mamamia66

We have 9:30am flights out of Malpense on a Sunday. My question is, if we are driving in from Tuscany on Saturday, should we just plant ourselves at an airport hotel & take train into town for dinner & walking around checking out the city or should we go to someplace like Stresa & drive to airport from there in the AM. Seems like when I mapped it out, lakes region was about an extra half hour onto trip from Tuscany (which isn't short). Just wondering if the extra time is worth it to see lakes. What do you think? Also, how hard is the driving around lakes? Should I leave super early Sunday morning (Micheline says 46 min) just in case of traffic etc? Any recommendations of airport hotel if we go that route? Can we catch a train into city to avoid high taxi costs?
Thanks so much...you guys are sooo helpful.

bobthenavigator

With a 0930 take off you have no chioce---stay at MXP. Actually, in the small village of Casa Nuove right next door at the Hotel First. The trattoria next door is great. The shutttle takes 5 minutes to the terminal and sign up early for the 0700 shuttle.

TuckH

If it were my trip, I'd arrive at Malpensa Saturday night, check into a nearby hotel and return the car. To do this I'd arrive as late as possible, spending maximum time in Tuscany.

I'd not train into Milan and I'd vertainly not try to drive to the airport from Stresa the morning of the flight. No way!

mamamia66

Ok, thank you... that is what I was wondering about. If we stay near the airport, are we better keeping our car the whole way & dropping at airport that night or in morning or should we drop in Florence, sight see there (we won't have seen Florence...would love to but couldn't figure out how to get it in)and take train to Milan airport hotel that evening. If we do that, is it easy to get from train in Milan to hotel? Not sure how hard the drive from Tuscany to Milan is, provided we don't stop in any big cities.

violetduck

First Hotel was a good choice for us and the restaurant around the corner from it was family run and had wonderful food. If you do a search for Malpensa hotels on this site you will find several helpful
threads.

bobthenavigator

Drive to MXP and drop the car that nite after you check in. They have a shuttle.

mamamia66

Thank you! We will drop at hotel that evening. Will they have a shuttle back to the hotel or would it be just as easy to cab it? Also, not sure where to find this info but is it a pretty non-stressful drive from Tuscany? I'm assuming the main roads sort of go around the larger cities so that we wouldn't have to deal with driving through them. Is this correct? Also, what would be a good place along the way to stop for a late lunch or break? We've also talked about getting going early & spending day in Florence before driving to airport. I know we couldn't begin to see everything but I would love to just walk around the beautiful city for a few hours. Since we don't want to drive into city, is there somewhere on our route to stop, park car & take train or bus into Florence?

mamamia66

Ooops, sorry Bob, I went back & reread your post & saw that you stated there is a shuttle from airport to hotel.

TuckH

It's about a 4 hour drive - all autostrada, no cities. See here...

http://tinyurl.com/3tffge

Take a bus from (almost) any town on the outskirts of Florence for your visit there.

Byrd

mamamia,

We stayed at the Cardano Hotel at MXP. Very nice, and they have free shuttle service to and from MXP.

http://www.cardanohotel.com/

The shuttle also took us to a good restaurant for dinner.

Have a great trip.

Byrd

pointofnoreturn

If you were thinking about sleeping at this airport (perhaps not, but someone might come across this post)... think again. It was one of the worst places I've stayed at overnight. I'd suck it up and spend money on a nearby hotel that has excellent shuttle/taxi options.

mamamia66

Thanks...booked room at Hotel First. Hopefully we can get an early start, stop in Florence & head to airport hotel. thanks for all of your help!

nini

We also liked Hotel Cardona. It was recently redecorated and has nice king size beds and new tile bathrooms. As another poster mentioned, the shuttle is free. Breakfast was good too.

mitdoac

OK there is a Hotel First and a First Hotel, both near the airport... which one?

travelhorizons

If you would like something a bit upscale, look at Villa Malpensa... right outside MXP.

Jean

We've stayed at the Villa Malpensa a few times. It's a converted villa, so it doesn't have an airport-hotel atmosphere. The restaurant in the hotel is excellent, but (warning!) the wait staff was quite snooty.

vincenzod

I tell you what I do, often, when I am in a similar situation.
I arrive the day before, in the afternoon, at the D&B LA CINZIANELLA, at Corgeno di Vergiate. Thirty minutes, early in the morning, from this D&B and Malpensa airport.
The D&B is on the small lake of Comabbio.
You will have, as a last dinner, one of the best dinner you can have in the whole Italy.
The chef patron in Maurizio; he is very clever and his way to cook is delicious, starting with antipasti and finishing with dessert (do not miss it, please).The dinner room is very elegant and it transmits you the correct feeling, IMO, before leave from Italy.
The Bed part consists of few comfortable rooms.
Believe me, rather than the expensive and "all the same" big hotels very close to the airport, here, at LA CINZIANELLA, you will have a gorgeous dinner and so a smart and sweet way to say "hello" to Italy.

Vincenzo

BarbaraJ

Bookmarking

ekscrunchy

Saving this, with Vicenzo's suggestion linked:



http://www.lacinzianella.it/azienda.aspx