We are scheduled to stay in Levanto for a week in May. Are departing for home on a Saturday from Milan (Malpensa). Have a villa in Levanto and must pay for 7 nights no matter what. Trying to decide whether to leave the villa for Milan a day early or take the ride to Milan on the day of our flight. We're traveling with 5 kids (ages 4-10). Are still flexible about car vs train. Flight back home to the U.S. is at 1 p.m. It seems we have three options; which seems best?

1) Stay in the villa in Levanto until Saturday, then get up and leave early (maybe 7-8 a.m.) and ride to the airport for our flight home. Mapquest says it's about 2 1/2 hours. Does anyone know if that's accurate?

2) Stay in the villa until late Friday night. Then take the ride to Milan and stay at an airport hotel.

3) Leave the villa a day early. Head up to Milan early and spend the day either in Milan or somewhere near the airport. Find something to do in that area. (My sister really wants to see the Last Supper.)

Are there any nice towns to stay in or visit near the airport? Thanks for the help.

From my 2003 trip report when we stayed in Levanto. We drove the day before we were to fly out, stayed near the airport, and took the Malpensa Express down to Milan to see The Last Supper. Details here:

"We said farewell to the Cinque Terre. For those who ask how far the Cinque Terre is from Malpensa, the answer is exactly two and one half hours (with very little traffic and some speeding...well a lot of speeding). We drove to our hotel for the last night (Villa Malpensa) which is located just a few minutes from the airport.

.....there was a train called the Malpensa Express (certainly not to be confused with the Oriental Express) that left the airport at 12:45 and would drop us at the last stop in 40 minutes. The station is located near The Last Supper (about a five minute walk...eight when you stop to buy a bunch of cookies).

Tracy and I rented the English audio headphones for 2.5 Euro and at 2 pm (reservations required) we went inside with a two other Americans and a Japanese tour group to see The Last Supper at The Santa Maria delle Grazie.

You get to stay inside for 15 minutes and the audioguide was informative. ...."

If you decide to drive the morning of your flight, you probably should build in extra time for possible traffic accidents, but for us the 2 1/2 hours was exact drive time from Levanto to Malpensa.

Thanks, Maitaitom. Not to sound crass, but was the Last Supper worth the effort? It's in a church, isn't it? Was the Villa Malpensa a decent hotel? Would you recommend it? Thanks again!

Now Barb, you must remember to leave extra time to check the trunk of the car for snakes!!!

Just joking..don't get offended. As far as the Last Supper, you have to decide if seeing ANY painting is worth including on a day when you might be doing so much traveling. (I was staying in Milan when I saw it, so it was easy..)

"Not to sound crass, but was the Last Supper worth the effort?"

For us, the answer would be a qualified "yes." Since we were ready to leave the CT and we like to see as many things as possible on our trips, the day going to see The Last Supper was was worthwhile.

That said, The Last Supper does not rank very high in my European memories (but there will be countless people who disagree with my assessment).

Since you will have been in a villa for six nights, you might be ready for a day trip like this, and if your sister REALLY wants to see it, I'd say give it a go.
Remember, you must get reservations before you go.

I knew my "snake trail" would follow me! Going to have to change my name

I guess I'll look into the reservations. If it's easy enough -- the whole reservation thing made it sound so difficult -- maybe we'll do it. Of course this assumes we leave Levanto the day before our flight instead of the day of. My husband's preference is to leave late Friday afternoon to get the most out of the villa and to avoid spending a lot of time at an airport hotel.

Hi All:
Can you tell me more about your impressions of Levanto? Sounds like easy access to CT but is it also a cool, charming town? Thanks.

Just to add my 2 bits: I like Levanto, whether it's cool or not I can't say, but its a charming Liguirian town, lots of restaurants, trattoria etc, reasonable beach, close to Cinque Terre and if you want to stay at a proper town and explore 5T without staying at one of the villages, then its cool. Also good for diving.

I can't say whether or not to spend last day in Milan, that depends, but there are many attractions in Milan, not just the Da Vinci Last Supper (which I was not impressed by, better Last Suppers in Florence), the galleria, the doumo, the accademia, the castle and shopping, but I don't know about the tolerance of your kids.

I think 2.5 hours from Levanto to Malpensa is cutting it a bit fine. as you have to skirt both Genoa and Milan traffic. I would allow 3 hours.

There is a bus from Milan Centrale Station to Malpensa, its cheap and not too comfortable, but if you want to see the Last Supper,(make sure you make a reservation in advance) then I would drive to Malpensa and take the Malpensa Shuttle, which as has been pointed out is a train that comes in close to the Last Supper(and the castle for the kids). I wouldn't try to drive in Milan, btter go to Malpensa and use tranport into Milan.

Not far from Malpensa there is a nice hill town, called Oleggio, with a great restuarant, La Volpe e Il Gatto (the fox and the cat) for a great last supper (but you will need reservations for Friday night)

............fyi, we stayed in Oleggio
b/f an early Malpensa flight - and it
is a pleasant little town for a last
night's stay....by car the airport is
20 minutes away.

.........we also elected to stay in
Levanto and were happy to have done
so - lots of nice restos, a pleasant
beach and good gelato and less frenetic
than the CT towns but still convenient.

Thanks for the tips on Oleggio and the restaurant. Sounds ideal! I'm going to do a search on both and see what I can come up with. I think everyone has sufficiently swayed us away from traveling to Milan day of departure. Grazie!