My family of 4 (2 adults, 2 teens) will be traveling to Italy in June. We will fly into Milan around 7 pm and home from Milan around 11 am, so it probably makes sense to spend our first and last night in Italy near the airport. That leaves us with 8 other nights. I'm thinking:
3 in Florence
3 in Cinque Terre (our girls want a beach day there)
2 in Lake Como
Which order would you do them in? Any other advice or travel considerations? Thank you!
Your present order looks ok.
Find photos of the beaches in the Cinque Terre for your girls so they understand what they look like, not like big, broad US beaches. . Best are in Monterosso. We stayed at Hotel Porto Roca there and it had a section of private beach. With the crowded conditions in the Cinque Terre now, that would be a good idea to explore. The hotel is on a bluff with spectacular ocean views.
With a 7 pm arrival in Milan, and the need to spend your first and last nights there, I would go to Como (Varenna) first, then Florence, then Cinque Terre. And yes, do make sure the girls understand what the beach there looks like.
From Cinque Terre, return to Milan via the coastal route. There are direct InterCity trains departing Monterosso at 10:33, 12:55, and 14:55 that require no changes on the way, taking 3 hours (3 hours 20 minutes for the 10:33 train) to reach Milano Centrale. Take the morning one if you want to have the afternoon to explore Milan. The girls might like seeing the Galleria (shopping mall) and the Duomo (consider getting tickets to climb the stairs or use the elevator to access the roof). Book a hotel near Milano Centrale and you can take the train to the airport (assuming you are using Malpensa) the next morning.
Hello smilin05, and welcome to the forum!
You'll go through Milan going to and from Lake Como so it would make sense to put it at the end so you'll be heading there to fly home. From there I guess it's up to you as to whether you want to Beach > City > Lake or City first and then relaxation.
As mentioned if you're going for beaches there are better choices than CT for beach activities. There are many cities on the coast north of CT with beach access. Maybe look into Levanto which would give you coastal access to beaches as well as train and ferry access to CT towns.
Como itself is a big city so most people here look at Varenna for small town lake access with a train station.
There are a number of business hotels within walking distance of the central train station in Milan which will work for late and early access. It's not the most exciting area of Milan but it's convenient and its a big metro stop so you can visit other parts of the city if you want to. Also know that the biggest airport MXP is an hour outside the city so be sure to add that into your time allocations for "Milan" versus Milan airport.
Have a great trip!
=Tod
Wow! This forum is already an amazing experience! Thank you for this input.
My girls do understand what the CT "beaches" are like but I love the idea of looking into accomodations with a private beach. Varenna was my focus for the Lake Como area, so I'm happy to hear I'm on the right track with that.
I did notice MXP is quite a ways outside of Milan center. In an ideal world, flight times would be swapped so we arrive at MXP early enough to head straight to Varenna or Florence and then fly home later so that we could avoid those 2 extra nights in Milan. Oh well, we're just happy this trip is happening and we'll make the best of what we have to work with!
You might have a look at Stresa on Lago Maggiore instead of Varenna. Stresa is close to MXP airport and you can go directly there from the airport.
I agree to look at Stresa / Baveno as an alternative to Varenna. Much more convenient for the airport and because it is further from the Alps the lake water is likely warmer than that in Lake Como. June is pretty early for warm water in the Cinque Terre area.
My girls do understand what the CT "beaches" are like but I love the idea of looking into accomodations with a private beach.
Note that the vast majority of the sandy beach space in Monterosso is "private" - you rent an umbrella and chairs for the day. There are two rather small public [free] beaches.
