We will be flying into Milan ....arriving mid morning. We will have a rental car and would like to find a nice town or small city in the area that would be quick and easy to take the train into Milan on a day trip. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm not quite sure I understand.

You are arriving in Milano and picking up a rental car in Malpensa? Or Linate?

You want to stay a few nights in someplace other than Milano, but still have a chance to easily come back for a day trip by train?

Just want to make sure I understand you.

You'd get better answers if you described a bit more your desires for your base: great food? lake view? lots of history? off the beaten track? Where are you going after this?

Also, have you considered just spending a night in Milano, and picking up your rental car the next day?

Varenna.

Gorgeous location and easy to get to Milan via train.

I agree Varenna is a lovely town, but I wouldn't want to have a car there. If kettamic is arriving in Milano mid-morning from a transatlantic flight, driving to Varenna is more complicated than other lake destinations.

I'd rather have a shorter train trip were I headed into Milano for a day trip.

And if Kettamic is using the car to go to move on to Tuscany or Liguria or many other places, I'm not sure going to the lakes makes sense.

Need more info, kettamic...

My suggestion: Stresa, Lago Maggiore

I agree--Stresa!
www.stresa.net

Stresa is north of Milan. Are you headed to Switzerland for the rest of your vacation?

Sorry about being so vague...we will be arriving at Malpensa. We have two weeks in the area and no reservations anywhere. (We travel this way frequently). We have been to Italy several times before and have seen the highlights of Northern Italy....such as Venice, Florence, Verona, The Dolomites, Lake Como area, Trieste, Istria, Friuli and the Aosta Valley.
We plan on visiting a few places that we haven't been to... such as Parma, Ferrara, Cinque Terre, Milan and any places in the area that Foderites might like to suggest. We will probably revisit Venice, Verona and Lake Como.
We want to spend a night or two in a town that would be an easy train ride into Milan.... lake view would be nice but not required, great food - nice but not that important, just a nice place to hang out and get over the jetlag.
We would probably be going to Parma from there.

You're not likely to find great food in Stresa.

How about Pavia? Fifteen minutes outside of Milano by train, an historic town to boot with hotels and restaurants and with a fabulous Certosa to visit when you get in the mood.



http://goitaly.about.com/b/2006/03/0...avia-italy.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certosa_di_Pavia

Bergamo is a very beautiful town a short ride from Milan. Vigevano is also quite close and has an exceptional main square and some other attractions. I've never been to Pavia, but it's close to Milan and sounds very much worth visiting. Varenna is beautiful, but you've probably already been there.

Everyone has their own opinion about "great food."

We've been to Stresa twice, and will be there again May, 2009. The food was very good - no complaints.

Do you homework and get restaurant recommendations if you decide to stay in Stresa.

Where did you eat? Name names, please! I'm quite willing to learn.

I thought the food was mediocre at Pappagallo, and worse than mediocre at Verbena.

I was quite happy at the Caffe Lidrovolante, but it's a very youthful place and the food is the luck of the draw, day by day, so I hesitate to recommend it publicly to others, especially since it's a hike to that end of the promenade. But it's right on the lakeshore, and I think rather charming.

http://www.lidrovolante.com/

Still, given the rest of kettamic's wanderings, I hardly see the point of sending him or her north of Milano, only to have to turn around and go back through Milano traffic to get on with their trip. I also think it is dreary to be in Stresa if it rains, whereas Pavia doesn't have that problem.

sorry, that should be Verbano for my worse than mediocre meal.

But seriously, I'd love to know where to get a reliably good meal in Stresa.

How about Como? A very short train ride to Centrale and a ferry access to the rest of the lake.

I also love Varenna. Frequent ferries in the mid-lake area should make car travel easy. Menaggio has a faster access from Milan by car, Varenna by train.

Varenna for scenery or Bergamo for history.

Hi zeppole,

We eaten at "Osteria degli Amici" three times (over two years):

2007: Tagliatelle with mushrooms and cream sauce, cannelloni with spinach, chopped beef, and cheese, scallopine with gorgonzola, house wine, and tiramisu for dessert.

2008: Perch fillets with a side of spinach, house wine, and tiramisu for dessert. Fabulous.

"Il Fiorentine": We ordered vegetables and what we got! Each separate dish: carrots and peas, spinach, eggplant and finnochio. Out of this world. My husband had lasagne and I had meat cannelloni (house specialty), house rosso, and we shared a slice of lemon cake.

Also, "Taverna del Pappagallo" and "Luina" (simple, inexpensive meals).

My opinion is based upon what is available in town - and I do not compare the food to, let's say, what we have eaten in a Bologna restaurant.

Thanks for the great ideas! Right now we are debating between Varenna and Stresa. If its raining we will probably go to Pavia or Bergamo instead. If anyone has any suggestions on hotels in either place we would like to hear.
We prefer B&Bs or small family run hotels but 4 or 5 stars area not out of the question.

For Varenna, Eremio Gaudio.

About your rain choice: Varenna is actually very beautiful, almost mystical looking, in the rain. I'm one of the people who disliked Stresa--one of my least favorite places in all of Italy..

i am kane,

Thanks! Sorry I completely missed your post before. Agree that one should not go to places other than Bologna expecting Bolognese cooking, or that high a standard. Still, can't agree on Pappagallo based on the meal there it's good simple food.

Is Osteria degli Amici right in the center of town, away from the lakeshore, with tables out in the piazza?

If you are going back to Stresa, and it's a nice day, you might give L'idrovolante a go for lunch or a cocktail. It's all the way down the promenade by the entrance to the funicular. The boats stop there, so if you are coming back from the islands, you just use that dock. I forget its name.