I am flying easyjet from London, and want to get to Bologna. There are frequent trains from Milano Centrale. I seem to have a choice of flights from London to either Linate or MXP so trying to decide based on which one is easier to get from the airport to the train station. I know a few years ago you had to take a bus from MXP to Milano Centrale but I though I just read about a train, though can't find info now. How do you get from Linate to Milano Centrale, haven't done that in years. So..... which one would you do?

Linate is much closer. I believe a bus is best, and even a taxi cannot be too bad.

Starting in september there is supposedly a new train service between Malpensa Airport and Milano Centrale - should be quicker than the bus - running twice an hour - starts sometime in September.

If you had to get to Milano Centrale for an onward train it was always better to fly to Linate rather than Malpensa because the only direct connection between Malpensa and Centrale was the bus which could often be caught in traffic.

However, from September 13 there will be a twice hourly connection direct from Malpensa to Milano Centrale which will take roughly 45 minutes.

Therefore, if your saving on flying to Malpensa is significant then you no longer have a risk with traffic or the need to cross Milan from the Cadorna Nord station to the Centrale.

Thanks for the replies. The flights are the same price to either airport, and the times are slightly better to Linate. I know it's closer, but isn't that a bus connection also to get to Milano Centrale? Maybe it's faster since it's closer than MXP. It looks like there is bus service from Linante to Milano Centrale every thirty minutes, but I can't find how long it takes. Anyone know? If it's less than 45 minutes I guess Linate would be the way to go.

If the prices are the same go for Linate. The bus takes about 20 minutes from Linate and about an hour from Malpensa in normal traffic but a lot longer in rush hour.

Wouldn't Ryanair from Stansted to Bologna be a great deal easier?

However prejudiced you might be against O'Leary and his horrors, taking on Milan traffic and FS to avoid them makes cutting your nose off to spite your face seem rational.

flanner - I actually hadn't even realized you could fly Ryanair directly to Bologna. So I thought, that would be a good idea. But I've just spent the last hour figuring out the logistics of both options - easyjet versus ryanair. And it comes out only taking about one to two hours longer to do the easyjet option (via Milan and train to Bologna), actually costs more on ryanair (after all the fees), would need to check a bag on ryanair but not on easyjet (due to the weight limit), and the ryanair options gets me to Bologna after 22:30 which is kind of late for me. So, thanks for the idea but it looks like easyjet to Linate will be the way to go