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Which direction to travel? April - Lake Garda, Lucca, SML, Milan

Posted by (Raleigh, NC, USA) on

I'm traveling in April 2023 (11 nights) with my 10 year old. We will not have a car. I have been to Italy once (Venice, Florence, Rome, and Cinque Terre), 20 years ago. We have typically flown to Europe with American, Delta, or United. We are flying TAP Portugal for the first time (I've read lots of reviews!, but given the price decided it was worth the risk) - roundtrip to/from DC (IAD) and Milan (MXP) with a short layover in Lisbon.

Below are 2 possible itineraries. I’d love your feedback about which route we should take.

At first my instinct was Route 1 because upon landing I’d prefer to take a regional train to our first destination (in case we miss our connection, the flight is delayed, etc. - obviously, it can happen on any airline, but I’m a little nervous with TAP) and I don’t think regional-only trains are possible if we head to SML first (am I wrong about this?).

But maybe Route 2 is better, to travel south first and then north (thinking it will be warmer later in the month). Another potential advantage of Route 2 is thinking about the increased crowds with April 25-May 1 holidays/timeframe, and maybe it would be better to do the latter part of the trip in Lake Garda (instead of Cinque Terre/SML, assuming CT/SML will be more crowded)? I could be overthinking this!

Route 1 (where we're sleeping)
- Wed, April 19 - Land in Milan ~11am, train to Lake Garda (Peschiera)
- Thurs, April 20 - Lake Garda (Peschiera)
- Fri, April 21 - Lake Garda (Peschiera)
- Sat, April 22 - Lake Garda (Peschiera)
- Sun, April 23 - Lake Garda (Peschiera)
- Mon, April 24 - Train to Lucca (Lucca)
- Tues, April 25 - Train to Pisa. Train to Santa Margherita Ligure (SML)
- Wed, April 26 - Cinque Terre/SML (SML)
- Thur, April 27 - CT/SML. Train to Milan (Milan)
- Fri, April 28 - Lake Como (Milan)
- Sat, April 29 - Milan (Milan)
- Sun, April 30 - Fly home

Route 2
- Wed, April 19 - Land in Milan ~11am, train to SML (SML)
- Thur, April 20 - CT/SML (SML)
- Fri, April 21 - CT/SML (SML)
- Sat, April 22 - Morning train to Pisa. Train to Lucca (Lucca)
- Sun, April 23 - Lucca. Train to Lake Garda (Peschiera)
- Mon, April 24 - Lake Garda (Peschiera)
- Tues, April 25- Lake Garda (Peschiera)
- Wed, April 26 - Lake Garda (Peschiera)
- Thur, April 27 - Lake Garda. Train to Milan (Milan)
- Fri, April 28 - Lake Como (Milan)
- Sat, April 29 - Milan (Milan)
- Sun, April 30 - Fly home

Thank you so much for any thoughts!

Posted by
2580 posts

Why so many days in Lake Garda? Why go Milan, Lake Como, back to Milan? I would just go to Lake Como and combine your Milan nights at the end. Getting to/from Cinque Terre is going to take a while, but what’s another 1.5 hrs to Lake Como?

I’m not a fan of one night stays. Either stay 2 nights or skip it.

Posted by
7270 posts

Seems like way too much time on Lake Garda and not enough in Lucca.

I wouldn’t bother with one night in Lake Como, just stay in Milan

Route 2 with changes

SML 4 nights-it will take time to get here so first day is already gone

Lucca-2 nights-day trip Pisa

Garda-3 nites
have you considered Lake Maggiore? We were just in Stresa, it’s lovely and actually closer to MXP than Milan , easy to get to
Milan 2 nights

Posted by
4 posts

Travel4fun and ChristineH - I really appreciate your feedback!

I was thinking of spending ~4 days on Lake Garda as follows: ~2 days exploring the towns on the lake (Sirmione, Malcesine, Riva Del Garda), 1 day at Gardaland, and 1 day in Verona.

I had read about Lake Maggiore, but hadn’t seriously considered it. I’ll do some more reading/research.

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