, then fly out of Rome (FCO) to Munich (MUC).
If your plans to fly in and out of MXP cannot be changed, the best is to land and go straight to Venice (by train from MXP with a train change at Milan Centrale) on the day of arrival. Since you arrive in the morning, you can be in Venice by lunch time.
After Venice take the train south to Rome. Lastly you would go back to Milan the day before your flight to MUC. If you leave in the early morning you can be in Milan in 3.5 hours just in time for lunch. If you devote only 2 nights to Rome and 2 to Venice, one afternoon is more than enough to see Milan. Take one night from Milan and add it to Rome (or Venice, if you prefer). Rome has a lot more to offer to the tourist than Milan. If you only have 6 nights in Italy, you should spend 2 in Venice, 3 in Rome and only 1 in Milan (the last one before flying back). The night before a flight is always best to spend it in the city where you depart from. Sometimes s..tuff happens (to trains too) and you don't want to take chances.
The morning of departure you won't have a lot of time. If your flight from MXP departs at 13:20 you need to be there at the MXP airport at around Noon. That means you should leave your hotel in Milan by 11:00 at the latest. The train trip from the Cadorna station (Malpensa Express) is 35 min at least (up to one hour by bus or 45 min by taxi). MXP is not that close to Milan city enter (55km=35miles).

Posted by
11613 posts

I agree with Roberto. Your morning flight into Milano will allow you to get to Venice for lunch. Two nights in Venice, three in Rome, one in Milano. None of your trains will require connections, so you might even find those trips somewhat relaxing.

Posted by
663 posts

On reading your post I thought Venice 2 nights, Rome 3, and Milan 1 night... But I see Roberto already covered all that. Have a great trip!

Posted by
2 posts

Thank you for your help! After writing this, I double-checked on availability using points (that's how we are staying). Unfortunately, several hotels weren't available for switching our reservations - but I could cancel one night in Milan and and add a third night to Rome. So we'd spend our first night in Milan, then 3 nights in Rome, then 2 in Venice. Flights can't be changed, so we'll just have to leave Venice quite early that Sunday morning.

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