I am thankful for this forum and its vast knowledge base.
I am confused about which order to travel to Venice and Varenna from Milan; should the sequence be Milan, Venice, Milan, Varenna, Malpensa or Milan, Varenna, Milan, Venice, Malpensa. We plan on staying 2 nights in Venice and 2 nights in Varenna. and the last night in Milan Malpensa to catch a very early flight by to the States.
We leave our tour group in Stresa to begin this final leg our trip.
There are so many train segments to this journey that I am confused about the most efficient way to schedule them.
Can anyone help?
Posted by
Green Bay
21407 posts
What do you consider a very early flight to the states? 10 am or later you can stay overnight in Milan near Centrale and comfortably make the flight using the train or bus to get to MXP.
What time are you breaking free from the tour group in Stresa? You can get 2 tickets from Stresa to Venice for as low as 52 euro total. Advance purchase nonrefundable.
Returning to Milan you can get 2 tickets for 38 euro total, advance purchase nonrefundable. At Milano Centrale get 2 regional round trip tickets to Varenna-Esino for 26.80 euro (6.70 pp each way).
Transfer from Milano Centrale to MXP by train is 12 euro pp. Or take the bus and pay the driver.
Posted by
California 🦋
5301 posts
Betty,
Here are the steps to get to your destinations, it's very simple:
You take train from Stresa to Venice via Milano Centrale (Milan's
Central Station). From Stresa to Milano Centrale you will take a
Regionale train then transfer to a high speed (Freccia) train that will take you to Venice.To get to Varenna, you take freccia train from Venice to Milano Centrale, then transfer to Regionale train to get to Varenna.
To Return to Milan, you take train from Varenna to Milano Centrale (to spend the last night in Milan)
To get to Malpensa Airport, you will take the Malpensa Express train
from Milano Centrale or Cadorna Station.( runs every 30 minutes)In Milan, if you stay in a hotel near Cadorna Station (near historic center), it will be faster to get to Malpensa -- about 30 minutes.
This is the website for train schedules:http://www.trenitalia.com
Use Italian names when using above website; Venice = Venezia S.Lucia ; Varenna= Varenna-Esino
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
Train travel time is the same either way. Since you are round tripping to/from each location, there is no shortcut.
Posted by
California 🦋
5301 posts
Betty,
I just re-read your statement above.
My 2 cents:
You do realize that if you're spending 2 nights in Venice that only gives you one full day of sightseeing?
Same with Varenna.
Since you would have already visited a lake on your tour, you might consider spending the 4 nights in Venice (3 full days) with possible day trip to Padua (Padova) which is an easy 26 minute train ride (via high-speed train)
It just seems to me that you will be spending so much time on the train just to visit Venice & Varenna for one day each.