Lake Como Area
 

We have two nights in Lake Como booked and three nights in the Cinque Terra area. One night in between is open. Should we book another night in Como and do day trips to Verona or ?? or stay somewhere else in between? We are going mid Sept.

Another night on Lake Como. You won't wan to leave.

We spent 3 nights in Bellagi a couple of years ago, and we didn't want to leave.

Ditto. Just did three nights and wish we had 4. So many wonderful little towns to see.

We spent four nights in Varenna several months ago and wished we'd had more time there.

Another option might be to take the ferry across the lake & drive to Stesa. It is only a couple hours drive, but is a beautiful little town & you can ride the ferries to the small islands. Well worth the trip.

Have a great time! Wish it was me.

I am not clear which month we are talking about, but adding a night to Lake Como makes the most sense to me.

I would plan on boat trips to some of the towns along the lake.

Non lake diversions might include: Bergamo (Alta/ upper ville), for train fans - train to St Moritz, Switzerland and back, or you could take the bus to Lake Lugano and back.

The train to Switzerland sounds good. Details of how and what to do would be great Big Red.
Joycap what towns were your favorites?

You want to take the train to Tirano, Italy. That leg is 90 minutes.
In Tirano you change over to the Swiss Regional tracks (the stations are adjacent).

The trip from Tirano to either Pontresina, Switz or St Moritz, Switzerland is 2.5 hours.

So you are looking at spending 8 hours riding on trains, but the scenery from Tirano to St Moritz is quite breath taking.

http://www.rhb.ch/berninaexpress/berninaexpress.e.php

This is website for the Swiss portion.
Technically the "Express" runs infrequently, but all the trains up the Bernina Pass run the same route. There are trains from Tirano up the Bernina Pass to Pontresina/ st Moritz almost hourly.

Big Red:
Slow to get back to you. Busy weekend
Appreciate your info on the trains to Switz.

Do you happen to know if the train from Milan's MPX airport is better than the bus to Como. I think the bus leaves only 3 times a day but the train says Milan not Malenpensa which is the airport we land in.

I'm pretty sure that you have to go to Milano Centrale, the train station in Milan itself, which is about a 45 min. drive from Malpensa.

Add the extra day to Lake Como and use the ferries to explore even more villages. Three nights in CT is fine.
Save Verona for a trip to Venice.

I am unaware of the existance of any train service to or from Malpensa.

Do you understand about the town of Como versus the area of Lake Como with at least ten lakefront towns? The bus that you mentioned goes to the town of Como and then up the west side of the lake. The town of Como is not the usual tourist destination.

This is a bit late response to Cherlbr's question about my favorite town. It was all so magical, but I think I liked Varenna the best- the colored houses, little allys, Montestero gardens, the great owner of the one jewelry store who was so kind to my friend. I felt like Vanessa Redgrave in "A Month by the Lake". We also spent an incredible night at the restaurant on the Isole di Comicina. Looking back, I could have spent a week in Lake Como alone. Maybe next time......

Stay another night in Como and go to Varenna - beautiful - bellagio is full of tourists and shops but if you want beauty, peace and tranquility - definitely go to Varenna - wish we would have known more about it - we stayed in Bellagio and wished we would have stayed in Varenna!

Stayed in Varenna for three nights, wished it had of been four (at least). It is beautiful, glad we stayed in Varenna and "toured" to the other towns.

Varenna impresses as the more "typical" italian small town; Bellagio is the most touristed; Menaggio is the largest geographically of the three and has a wonderful "town square" on the lake front (with a great gelato stand) and not nearly the shopping opportunities as bellagio.

I would stay in the area and use that extra time to explore as others have suggested. It is wonderfully tranquil.

In answer to the question about train service to/from Malpensa, the Malpensa Express Train connects Terminal 1 at Malpensa with Milan's Nord Cadorna station. It operates every 30 minutes, takes about 40 minutes and operates well into the evening. There is also service from the Gallarte station near Malpensa to Milano Centrale and Milano Garibaldi. For this, you first take a shuttle bus from Malpensa to Gallarte. The shuttle bus to Gallarte operates every 20 minutes until about 7:45 p.m. As mentioned many times on this board, the Malpensa Shuttle BUS operates between Malpensa's Terminal 1 and Milano Centrale, departing every 20 minutes, taking about 60 minutes. All of this information (and more) is available at www.airwise.com.

It is possible to train from Malpensa to Lake Como without going into Milan. Take the Malpensa Express Train toward Milan, get off at Saronno (first or second stop) and change to a train bound for the town of Como where you can board a hydrofoil or ferry to points north on the lake. The connection time at Saronno is usually about 10-20 minutes and requires changing tracks. There is also bus service from Malpensa to a couple of points on the lake. All of this information (and more) is available at www.bellagiolakecomo.com.

I weould spend another night on the lake. If you really want to see Verona, then spend the night there. It is a very beautiful city.