Looking for suggestions on where to spend our precious last day in Northern Italy (small town or lake area) before flying out of Malpensa Milan Airport the following morning?
Additionally, suggestions on the smoothest, easiest, using PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION train/bus to return to the airport?
Grazie,
Gina
Stresa on Lake Maggiore
There is a bus that goes to Malpensa takes about an hour
https://www.safduemila.com/linee/alibus-malpensa-lago-maggiore/
Stresa would be my choice also. I’ve done it only by car and the drive is about 45 minutes. If however your flight is super early in the morning, I don’t know if it would be doable with public transportation. There is the SAFduemila Alibus which connects Stresa to the airport in about one hour, but not sure if the first bus can get you in time to MXP for a very early departure. The alternative is the train from Stresa to Gallarate (35 min) then from the Gallarate station you can take a city bus or the taxi. In the early days (prior to 2000) before they opened the new Malpensa airport with the Malpensa Express train from Milan, I used to stay overnight in Gallarate before my flight out of MXP. The taxi ride from the station was about 15 min. In those days they also had an express bus from the Gallarate station to the airport which would take you to the airport in just 25 min. I don’t know if that bus still operates nowadays. There is also a city bus but makes too many stops. The train plus taxi can easily get you at the airport by 06:20. The first Alibus can get you there by 7:30.
PS: “Ali” means wings in Italian. Hence the name associated with anything flying, like Alibus or Alitalia. Nothing to do with Mohammed Ali or some other middle eastern name.
Ranco on Lake Maggiore’s SÉ side is much closer than Stresa and a charming town. Our Italian friends recommended it to us. We will definitely return there to stay and dine! We had a car and it was a short drive. You will have to check on public transit.
Be careful if you’re travelling from now to Easter as a lot of restaurants and accommodation shut down for the season, especially in small towns
Trains work well but at least 1 transfer would be required and typical train time from Stresa is 2 hours but there’s occasionally a faster trip. We basically just used trains to travel recently but the bus mentioned above maybe a good option.
You say flight leaves in the morning so with longer check-in times, this looks too risky for me.
Where are you coming from and how do you propose getting to this small town?
Thank you SO much for these suggestions. I have a lot to think about . . .please keep the suggestions coming.
