Hi, I have only 7 days to possibily try my ideas for this trip with my husband and adult daughter. We fly into Milan and train up to Lake Como the last Saturday 9/28/2024 of September. I am looking at staying in Varenna for possibly for 3 nights if you think that is enough? We love to walk, hike and sightsee and think it would be fun to take a cooking class while we are there. Since we are so close to Switzerland we thought it might be fun to catch a train to Tirano from Varenna and then do the Bering Express up to Pontressina and spend 2-3 nights there and take in a day hike or two. We would have to give ourselves enough time to train back to Milan. We would spend the night in Milan on Friday October 4th to fly out to Newark the morning of Saturday October 5th. Our other thought is instead visit Lugano, Switzerland, which is close by and that would be an easier trip to stay there for a couple of days but we absolutely love the mountains. Lugano seems like a bigger city. ( We went to Murren & Lauterbrunnen in 2018 for 5 days and loved it there! )
I am having a hard time finding a place to stay for 3 people in Varenna for 6 days. We will not have a car so a lot of the airbnb’s are too far away from the center of Varenna. We will be going by train only.
Many thanks in advance for your tips and ideas!!
Posted by
11606 posts
Everyone on this forum stays in Varenna but we prefer Bellagio where we have gone four times, one time for two weeks. Since it is larger than Varenna you may have more luck finding accommodations.
We loved Pontresina!
Skip Lugano.
Posted by
Green Bay
21217 posts
Sorry, but at one point you say you are staying in Varenna for 3 nights, and later you say you having a hard time finding a place to stay for 6 days in Varenna. Which is it?
Posted by
OP
13 posts
We thought about staying in Varenna for 6 nights. Since we are having a hard time finding a place to rent for 6 days we are considering staying at lake como for 3 nights and staying somewhere else in Switzerland for 3 nights. We don’t have an exact itinerary set up hence my question about where to go in Switzerland if we stay at Lake Como. I assumed Varenna since it’s close to train station and we don’t have a car
Posted by
Green Bay
21217 posts
Ponresina works. Don't get hung up on "Bernina Express" name. Take regular trains on the same tracks and scenery.