Train/taxi recommendation from Lucerne to Varenna

a road is not as scenic as a lake. Lake Como is scenic.

Are you there for the views or the fastest possible way?

Fastest almost certainly is one train (possible change at Arth-Goldau, but there are direct ones) straight into Milano Centrale. Change platforms (Milan is a dead end station so all you have to do is walk around the fronts of the trains until you get to yours - no up or down stairs) and hop on the train to Varenna. Easy.

If you want to arrive in Varenna by boat you could get off the same train going to Milano Centrale at Como but it is a haul to the boats, and it is quite a long ride to Varenna, half way up the lake. Extremely scenic but slow, and it sound like you don't like slow even if it is beautiful. You could take the hydrofoil from Como but then you are sealed in a glass and steel tube which is very noisy, very fast, and not especially scenic. It stops much less but then you see much less. But it is faster. Further to its dock, and much more expensive.

You could also take a slower train with more connections from Luzern which takes you over and through the mountains instead of under them. That would be more scenic than the faster one.

So Sharon Benjamin 8, could you put a bit more meat on your question, please, and explain your actual goals for that day, and maybe a bit more detail of your trip to paint the context. Maybe a bit about you, what you like, what you would like to achieve.

Which end of Varenna are you going to; do you have extraordinary amounts of luggage or mobility difficulties or other important information to help with suggestions?

Hello Nigel
Thank you for your reply. My goal is to get there fast as possible and to avoid a rough lake ride. There is one person in the group who does not do well on a choppy lake so a short ferry is ok but nothing more. There is a direct train from Lucerne to Lugano for 2 hours. A taxi could take us to Mennagio and we could get a 15 minute ferry across. I was comparing this option with the drive around the lake from Como which you describe as slow. We omit the ferry by taking the slow taxi but is this drive too much time?

You do know that there is a bus from Lugano station to Menaggio. The C12
http://www.menaggio.com/ita/e-lakes/Orari_bus.pdf

Sam: Thank you for the bus schedule. I heard there was a bus but never saw the schedule. The schedule is very helpful.
Sharon

Sam:
How far is the walk to the bus stop from the train station in Lugano? Also, where does the bus stop in relation to the ferry once you arrive in Mennagio?

If you want to go to the lakeshore village but avoid the lake you can still do the train connection at Milano Centrale. Two trains, one station, the train takes you right to Varenna. No boats. No change in Lugano and walk to the bus stop. No change in Mennagio and walk to the lake for the boat which you didn't want anyway.

Cheap too.

I didn't say to drive around the lake - that was your idea. I'd never do it, you see nothing, and I once drove to Varenna and parked the car for the duration, taking boats everywhere.

You should know that unless there is a storm or big blow, Lake Como is pretty placid. The slow boat that goes from mid-lake to Como is slow, no waves of any significance, and often people stand around with wine glasses or coffee as if they were on a patio. Views are great.

The very fast hydrofoil does bounce - a lot - but that's what hydrofoils do. The only advantage that hydrofoils have is going from A to B as quickly as possible.

The Mennagio - Verenna ferry is usually a clunky truck and car ferry.

It starts from the north side of Lugano station. Closest stop in Menaggio is about 300 yards from the ferry dock.

I still think your easiest way is to take the train to Bellinzona (or Arth-Goldau), then an easy cross platform change there to a train to Monza, Italy, then train to Varenna-Esino. That will take 4 hours and 5 minutes. If you took the direct train to Monza at 12:18, you would have a 70 minute wait in Monza for the next train to Varenna-Esino, so that would be a 5 hour and 5 minute journey with only one train change.