Travel from Milan International Airport to Varenna via car

Sorrento doesn’t have an airport
Why not just take fast train Milan to Naples then on to Sorrento?

I know that Sorrento does not have an airport.
We would be flying into Naples and then taking the train to Sorrento.
I haven't read anything about a fast train from Milan to Naples.
I thought it was a 7 hour train ride?

There are fast train routes all over Italy, especially between major cities

The journey is about 5 hours

https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html

Station names
Milano Centrale
Napoli Centrale

Flying will probably take longer overall
You have to get to airport 2 hours before flight, MXP is about an hour from Milano Centrale
Then the flight
Then get from Naples airport to train station and Circumvesuviana to Sorrento

As far as driving from MXP to Varenna
- do you have parking there? Where would you drop the car?

You could hire a driver rather than deal with a car and driving after an overnight flight but honestly there is nothing complicated about taking the train

Thank you for the information, I will look into the train options.

I really hate the Alibus in Naples, no idea why, but I don't like adding another mode of transport (and ANOTHER place I have to maneuver luggage) just to get to a train in Naples from the airport. That's why I like flying into Rome and taking the train to Salerno rather than Naples and then using the Alibus to get to the train to get to Salerno. I am irrational, but I like the least steps possible. If you were to take the fast train to Naples, you wouldn't even need to leave the station to get on the train to Sorrento.

I just looked at when the trains from Varenna are starting to work again (though I bet that the bus is the same timetable) and yes, it does take 8 hours on the dot to get to Sorrento's circumvesuviana station, but that's almost door to door, as most places in Varenna and Sorrento wouldn't be too far a walk from the station.

If you flew, it would be:
an hour back to Milan (1)
plus an hour to the airport (1)
then being there 2 hours ahead of time (2)
then the flight (1)
then leaving the airport, finding the alibus, getting to the station (1)
and taking the hour trip to Sorrento (1)

If you made a quick transfer between the airport and the circumvesuviana, I could see the whole trip taking 7 hours, so you MIGHT be saving one hour by flying, but you would be adding more steps and I wouldn't love that.

I drove in the opposite direction - from Varenna to the Milan airport - and it was a very easy drive. It was a while ago but it was well marked. I drove to Varenna from Florence which was also an easy drive. Aside from potential hassles picking up and dropping off a rental car, it may be easier than taking the train. I found having a car in Varenna useful but, to be fair, not essential.

All good information, thanks!

I have never driven exactly from the Milan airport to Varenna, but I have driven from a Venice suburb (Quarto d'Altino) to Varenna. The drive is no problem (unless you are jetlagged - I wasn't, it was my personal English car that I frequently drive all over Europe) but parking in Varenna is a bit of an adventure. The plaza across the road from the church is in fact a 24 hour ZTL so no parking there. There is a fairly expensive multi story car park near the church, or there is sometimes street parking on the road out of town. That's basically it unless your lodging has some private parking somewhere.

the multi story car park is 20€ per day.

The plaza that looks like a carpark but is in fact a ZTL across from the church now has 2 well marked signs, unlike when I visited when it was a small sign behind a bench.

We had no difficulty parking in Varenna in late April but...it was 10 years ago and I imagine things have changed. At that time it seemed only people who used Rick Steves guides knew about it! Literally none of the locals we told had ever heard of it. Everyone said "oh! Verona!" and looked blank when we said "no! Varenna! (It actually became a joke that we still refer to when one of us mishears what the other has said.)

Trains are so easy. That's how I would get to Naples. Plus you wouldn't have to go all the way back to the airport. You didn't mention when this trip is, but from now through September the trains are disrupted for improvements between Milan and Varenna, but your train ticket gets you a train to bus combo transportation.