Train from Venice To Lake Como or Car
 

Has any travelled by car from Venice to Milan or Lake Como? My other choice is taking the train.

I think the train is a better and faster choice. It's not a very scenic ride for most of the way.

Done Venice to Milan and Milan to Lake Como by train. Good trains , dull trip .Taking good reading matter. The train leaves the middle of Milan and is so easy to get to .It arrives there as well of course and the station is short walk to the ferries on Lake Como . The Vaporettos in Venice drop you at the station .All easy. Book first class .

I agree w/everything JohnFitz wrote, except for the need to book first class. We've always done first class until our recent trip in October when we decided to "rough it" for various reasons ... we were delighted to discover that there's just not that much difference. If I were doing an overnight trip, then I'd want first class. Daytime, no biggie!
:)

We drove it and had a delightful journey. It's not a bad drive, and high speed highways virtually all the way. If you decide to drive, stay in the center or right lanes, or get blown away in the left (passing) lane.

Jim

Everyone so far is assuming you are traveling to the mid-lake area (Varenna/Bellagio/Menaggio) rather than to the Como (city) section of the lake.

If the former is true then the rail trip will take between 4-5 hours (total with changes) from Venice depending on whether you take a Eurostar service from Venice-Milan or an InterCity/EuroCity train.

The Milan-Varenna portion takes about 1.5 hours; those trains run every two hours or so. On that particular regional service, most of the cars are 2nd Class although there will usually be a very small section for First in one (perhaps two) of the cars. The difference in classes on <b>those</b> particular trains is hardly noticeable IMO.

As to scenery, the lake views start at Lecco (sit on the left side [facing forward] of the train for them.

The ferry dock (for ferries over to Menaggio or Bellagio) is a 10-minute walk all downhill from the RR station in Varenna.

Whether or not to take a car? IMO if you just want to <b>get there</b> from Venice then picking up and turning in a car, the gas, etc., isn't worth it.