My wife and I will be traveling to Milan in July. We have a Rail Pass and would like to spend a day on Lake Como visiting Varenna and Bellagio. Can I just use my Rail Pass to jump on a regional train to get to Varenna or will I need to book reservations on a train? I can't seem to find details on how to get to Varenna from Milan. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Posted by
Green Bay
21377 posts
Well, its a regional train, (no reservations), cost only 6.45 euro each way. It is operated by Trenord, a private railway which may or may not accept rail passes. But considering it will cost 12.90 per person for the day, it would be the waste of an expensive pass day. It basically runs every 2 hours from Milano Centrale and takes 1 hour 3 minutes. The actual station name is Varenna-Esino.
Schedules at www.trenord.it/EN/
Posted by
OP
9 posts
Thanks for the response Sam. This was very helpful. Unfortunately, I already bought the Rail Passes and was including this day in my planning. I have a Eurail Italy pass, do know of any way to find out online if they accept this pass or is my best bet to just call and try to ask someone?
Another question - if I can't use my pass, I would end up with an unused day on my Pass. Do you know if I could get any type of refund for one unused day on a 5 day pass? My guess is no...but thought I would ask to see if anyone knows.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32405 posts
jared,
According to the guru, your Railpass will NOT be accepted on TreNord trains.....
"In addition to the more popular privately operated services listed elsewhere on this page, rail passes also aren't accepted on TRENORD trains (which operate in some areas of northern Italy, including the Milan–Varenna–Tirano line between Milan and the Swiss border)".
The full text is on THIS web page.
Regarding a refund for unused days, that won't be an option. Once the pass is validated, there are no refunds.
Buying a P-P ticket from Milan to Varenna is only about €6.45 each way, so it's not a huge expense. However, you MUST be sure to validate the ticket prior to boarding the train on the day of travel, or you may be fined on the spot, and it's NOT cheap (about €50 PP as I recall).