Help with train to Varenna on Lake Como and Itinerary suggestions
 

Arriving Malpensa Airport Oct 11 and wanting to train to Varenna on Lake Como.

We are hearing different ways to get there. Just need some clarification from someone with experience. Some say take a bus to Milan Central others say express train. Comment... And where do we catch either of them? A little confused about where to get them.

Assuming the train is our best option exactly which train from Central do we take. ALSO everyone says to buy a round trip ticket because once in Varenna if you do not have a return ticket you have to go to a travel agent to buy a ticket. Our issue is we are staying in Varenna for 5 nights and we are open ended. We might spend more time here and we are not sure where we are headed after that. Maybe to Cinque Terra, Florence or to another Lake. So as you see it would be hard to buy a return ticket...unless you can have an open ended ticket?

Would love to hear suggestions...

Also would love to hear suggestions of where to head after Varenna. We are in Italy for 11 days (have been to Italy before but to Tuscany and the Amalfi area). We will not have a car, we are hikers, not too much into museums but would do that for a day or 2. We like being in small old towns and exploring the culture.

Thanks for any input
Mare

I was just in Varenna. You can't buy a ticket at the station. You can buy a ticket using a credit card from the travel agent just outside, but there will be a markup. You can buy a ticket as far as Milan, cash only, from a bar in town (it's listed in the Rick Steves guidebook but I dumped it when I left Stresa).

You might also be able to buy a ticket over the net and print it, although the wifi at my hotel was so bad as to be useless.

Can't help with Malpensa, although I've seen a number of threads here on that topic - do a search. If you can avoid Milan Centrale by changing at Rho Fiera, do so. BTW, Varenna station is Varenna-Esino, you want a train that stops there. Use bahn.de or trenitaia.it for schedules.

For the fewest connections, train to Milano Centrale and train to Varenna-Esino. The station in Malpensa is easy to find by following the signs. You could also train to Como Nord Lago (change trains at Saronno) and then ferry to Varenna. It's a short walk between the train station and the ferry dock in Como, but check the train and ferry timetables to see what sort of wait you might have for a ferry.

http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en
[Use Italian spellings: Malpensa Aeroporto, Varenna-Esino, Milano Centrale, Como Nord Lago, etc.]

http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/eng/c_orari.asp
[For Lake Como, but you can click on the other lakes.]

I would buy a return ticket back to Milan because almost anywhere you'd go after Varenna will require connecting in Milan.

FYI, although ferries on Lake Como will still be on their summer schedules when you're there, Maggiore and Garda ferries will have switched to low season, less frequent service. Before you choose either lake, you should decide where you're going to stay, what you want to do and whether the ferry service will be frequent enough to accommodate your plans.

I could swear I bought tickets at the Varenna station in June of this year. Maybe it was at a ticket machine?

You can also get train tickets at most tobacco shops. There shouldn't be a markup, but neither should there be at a travel agent.

I thought tickets for regionale trains purchased from a ticket office or automated kiosk were valid for quite a long time after purchase. Can someone verify as not 100% sure on this? You must validate them when you use them.

If it's the case you could buy in advance when you leave Milan and just decide the exact day later.

dreamon - that's right.

Re: ferry from Como to Varenna. I just did that. Very scenic, but it takes a long time. Quite a few steps down from the station, but easy walk to the dock after that.

To visit Florence or Cinque Terre after Varenna, you will have to return to Milano Centrale and then connect to another train, so you might actually use that return ticket.

Yes, there USED to be ticket machines in the Varenna-Esino station; perhaps that has changed? If the OP wants to stay open-ended that's fine. It just means the OP is going to have to buy a return ticket somewhere. What's the big issue?

Thanks for the info.
Mare