Hello all.
We joined a tour starting off in Lake Come on a Monday in late March next year. My friend and I decided to arrive Saturday morning around 8 am in Milan. We have 2 full days to explore and should be in Lake Como by noon on Monday to start our tour all over Italy. Another friend is coming a day early and plans to go to CT and Switzerland.
For now, I thought we could explore Milan for a day and go to either CT or a city in Switzerland on Sunday. Any suggestion on what to do? Should we skip Milan and hop on a train to CT? Then to Switzerland? Is this too much to do in 2 days?
Your opinions and suggestions will be much appreciated. Thank you!
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16236 posts
If you arrive at 8:00 am at Malpensa airport, you may not be in Milan much before Noon, once everything is said and done.
So you really have 2 nights (one full day and one afternoon) at your disposal.
Whether you want to spend those 2 nights in Milan or Switzerland (Lugano?) or all the way at the Cinque Terre is up to you, but you can really only choose one of the above. To make it back from the Cinque Terre to Lake Como (where exactly?) by Noon Monday, you'd need to leave extremely early, and I'm not even sure you can make it on time depending on where exactly you need to be on the lake. From Lugano you also need to leave early enough, unless you are meeting the tour in Como or Menaggio, which are reasonably close by train or bus respectively. Any other city in Switzerland may not allow you to get to Lake Como on time, I'm afraid.
If you stay in Milan those 2 nights, then no problem.
Posted by
4 posts
Here is some help www.trenitlia.com punch in your time and where you would like to go and it will help you work everything out. You can really only choose one, CT is 3 to 4 hours from Milano, Como is an hour away and then Lugano, Switzerland is another haft and hour after the border crossing in Chiasso.
Posted by
OP
25 posts
From your response, I think we are now leaning towards Lugano. However, we would like to take scenic route to see the Swiss Alps.
Any suggestions? Thank you.
Posted by
17 posts
Bernina express day trip from Milan....into Switzerland
Posted by
81 posts
Only take "Italio" and "Freccia" trains the others are local which means they are slow, crowded (no seats) and may require extra transfers. In Italy only take trains which have a reserved seat otherwise you may have to stand for three hours...asses to elbows, like I did from Rome to Naples. Won't make that mistake again!!!
Posted by
Washington DC
28477 posts
Some destinations have only regional train service. Unless you hit a holiday, it's very unlikely you'd need to stand on a trip to a smaller city. Even on a holiday it probably wouldn't happen.
Lugano is a nice city, Swiss with an Italian vibe.
Another possibility would be to work out a train routing that would include the Centovalli railway between Domodosolla (Italy) and Locarno. It's very picturesque. Locarno is a nice lake city, though more Belle Epoque than lively (differing in that respect from Lugano).
Stresa on Lake Maggiore is another possibility, coupled with a boat trip to the Borromean Isles, if the boats are running in March ??
Bergamo has a great old town on top of a hill. Very atmospheric. Less than an hour by train from Milan, and with onward rail connections to Varenna (if that's where you're heading).
I liked Bologna a lot when I visited it last year. Large, picturesque historic district, with many arcaded streets--which you might greatly appreciate if you hit cold/wet weather in March. Bologna's only about an hour from Milan, and I'm guessing your tour probably doesn't go there.