Daytrip to Lake Como from Milan - re: transportation

Hi Warren. It would greatly simplify things to take the train from Milan to Varenna instead of Como, then take the midlake ferry to / from Bellagio and other midlake towns as you please. With that plan, it is strongly to your advantage to NOT book anything in advance; just buy tickets on the day; neither the train or ferry can sell out. Enjoy!

1) If you miss the 8:40 fast ferry then you have to wait a few hours for the next one. Unless you don't mind over a couple of hours on the water, use bus line 30: https://www.asfautolinee.it/it/orari-rete-extraurbana

2) No bus or train between the two, taxi will be expensive. Don't see the weather interfering in June.

3) Wouldn't worry about it. The fares are cheap. Also, from TrenItalia :

Changes to date/time of train
An unlimited number of date/time. changes are permitted until 11:59 p.m. on the day before your date of travel. Up until 11:59 p.m. on the day of travel, an unlimited number of time changes are permitted provided you have not already checked in for your journey.

Ate at San Giacamo's in Bellagio. Good food.

Ate twice at Il Cavatappi in Varenna.

Warren,

As someone suggested above, the easiest and most efficient solution would be to travel from Milano Centrale to Varenna-Esino by train, as it's only about a 1H:04M trip. You'll be travelling via TreNord trains, which are usually Regionale so locally purchased tickets need to be validated AFAIK. The Trenitalia website shows tickets currently priced at €7.40 each. I'm not aware of any bus substitutions on any part of that route at the moment but if there are, the website should indicate that for the date and time you'll be travelling.

When you arrive there, walk downhill to the lake where you can buy tickets for the ferry to Bellagio. That's only about a 20 minute trip each way so very easy. Here's the ferry website - https://www.navigazionelaghi.it/en/tickets-and-timetables-lake-como/ . You can explore Varenna either when you first arrive or when you return from Bellagio. There's a beautiful promenade along the lake from the waterfront by the Varenna ferry dock to the main part of town. If you're going to return to the train from there, it's an easier walk to the station as you're already partway up the hill.

"The towns have shopping and food but nothing else." - Varenna and Bellagio both have gardens and villas.

A short, very steep hike to the castle ruin Vezio above Varenna. Great view from here. There were a few caged owls and hawks when I went.

thanks for the comments