Group of 4 traveling from east coast to Milan, Italy for the Best of Italy in 08. Has anyone taken this trip, if so what airport do you recommend that we fly in and out of?
Tour starts in Milan and ends in Rome.
Thanks bunchs!
The SC Group
Posted by
Walnut Creek, CA
368 posts
I also flew into Malpensa in Milan when I took this tour. I arrived early in the morning, around 9:00, went directly to the train station and caught the train. I was in Varenna by 2:00. If you do not want to go over a day early, fly into Milan.
You will love this trip. It was my first of the 4 RS trips I have taken and one of my favorites.
Posted by
Salem, Oregon, USA
2723 posts
Here's what I did when I took the RS tour in 2006. I flew into Milan MXP (Malpensa) and took a shuttle bus to the Central station. I stayed an extra night in Milan to sleep of jet lag. Then it's a quick train ride from the Milan central train station to Varenna (RS will send you explicit instructions about how to do this, follow them!). I flew back home out of Rome. Many in my tour group flew into Rome, took the train to Milan/Varenna, then flew back out of Rome. There are some new cheap flights from New York to Rome and other locales (see http://www.euroflyusa.com/US/) but you'll want to check reviews on those before booking. Have a great time, that tour was one of the best trips of my life.
Posted by
Atlanta
5196 posts
You will not spend that much time in Venice with the tour -- just part of one afternoon, one day, and then leave the next morning (if I remember correctly).
Venice deserves at least another 2 or 3 days. You may want to fly into Venice several days early and then train from there to Milan and then to Varenna.
Tour ends in Rome and we just shared a cab to that airport and had no problems.
Contact me directly if you need more specific info.
Posted by
Oregon
11 posts
We just did this tour and flew into Milan (Malpensa) and out of Rome. Most of our tour stayed either in Milan or Varenna before the tour, and I wish we had. We stayed an extra day in Rome--highly recommended. I might have liked flying in and out of Rome and taking the train to Milan. However, I did not like Venice AT ALL, so I wouldn't have liked that option. If you can't arrive in Milan in the morning you might have trouble getting to Varenna on time. The afternoon trains run less often, and it took us about 4 hours to get to Varenna. Everybody hates the Milan Centrale train station!