Milan first or Varenna/Bellagio first?
 

Hello, I am trying to finalize my itinerary for August and suddenly I second thought my original plan.

I was planning to travel from Florence > Milan > Lake Como (either Varenna or Bellagio) > Venice. Now I am thinking it may perhaps be easier logically to take the train direct from Florence to Varenna (with a change in Milan Centrale), then go to Milan and Venice.

Is there any actual difference in terms of convenience of doing Lake Como or Milan first? All these will be by train.

I would try to be at Lake Como during the week... not on a weekend. It might mean slightly, just slightly, fewer visitors.

FWIW, I like Milan more than most, but in August I don't think I'd spend more than a day there (no overnight). You could get an earlier start to a day like this if you were coming from Varenna-Esino, not Florence.

We stayed in Varenna and did a day trip from there to Milan. I guess it depends on your level of interest in Milan. It has some cool architecture like Milano Centrale station. We had to book a bus tour in order to see The Last Supper (all individual tickets were gone and it was months before our trip so be forewarned), but the tour also covered a tour of La Scala and the Duomo and a palace called Sforzesco? It wasn't the greatest tour, but it got us to the big attractions and we didn't have to hoof it everywhere.

Thank you for the replies. It never came across my mind that I could do a day trip to Milan from Varenna but that is something to think about.

My main points of interest in Milan are the Duomo, Last Supper, the Museum of Musical Instruments, and if possible, some shopping/window shopping. I have planned 2 nights in order to leave a full day.

If I do Milan before Lake Como, I will arrive at 1:50pm from Florence on a Tuesday. Do I still have time to get to the hotel (near Duomo), leave our luggage and do the Duomo and museum there on that day? The Duomo museum is closed on Wednesdays.

How far is the Museum of Musical Instruments from the Duomo area? I saw it on a map. It does not seem to be far away but I am not sure how long it takes to get there.

You need to check the hours for the Duomo museum. If you want to walk on the roof of the Duomo, you need to check the hours for that also. I don't know how it would take for you to "do" the Duomo and museum. I'm a slow sightseer, so I'm not a good judge. Anyway, you should get your Last Supper tickets before you plan your time in Milan. That's the one item on your sightseeing list over which you have little control as to time.

The musical instruments museum is in the Castello which is about a 20-minute walk from the Duomo.

I wouldn't make a day trip to Milan from Varenna. You're already changing trains at Milan between Florence/Varenna and Varenna/Venice. Visit Milan during one of those transits.

Thank you. I will eventually change the order and go to Lake Como first in order to be more flexible with the time in Milan.

Turns out the musical instruments museum is IN the Sforzesco Castle I mentioned was part of our tour. You might want to check on a tour that includes your desired sights and then wander for shopping on your own. As I said, we were originally planning to do The Last Supper on our own and found no tickets were available unless we were booked with a tour. Yes, you have to go through Milan to get to Varenna, but do you really want to book two nights in a hotel there, when Milan is about an hour by train from Varenna? Trains in the morning are about an hour apart as some people commute in to Milan. I always prefer to spend less time checking in and out and more time in a destination. Varenna is spectacular, by the way. We stayed in the Albergo Milano with two rooms facing the lake.