We're flying all night and arrive Malpensa at 8am. Want to get to Bellagio or Varenna, we'll stay in whichever town is easiest to get to! If we bus to Milan Central and miss the 9:15 train I think we're stuck for 3 hours. What are alternatives? How should we do this? First time Italy travellers so all tips are helpful. Thank you!

There is a bus directly from Malpensa to Como. Don't know the schedule, but the trip is less than an hour.

This topic has been covered ad nauseam on this site. Look up bus schedules at www.sptcomo.it

Do a text search here with the words: Milan train station question. This post will give you some excellent information.

Thanks for the response GAC. I have searched the boards but wanted to see if any new options were available.

We took the bus from the Malpensa Airport to Como last May - we got off very near the place to take the boat to Bellagio. We were very pleased how well all that worked.

We rented a car last year. I went through the same analysis paralysis that you are going through. I wanted to stay in Como for just that reason. I'd heard the drive was tough and we were coming in after an all night flight.<BR><BR>We threw caution to the wind and rented a car to drive to Bellagio. It was a piece of cake. We even stopped at Villa d' Este on the way up. We took the car ferry over and stayed at the Belvedere which was great! They had plenty of parking.<BR><BR>We then drove to Milan instead of Como to catch the train to Venice.<BR><BR>It really was fine. I am a nervous driver and I can easily say that.<BR><BR>Diane<BR><BR>