Spring in Italy
 

I stayed up for hours last nite reading everything you folks had to offer on this site about Italy travel and general stuff.

We are arriving in Milan about 6PM after a long flight...not too interested in spending time in Milan and thot Varenna would be a good place to relax before the real journey begins. What is the travel time between Milan and Varenna? I understand there is train service from the airport..is this a good idea or should we bunk down in Milan for the nite?

Any ideas about lodging in Varenna, Venice, Cinque Terre and Rome?? Also what shouldn't we miss seeing? We have deleted florence from the itinerary as we thot we would have enuf big city stuff to see.

Our next stop will be Venice and I hope there is train service between Varenna and Venice..can we buy our tickets when we arrive in Milan??? After Venice on to Cinque Terre...down to Assisi and to Rome. We have 13 days so I hope this is not too much to bite off in one trip. Any ideas will be helpful I am sure!

Hi b,

Have you read Helpful Information: Italy 2?

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34568596

Thanks Ira for the helpful information thread..lots of great tips!

i am still wondering if after arriving in Milan about 6PM should we try to get to Varenna for our first nite stay??

Does anyone know what the train connections are between Malpensa and Varenna...hoping we can travel directly from the airport rather than go into the city to catch the train??

Bobsie, with only 13 nites, I assume 13 nites actually in Italy, I would pick only 4 destinations if you plan to include Venice and Rome--especially traveling by train. You do not mention dates, just spring. Is that early April or mid-May--big difference. The CT is the one location that will be tough logistics.

we're talking mid-may...i tend to get greedy when traveling..wanting to see it all. I haven't figured in the train travel time yet..it actually is 14 nites in italy.

Do you think that traveling from the US to milan and then on to Varenna in one day is crazy?? I tend to put things down on paper and then living them out is a different story!

Thanks for your reply...anxious to hear your feedback.

Bobsie - Malpensa to Varenna will take you 2-3 hours via Milan (- depending on connection time at Milan) - i.e:

- The bus ride from Malpensa to Milan Centrale station takes approx 50 mins., with departures every 20 minutes.
Here's the link:

http://www.malpensashuttle.it/mxp-mil.htm

- The train ride from Milan to Varenna takes approx. 70 mins.
From Milano Centrale there are trains to Varenna at 19.10, 20.08 and 21.08.

www.trenitalia.it

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Thanks Steve..since we will be arriving in Italy that day will it be necessary to purchase a train ticket in advance to assure a seat?

Bobsie - You can't book in advance on regional trains like the Milan-Varenna one.

But you won't have a problem getting a seat anyway ...

Steve

Bobsie,You will waste most of a day getting to the CT from Venice. I would consider time in Tuscany instead----perhaps Siena

Thanks Steve and BTN..O.K. we will fly into Milan and bus to the train station for our trip to Varenna..that makes our arrival time in Varenna close to 9PM...guess we need to make sure the "hotel" (no reservations yet!) is aware of our late arrival.

And I need to look at a map again and get on that train site also to determine if we need to re-work our intinerary...I don't want to spend all day on a train but want to see CT!

Thanks for all your helpful suggestions!

Bobsie,

We visited Cinque Terre on our last trip and while it was scenic and fun to hike between the villages (we did 4 out of 5), it was also crowded in mid-May. I liked the area, but on a 14 night trip wouldn't sacrific time in Venice to go there.

Cinque Terre is quite overrated IMO. There are many places in Italy just as scenic and wonderful and charming - like Tuscany and Umbria!

Buon viaggio!

I'd like to hear replies to Dayle's above mention that Cinque Terre might be overrated. We "saved" this part of Italy, perhaps to combine with Genoa and surrounding coastal area for another trip instead of trying to incorporate it into our recent trip to Venice. Lucky enough to have already visited Sorrento, Positano, Capri ~ I wonder if what Dayle says is true ~ might this area that sounds charming be a let-down after the Amalfi coast?
Any expert (or simply passionate!) opinions would be much appreciated.

I loved the CT. We went a little earlier than you, like in late april. Wild flowers were blooming along the trails. The weather was perfect. We did stay in Levanto, so that might be a good idea, to get away from the crowds. The first day we hiked,it was very crowded, but then we found out it was a national holiday. We hiked also from Levanto to the upper CT town, and it wasn`t crowded. It is a trail that is less used than the others. In fact, it was a highlight of our trip. I still look at those pictures! We took the train back to Levanto after the hike. If you want to see the CT, then do it!

And Rome, Florence, Venice and Positano aren't crowded???? I have to admit I do love CT as well as the entire Italian Riviera. As nice as the Amalfi Coast? It's like comparing Florence and Siena. Similar but different, don't compare just enjoy them both. Still CT might be too much for this trip.

You are all so helpful. I have checked the length of train trips we have planned within italy which should have been done before i posted my first questions...am learning as i go!

Our itinerary calls for two long train trips of 6 hours each if we go to CT so we are in a big debate about whether to attempt that trip or not or possibly travel from Venice to Florence enroute to Assisi which is only a 3 hr. train ride.

A question I have after checking the trenitalia website is should we buy tickets thru this site if we have a buy opportunity or will we save $ if we buy tickets in Italy?? Some of the trips say "no" under the purchase heading so I presume that these are local trains that do not sell online..although one of the "no buy" trips leaves Venice for La Spezia or Florence and there is no opportunity to buy online for a sizable journey.

Steve, did note that the Milan-Varenna train trip is sold online for 4.80E.

This should be the last of my questions...for awhile!!

thanks again to all

Do your homework and get best train times and routes before you go, then buy the tickets in Italy.

quinn1! Your itinerary reads exactly as my original one did, except an additional trip to Chioggia/Ravenna by car (which we did not get to!). I look forward to a trip to CT, but to address your questions re: Padua/Vicenza ~
We rented a car for our visit to both. Your arrival by train sounds easy enough ~ Padua is not far from Venice. I hope your rail arrival is less frustrating than ours was with a car.

Our goal was to visit the Scrovegni Chapel to see the Giotto frescoe cycle. Padua is not at all a small Italian town. It is busy and full of traffic and pedestrians, as we continued to discover even after we parked the car. After much map confusion, we found a pleasant signora who tells us she is going in that direction and she will lead us there.

This part of our day is tedious ~ a long walk, a wait for the chapel visit, and a long walk again back to the car. But as much as the day up to this point has been difficult, the 13th C. chapel proves to be very special~ the frescoes amazing in their brilliant color and the humanism with which Giotto paints his stories.

By train, and since you are spending the night there, you should have no difficulty, with help from your hotel desk,in this town. Our time there contributed a great deal to our decision to not travel south to Ravenna the following day, but we had a mission ~ to the city of Palladio.I wish I could say I enjoyed Padua more.

We arrived south of Vicenza at the Villa Rotunda, Palladio's masterpiece. After viewing the grounds, we drive as close to the center of Vicenza as possible, and walk Corso Palladio ~the Teatro Olympico is at the north end of town, so this is a nice walk through the classical architecture and grand style of the streets of Vicenza.

Re: CT and south, I have no experience with hotels in CT, but Siena is good for a stop with a car, one hour south of Florence. We would have preferred the hotel inside the city walls as Siena was much bigger than I originally thought. (I'll look up the name of the hotel within, but it is not large and must be booked by now).

We loved driving through Tuscany, from Florence to San Gimigiano, also visiting Pienza, Montepulciano, and Orvieto. However, if you are headed for Roma, drop your car on its outskirts! Chiara!

You must post a remark or two re: yr experience ~ especially the logistics of getting to and out of CT and on to Florence.
Always dreaming of a future trip to beautiful Italia....