travel from lake como to cinque terra

After researching how complicated Lucca to Varenna travel would be, I convinced our dinner club/travel group to rent a Mercedes van (ten were traveling together). It was great but obviously that wouldn't be cheap for a couple though-just sayin'

There's really no "easy" way. You just need to be involved with the Italian train system. Both Lake Como and the CT are "out-of-the-way" places. However, it's not very difficult either. Also, where are you located at Lake Como? The transportation choices could be different from Varenna, Menaggio or Bellagio. Basically, it's a regionale train to Milan where you change trains for the CT. You might need to change trains again at Genoa. Some runs don't require the change. Finally, you may need to change trains again to the Regionale trains that serve the CT towns. You can easily see the train schedules on www.trenitalia.com. On the website, Varenna is Varenna-Esino.

Thank you Larry and Mike for your input. We don't have definite plans yet just researching the areas that we want to visit and how best to facilitate the travel and in what order. We may rearrange our plans somewhat.

Claire, The easiest way is travel by train, using the methods that Larry described. The specific details will vary depending on where you're staying on Lake Como (Varenna is the big favourite here) and which of the five C.T. villages you'll be staying in. Once your plans are a bit more definite, it will be easier to determine the travel arrangements. Happy travels!