we are flying into Milan and heading straight to CT. We will be quite tired after overnight flight, but don't want to waste a day in Milan as we only have 2 nights prior to leaving for Venice cruise. Please give me a good, central location to stay. We will have 1 suitcase (small-medium), so we can't take it with us to hike to the next town. Is there a town that we can stay in that we could day trip on the next two days prior to PM train departure? Also, if you have recommendations of places, esp. who would store our 1 bag for the day before our train? Lastly, is CT doable if we fly into Milan 8am on wed and train out 4pm friday, or is it not worth all the travel? We have been to Italy 3X prior, Florence, hilltowns, Rome,etc., but never CT and we don't have kids with us this trip, so we could hike a bit and take in scenery. thanks, Elaine
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17244 posts
That is a long way to go if you are heading to Venice 2 days later. What about Lake Como or one of the other lakes? Also very scenic, but not as long a journey.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17244 posts
let me be more specific. I'm really talking about the travel back up to Venice. but here is what it looks like: Milan to Monterosso al Mare, 3 hours or more, depending which train you catch. Some do go with no changes at all. If you want to stay in a village other than Monterosso, then you'd have to add time to change to the regional train and travel to that village. Monterosso to Milan is 5.5 to 6 hours, again depending which train you caatch. Sit is doable, but you'll be spendin gquite a bit of time on trains, especially on your Friday trip back to Venice.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
Have you already bought the airline tickets into Milan?
Posted by
OP
washington, dc
393 posts
no, we have not bought tickets yet. but we have an AA FF reservation into Milan that I have to pull the trigger on Thurs. by midnightand there are few, if any seats left for summer travel. We are going on a cruise from Venice for 1 week and wanted to add CT. Milan is nonstop from JFK vs. having to connect thru LHR for any places other than Rome or Zurich. We are also familiar with MXP, bus to train station, etc. We have not much interest in Lake area, having passed thru last year from Zurich-Milan. Any other really great 2 day stop for us to consider prior to Venice?
Posted by
Portlandia
3313 posts
Verona, Vicenza. You're going to spend a huge amount of time getting to the CT and then turning right around to get to Venice...
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17244 posts
Verona is lovely. We could have used more time there than the 2 nights we had.
Posted by
Watertown, MA, USA
7 posts
Just fly into Pisa and you'll be an hour train ride away from 5T. Pisa or Florence are closer than Milan.