Help w/Italy itinerary
 

I am in the final leg of our itinerary. I am somewhat stuck in the Venice to Castelrotto-Varenna-Stresa leg. We did not plan to have a car. It looks like the trains all go back to Milan, which may not be a bad thing, but seems like a waste of time to keep going back and forth and yet I think we would really enjoy these areas, any ideas or suggestions?

Not knowing the rest of your itinerary, or where your entire trip begins and ends, it's difficult to offer a lot of meaningful advice. But assuming you probably arrive and depart Milan, my suggestion is that you rent a car in Venice at the end of your visit there.

Your reference to "we" means there will be at least two of you traveling, which also makes it pretty much of an even trade between train expenses and a rental car -- especially if you had planned to go back and forth from Milan.

The areas you suggested are indeed scenic and interesting, especially if you like the views more than the cities. Using a car will give you the freedom to enjoy those areas in a way you never could do if you go by train. Good luck.

If you drive, the castelrotto to Varenna trip via the high road via Meran and Bormio,staying in the little town of Glurn is a great scenic trip.

This will be a final leg of a three week trip focused on Northern Italy. Great idea to rent a car. We are going to while in Siena, trian to Florence and Venice and then we could rent a car again from there. We do fly into and out of Milan. We have a 7 year old and 18 year old in tow. Is Glurn a town that could offer stuff for the kids, or is it pretty small? I had hoped to find a room in Castelrotto, but haven't had too much luck yet.

Try Zum Wolf in Castelrotto or go to the Val Gardena site and stay in Ortisei. Both are wonderful and close.

If we rent a car in Venice do we need to return it in Venice? Our plan is to leave Venice head to Castelrotto, Varenna, Lake Como and then back to Milan for our departing flight. The suggestion was to rent a car once we leave Venice. At what point should we return the car?

It was suggested that if we fly into Milan Malpensa that we may want to consider staying on the outskirts of town. We arrive at 8am their time. I suspect that we will be very tired so I don't want to have to travel too far. When we depart we will be coming from Lake Como. Should we spend our last night closer to Milan, maybe in Stresa or should we head into Milan? We will not have spent much time in Milan, so this would be our only opportunity to see it.
Kristin