Is 2.5 hours enough time to go from landing, customs, malpensa shuttle, subway to catch a train at the Central Station?
Should be. Shuttle is about 45 mins to an hour.
this is all handy info, we are going to Italy in October flying into Milan arriving in the afternoon with our first stop in the Cinque Terre, Vernazza. Earlier on this post, I found we could get there with these connections but it will make for a really long day and after a long flight, my husband thinks we are crazy to try. I don't really want to spend the $$ just to sleep somewhere in Milan with the goal of an early start the next morning and I can't find any info about a handy place to stay midway going south.the towns along the way had no lodging info online through Venere or tourism sites.
Yes. Three weeks ago, we got thru Malpensa, baggage and customs in about a half hour. Bought Malpensa Shuttle tix just before exiting the airport, waited 15 min for the next bus and took about 50 min to get to Milano C.LE. Got train tickets at the station in about 10 minutes. They speak passable english at he travel agency just around from where the bus parks. Milano C.LE is a madhouse with lots of tracks. Watch the Partenze board to make sure they don't change the binario(track)just before the train pulls in, and you should be on your way.