We will be visiting Italy for 11 days in Sept/Oct 2015. We arrive and depart in Milan; our trip starts with two nights in the Cinque Terre region, then a week in Lazio region (near Viterbo). Our final two nights have not been determined; with a 4:00 pm flight out of Milan, would it be best to spend the last days near or in Milan, or stop for the night in another city along the way? We will have a rental car for our entire journey.
Posted by
Brisbane, Australia
7175 posts
My suggestion would be to pick up your car after Cinque Terre (La Spezia or Pisa) and return it when you finish at Viterbo (Orvieto perhaps). Train to Bologna if you want to mix it up, then on to Milan.
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11318 posts
It would be easy to spend two nights at Lago di Como. You can drop your car in Milano, take the train to Varenna, stay two nights, then train back to the airport on the day of departure. Varenna is only an hour's train trip from Milano. Allow plenty of time for airport transfer, of course. I am not sure if you can take the train directly to Malpensa from Varenna or not. Something to check.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
Trains from Varenna to Malpensa always require a connection at Milano Centrale station and total travel time is two hours. For these two train lines, see schedules at www.trenitalia.com or www.trenord.it.
Stresa on Lake Maggiore is another popular recommendation for this "predicament." From April through October, there is a direct bus running 6x/day (book at least a day ahead). Roberto also describes the train route on this recent thread.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you for the suggestions. We had planned to use the train for our visits to Rome, so maybe getting rail passes for the entire trip would be the better choice. We are renting through Europcar, so we could 'train-it' to La Spezia and pick up the car there, then at the end of our trip, drop car off in Viterbo and take the train north. Is it better to get rail passes or individual tickets for the travel days?
Posted by
Rock Hill, SC
57 posts
We had 2 days at the end of a Rick Steves (Venice-Florence-Rome) Tour and were flying out of Milan.
After 10 days of mostly cities, we were looking for a break. We took the train from Milano Centrale to Lake Como and spent the day. It was beautiful and very peaceful. After fighting the heavy June tourist swarm in the cities, it was so nice to visit the few town on the Lake. My wife enjoyed it.
She left 1 day before me and I ended up taking the train back up to Tirano...and then taking the Swiss Bernina Express to Pontrasina, Switzerland. The views from the train were beautiful and it actually snowed on June 19th! I only spent one night and the town was pretty much dead because it's not really tourist season. But it was a great train trip. It was a LOT of train riding though.
My vote would definitely be Lake Como. Get a hotel room in Bellagio...make sure you get one with a pool and decompress with a nice Bellini drink. You'll want to retire there.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
Rail passes almost never make sense in Italy, tickets are very inexpensive. Bergamo, Stresa or Lago di Como are convenient to Milano.
Posted by
Massachusetts
715 posts
Rail passes in Italy are a huge waste of money. Just buy your tickets point to point at the train station.
Posted by
Indiana
808 posts
I would recommend a stay in Varenna. Beautiful village, gorgeous views and a wonderful place to relax before heading to Milan. The train station in Varenna is very tiny and there is no ticket machine there, so make sure you have your tickets ahead of time. If not, you will be heading back to the village to buy them.