Milan to Varenna in 4 days before Best of Italy tour

If you arrive on Thursday and the tour starts on Sunday, you do not have 4 days to fill, especially in light of your "We want to get to Varenna before Sunday" desire.

Your arrival day will be a jet lag fog, giving you Friday to see The Last Supper & Duomo and then travel on Saturday to Varenna.

We really enjoyed Bella Milano Tours. They are in the RS tour book and they do a great job introducing you to the Duomo, Last Supper and the city of Milan. Local guides always seem to add more when you’re new to a city with all their insights and suggestions. Tickets really need to be reserved in advance for the Last Supper to not end up paying an outrageous amount for the fifteen minutes allotted time. The Hotel Spadari in Milan, also a RS suggestion, was very nice, a comfortable bed and near the Duomo. The train ride from Milano Centrale to Varenna is only an hour. Staying at the same hotel in Varenna as where your tour starts frees up time otherwise spent going thru the check out, change hotels, check in process, etc. We have always talked about doing the day trip train ride from Varenna into Switzerland but haven’t been able to get to that, yet. Next time. Have a great trip!

Phil, 'fraid I'm with Joe on what you realistically can do. Arrival day is always a crapshoot; you might be in some sort of shape for pay-attention sightseeing but most of us are not. Best many of us can do are walkabouts outside to try and get acclimated to Italian time and stay awake until a reasonable hour to crash. So, arrival day doesn't usually count as a sightseeing day unless, of course, you're coming from somewhere a shorter plane or train hop away.

That does leave you just Friday to sightsee Milan, if wishing to be in Varenna, dump the luggage (hopefully your hotel will store it for you if too early to check in) and hike on Saturday. A dry day to do that isn't a given so you may need a 2nd shot at that on Sunday before meeting up with your tour.

Milan is a great city to walk around to ease the jet lag. Depending on what time your flight gets in, walk to the Brera District and grab lunch at an outdoor cafe and watch the people or get a gelato at the the best in town Ciacco, walk toward the Duomo and take that first look at its magnificent facade and then walk next door to the Galleria where you can window shop at all the famous designer shops, spin your heal and twirl 3 times on the bull mosaic for luck. Think positive, Thursday does not have to be a wasted day and Varenna is only an hour+ away by train.

We really like Milan

It's very important to book tickets to see The Last Supper right away. We found that the re-sellers had snapped them all up, and we ended up using a reseller to see it. Da Vinci's Vineyard is across the street and worth considering.

We booked the Duomo roof access - took the elevator up. Check when-is-the-last-time-they-let-you up when deciding what time to do it.

Galleria is truly remarkable, and right next door

We got a 3 day transit pass and used it all the time

You only have 2 full days (Fri/Sat) in Milan and will leave early afternoon to get to Varenna, so I'd simply stay in Milan and take the time to explore it and get over jet lag.

Ira

PS
Say hi to Donald if he's leading your BOI tour

PPS - Remember it's Varenna (there's a city with a similar name) and stamp the ticket if you don't use an online app

Ira Serkes

Thanks for reminding me about the "jet lag fog"! As RS has said, I am a bit rusty with my travelling skills, and I had erroneously overlooked that factor. When my wife and I discussed these replies, we recalled that we always wandered around the city where we first landed.
We will recalibrate our days and consider the wonderful ideas that were presented in Milan. I checked on tickets to the Last Supper and it didn't seem that they went on sale for our Sept date until July. I will maintain a vigil so that I can get them.

Thanks again for the responses and advice.

We stayed at Antica Locanda Leonardo very near Santa Maria fella Grazia which is where you will find “The Lady Supper”. We enjoyed the hotel.

"We want to get to Varenna before Sunday"

Varenna is very small, and only about an hour from Milan by train (reminder to buy a ticket on the app, or have a paper ticket stamped)

I recommend staying in Milan till Sunday morning, an leaving Milan for Varenna early afternoon or late morning

Ira