Transportation et al Milan-Verona-Venice

Where on Lake Como are you staying? Its a big lake with 3 arms.

Carmen is playing at La Scala the last 2 weeks on June. Tickets here:
https://www.teatroallascala.org/en/tickets.html?startdate=&enddate=&spettacolo=6047
The operas begin at 8 pm and run 3 to 3 1/2 hours, so getting back to Lake Como will be difficult. You might try to make it after leaving Lake Como, travel into Milan and get a hotel, go to the opera, stay overnight, then leave for Venice the next morning.

So you will be paying for double lodging 4 nights?
Both Venice and Verona are high priced locations for lodging

Have you figured out transportation back to wherever you are staying on Lake Como from Milan after a performance?

Check the Verona Arena website for what performances might be on

Where are you going after this? If flying out of MXP you need to stay closer to the airport than Lake Como night before flight

hey hey Jon
there is always people wanting “not too pricey” accomodations which means different rates for all of us ($500, $1000, a night or less during high high season of summer plus venice & verona having high prices. so many people wanting same as you. are you double booking while keeping your hotel/apartment in lake como which I’m sure is a shiny nickel?
read up about times for train to lake como in the evenings and if you need a cab to hotel to get home.
check in is 3-4 pm check out 10-11am, visitor fee in venice, cost of transportation on train, how you getting to hotel from train station to hotel, just whole day to see venice. book tickets ahead of time direct from Venice attractions which are time/date stamped. where do you keep luggage, your hotel should have luggage storage till check, may need reservations for many restaurants.
prices have skyrocketed everywhere with italy not “cheap” as before as one of the top places to go to and other big cities. crowds will be everywhere especially lake como, maybe hoping to see slyvester stallone, richard branson, madonna, versace, not george clooney since he’s a frenchman now. good luck & enjoy
aloha

(1) day and evening trip to Milan, possibly attending a performance at la Scala (We would return to Lake Como that night.)

Depending where you are may affect how late public transportation from Milan will be running to there. Make sure you research that or be prepared for a spendy taxi ride.

https://www.arena.it/en/arena-verona-opera-festival/?
Website for tickets for the Arena di Verona Festival

Hi Jon, the prices jump in Verona during the opera season, but it is a fun experience to attend an opera at the Roman Arena! I’ve attended an opera and also a rock concert there.

If I had 12 days to spend at Lake Como (I'll join the others in asking where), Verona and Venice (plus perhaps time for an opera in Milan), I would spend more than 1-1/2 days of that time in Venice. With that short a visit, you'll probably spend most of your time in the tourist-thronged area between the train station, Rialto Bridge and Piazza San Marco. Venice is much more than that. People who make short trips to Venice often end up really disliking it.

Lake Como is beautiful, but there's not actually a great deal to do there for young people, I don't think. But perhaps you have free lodging somewhere on the lake?

I agree with the earlier warning that lodging in Verona during opera season will be considerably more expensive than usual. You do some exploration on booking.com to get an idea. You may well save a bit of money by booking directly on the hotel's website. An apartment (Airbnb or booking.com, etc.) might be cheaper, but that would probably require finding a luggage-storage facility--which shouldn't be difficult.

First: Thanks to everyone who responded; we have plenty to think about and we'll likely be reducing lodging costs being duplicated.

Second: We're staying in Menaggio, arriving July 22, not June as I previously posted. These 2 facts bring up a few additional questions we're pondering.

• Should we consider renting a car, I note access to Menaggio is limited?
• We'd still like very much to visit Milan, but the later date takes la Scala off the table, no performances.
• If we drive to Milan, where could we park the car for 10-12 hours and avoid having it stolen. are there parking lots at the terminals of the Metro where we could park and take the Metro into Milan.?

• We still planning a visit to Verona, but not Venice. There is a performance at the Verona Arena July 24, so we would drive over the morning of the 24th, stay in Verona the night of the 24 and drive back to Menaggio on the afternoon or evening of the 25th.

• With this Verona plan, I would appreciate suggestions on where to stay in or near Verona for 1 night. Since we will likely have a car, lodging could be anywhere within 40 km or so.

• As with Milan, where could we safely park a car for 10-12 hours? In Verona the performance at the Arena doesni't start until 9:00 pm so we wouldn't get back to the car until, what", midnight?

• Since we may/will have a car, what other areas would you seasoned Italy travelers suggest with 1 to 1-1/2 hour drive from Como as a starting point.

• Finally, what other villages/towns on Lake Como would be unique unto themselves that we may visit on the days we'll be in Menaggio.

Thanks again for all the comments to my firs post. I'm entering this in a bit of a rusk, so please excuse any typos.

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