Flying home from MXP-where to stay night before

Using public transportation ... the travel time between Como San Giovanni and Milano Centrale via train is 45 minutes, then add another hour for the bus between Milano Centrale and Malpensa Airport. Personally, I'd stay in Milan overnight to avoid all that hustle and bustle trying to hop trains and navigate train stations in order to get to the airport in time for my flight. Maybe someone else can chime in here as to the other towns you mention.

Take a look at the Malpensa Shuttle: http://www.malpensashuttle.it/e-default.htm That gets you from the main Milan train station to MXP. I've heard the 50 minute trip can take 1.5 hours during rush hour. You need to get there about 2 hours before you departure, with an absolute cut off of 1 hour I think... Depends on where you're going, I guess. If it is the only United flight to NYC, and you miss it, well you're pretty much hosed. If your headed to Paris for the next leg of your trip, and there are plenty of other departures, you might be more bold. Finally, Hands down the easiest town to travel into MXP is Milan. Period. No contest.

Thank you! It sounded like a fun idea to stay around the lakes until you factor in all the time needed to make connections....

Carla - we have stayed at Stresa and made it to Malpensa for departure. We had a car though. I believe there is a shuttle bus that runs from Stresa to Malpensa during peak season.

Hi Carla. We stayed in Varenna the night before a 10:30 am flight out of MXP. I also debated about spending the night in Milan vs. Varenna but I really wanted to maximize our time in Lake Como so we opted to stay in Varenna and take a shuttle bus to MXP. The cost was 50 euros per person so we paid 100 euros for my husband and myself. We booked it at the only travel agency in town (right near the train station) the day before. It was really easy. While the cost was a bit high, we felt it was worth it so that we could stay in Varenna the last night & by the end of our trip, we were very tired of schlepping our luggage onto/off off trains and having to change trains, navigate the stations, etc. You can click on the link below for the shuttle company information but it looks like there's a shuttle leaving Varenna at 5:30 am which would get you to MXP at 7:30 am or another one leaving at 7:30 am which would get you to MXP at 9:15 am. We took the 5:30 am shuttle and it didn't take the full 2 hours to get to MXP; we were there by 7am and then sat around for 3.5 hours until our 10:30 flight. Have a wonderful trip. http://www.flytolake.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=1