Please sign in to post.
Rick Steves Holiday Sale: 20% Off Storewide

Milan rental car followed by Varenna

Posted by on

We will arrive in Milan around noon and use the rest of the day to visit the Duomo and Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.

The next morning, we are renting a car to visit Desio and Cremona (my husband is a luthier). Probably will take the full day but if time allows, we may visit Bergamo. Verona may be a stretch.

Should we drop back to Milan, drop off rental car, eat dinner and spend a second night in Milan then ride train onto Varenna the next morning OR is it possible to drive to Varenna and drop off rental car there?

Posted by
2024 posts

There are frequent trains between Milano and Cremona, it is about one hour long plus the time to reach a station in Milan. Probably shorter than the time needed to actually rent a car. IMHO Cremona deserves a full day, especially if you are a luthier. Trying to cram Cremona and Bergamo in a single day looks excessive to me.

Posted by
6745 posts

Varenna is very small, so may have limited rental car drop offs.
What time of year is this?

Posted by
17140 posts

You don’t need a car to go or to visit Cremona. Also there are many trains to go to Bergamo (change at Treviglio). You are planning to pack a lot of stuff in one day, which I don’t thing is feasible.
It takes at least 1h15m by train from Milan to Cremona. By car, considering the traffic around Milan and finding your way out, it could be almost 2 hours, to which you must add the rental car paperwork, finding parking, walking to the city center. Assuming you have time also for Bergamo, the train from Cremona is less than 2 hours, but driving is not much less as you still have to deal with parking at a parking lot outside the city center.
There are no rental offices in Varenna. There are offices in Bergamo (especially the airport)

Add Reply

Please do not reply to violations of our Community Guidelines.