Colmar, France to Varenna, Italy

Yes there is a ferry from Como dock to Varenna. We took it in reverse one morning. I believe it was almost an hour. ck schedules ahead for sure.

Lois, That's actually not a difficult trip, however it will be a bit of a long day. This is the method I'd use on that route. > Travel by train from Colmar to Milan. Using the schedule for next week, there's a train departing Colmar at 09:13, arriving Milano Centrale at 14:50 (time 5H:37M, one change in Zurich, reservations compulsory). There is an earlier departure at 06:51, however there are FOUR changes on that one, and travel time is longer. The departure at 09:13 should allow you to have breakfast at the Hotel in Colmar (which you will have paid for). Which Hotel will you be using? There's also a departure at 05:50, with one change in Basel but that wouldn't be my choice, both due to the early departure and also the transfer in Basel which involves some walking from the SNCF part of the station to the SBB part. It's not difficult, but will take at least 10-minutes. > Transfer to the Regionale that runs from Milano Centrale to Varenna (time 1H:03M). You should be able to buy tickets from the Kiosks when you arrive in Milan. These depart every two hours, so you'll be using the 16:20 train, which will get you to Varenna at 17:23 (just in time for a nice dinner overlooking the lake). Which Hotel will you be using? Although this method involves a 1.5 hour layover in Milan, it's among the least complicated ways to travel that route IMO. One other minor point to note is that Washrooms in both Basel and Milan are "pay per use" (should you require these during the trip). The facility in Basel ONLY accepts Swiss Francs, while the one in Milano uses Euros. I don't have information on Zurich. Happy travels!