We are planning to fly into Milan and then take a train to Venice. How do you get from the airport to the main rail station in Milan?

ps. Our other alternative is to go through Amsterdam and fly to Venice but there is a 5 hour layover



thanks for any advice

Can you fly to Venice with a connection in Milan? Alitalia flies Venice...Milan...NY. Where are you coming from? And, which Milan airport? Malpensa?

There's a long, very recent thread, about Malpensa to Milan train station. There's an express bus to Milan Centrale where you can get the train to Venice. I just did Venice to Milan Centrale and I think it was 2.5 hours.

Take the Malpensa Shuttle bus. You can buy tickets at their counter, which is right on the way out of the airport. Buses leave every 20 minutes, and make one stop at the other terminal and then go straight to Milano Centrale. It's very easy. My wife and I did this with no problem, and neither of us speak anything remotely resembling Italian. We left Malpensa on a Saturday morning at about 8:00 a.m. and it took about 45 minutes to get to Centrale.

Hi

I agree with JLHood. My wife and I took the Malpensa Shuttle bus last summer when we went to Milan and Venice. I have posted our experience in a trip report with lots of pictures on my personal homepage www.gardkarlsen.com Maybe you can find some useful information there. Have a great trip.

Regards
Gard
Stavanger, Norway

thanks for your advice

There are two bus services that run between Malpensa Airport and Milano Centrale train station. One is called Malpensa Shuttle and the other Malpensa Express. The Express is slightly more expensive and in my experience has nicer buses but they both follow the same route. You don't have to buy tickets at the counter - you can just pay the driver as you enter the bus.

The 5 hour layover in Amsterdam may be a better bet. The train from Milan to Venice takes just under 3 hours. Depending on how much luggage you have and your luck making connections to the bus and from the bus to the train it might be faster or at least less hassle to fly straight to Venice.

My preference would be the layover in Amsterdam (terrific airport). Are you any where near JFK... Delta has (still, I think) a direct flight to Venice. We have also done Milan with a connecting flight to Venice on Alitalia. All much easier I think than dragging into the rr station, etc., etc. (Of course, by rail when you get to Venice you are right there on the Grand Canal.)