We will end our Village Italy tour on a Sunday at Lake Orta, and can leave at 8am or 2pm by train to our next destination. Is Orta worth the extra half day, or should we get on the early train?
Thanks!
Posted by
San Diego
1540 posts
I stayed 2 extra days - mainly to de-compress from the Village tour and just relax.
I found plenty to do and really enjoyed walking around the town, took a boat out to the island, you can even rent a bike.
Orta is a lovely little town.
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
13966 posts
My experience differed. I stayed an extra night in Orta and found an extra half a day would have been fine. We did the island as a group the afternoon we got in. The next morning we walked the Sacra Monte which was quite interesting, had lunch and gelato and other than the shops did not find much to do. It was pouring down rain which did hamper activity.
Your tour guide will instruct you on when and where to buy tickets and in fact starts figuring the exit strategy about day 3 into the trip. There is no way to purchase a ticket in Orta so you will get it ahead of time, usually in Levanto or wherever you stay in Cinque Terre. Frankly, the train seemed like a hassle as you do have to change. If you are headed to Milan you might want to budget in for a cab to Milan. The guide also booked cabs for everyone who wanted it so 5 of us wound up splitting the cab to a hotel near the Duomo for 150€.
Village Italy was a wonderful tour! Lots of fun, experiential things to do!