Feedback on Lake Como and Umbria itinerary order

Joan are you planning to stay at an Agriturismo in Umbria for lodging?

We are looking to combine a trip to Umbria with Lake Como (and Venice as well). We haven’t bought airline tickets yet but have researched going into Milan. We will be staying in Assisi.

We will travel by train to Assisi the first day we arrive. I prefer to do it that way as the day you arrive isn’t a good touring day anyway. I also considered that weather will be getting warmer while we are there so starting south is preferable for that reason. We plan to rent a car a couple days after we arrive and return it before taking train to Venice.

My two cents is don’t drive the day you are arrive and look at the train schedules to see how they will work with your flight. There is a 12 pm train that goes to Florence and then you switch and it goes to Assisi and I would guess to Spoleto. (We are considering a flight with 9 am arrival). But some of the trains have more connections than that and take much longer. It also is an hour from Milan airport to the train station so you have to factor that in too.

Also, Lake Como is too far from the airport to stay there before an international flight. I tried to get it to work with the trains but it just doesn’t. We are staying in Milan the night before our flight.

Thanks for this excellent information.

I’m not sure if we will stay in a tourismo in Umbria. We stayed in one in Tuscany— it was a lovely place but we really missed being in town and doing a passagiata after dinner.

If we finish the trip in Como area, we will spend our last night in Milan. I wouldn’t chance it to be worried about being further than that to make the flight for the next day.

I will take your advice about not driving the first day. We will be tired from the flight so the train will be the better option,

Thx.

Hi Joan and welcome to the forum.

Have you considered flying into Rome and out of Milan? This would be under the multi-city heading instead of round trip. In all likelihood, this would be close to the R/T Milan price.

Your connection by train to Spoleto would be a little over two hours. Or you could train to Terni, pick up your car there and drive 30 min. to Spoleto.

Umbria is a lovely area, much like Tuscany, but much less tourism.

Hi Gerri

I would love to fly in and out from those two different places but I think on Air Canada, our only choice would be to get two one way airfares. $$$$. That’s what I seemed to see online anyway but I can call them because I would prefer to do this if it wasn’t double the cost. Thanks.

You want multi city not two one ways.

Frim Miami, we cant get a direct flight into Rome and out of Milan. We can get direct in and out of Milan. So time wise, it is just about a wash for us to go into Rome versus Milan.

But you can figure that out for your departure city, once you put multi city in.

Also try into Florence and out of Milan. That, for us, is most efficient but slightly more expensive routing. The train from Milan to Florence is about $50 so make sure you include that in your decision making.

Thanks Gerri. I will go on Air Canada website and try that.

Joan, use Google flight matrix to look up flights.
I don't know where your home airport is, but I picked some random dates in and out of Toronto
Using Rome FCO as arrival and Milan MXP as exit airports. Flight home does have a layover in Zurich.

CA$1,006

Toronto (YYZ) to Rome (FCO) — Wed, May 20
Overnight flight
Air Canada 890
Dep: 8:45 pm
Arr: 11:05 am
8h 20m
Boeing 777
Economy (L)
Meal, Breakfast
Thu, May 21
Milan (MXP) to Toronto (YYZ) — Thu, Jun 18

Milan (MXP) to Zurich (ZRH) — Thu, Jun 18
SWISS 1639
Dep: 7:10 am
Arr: 8:05 am
0h 55m
Embraer RJ-190
Economy (L)
Refreshments
OPERATED BY TAB
Layover in ZRH
1h 55m

Zurich (ZRH) to Toronto (YYZ) — Thu, Jun 18
Air Canada 879
Dep: 10:00 am
Arr: 12:30 pm
8h 30m
Boeing 777
Economy (L)
Breakfast, Snack or Brunch
Hide details ▼

Edit: You would book on the Air Canada site.

Gerri. Gosh. Thanks so much. I have to say this is the nicest travel community. I really appreciate your help. I guess I’m really a travel kindergarten level person because I didn’t know any of that. Toronto is my home airport.
I feel like a wealth of possibilities have been opened to me.

Thanks again
(I was about to wish you happy Thanksgiving— it’s Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend) — but I realized yours isn’t until November 🙂.

it’s Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend)

Ahh, that is why there were so many or your countrymen at the outlet mall yesterday.

Happy travels!

Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving Joan.
Was glad I could help.

This community is great, so don't neglect to ask any questions you have.

Joan, consider staying in beautiful Spello for your stay in Umbria. Lots of dining choices and easy to visit neighboring towns without a lot of traffic. We didn’t care for Spoleto.
We have stayed on Lake Como many times. Whether with a car or hired driver, we always stay at MXP the night before our outbound flight. We stay at Villa Malpensa which has a very good dining room, one lady good Italian meal!