Transportation Aix or Avignon to Bellagio?
 

Anyone know if there are decent train connections? Would we have to go to Milan first?
Bus?

For rail you either change in Milan for a train to Varenna-Esino and then take a ferry over to Bellagio or you take a train from Milan to the city of Como and take a ferry from there.

You could also go by rail to Lugano in Switzerland and take a bus to Menaggio and from Menaggio a ferry to Bellagio.

You can wait for years to answer but the transport possibilities are not going to change.

There is no train station at Bellagio and it would make one long travel day ~12 hours. I would modify the itinerary to avoid this type of trip.
There are three train stations with different solutions to get to Bellagio.

1. Como S. Giovanni. Use www.bahn.com to find connections from Aix. Once you get to Como S. Giovanni, you have a choice of bus/taxi to the boat dock and take a slow or fast boat to Bellagio if you can get to the dock before 6pm. There is a bus station further down the shore you can also take to Bellagio, but it also stops running around the same time. Otherwise, you have to take a long taxi to Bellagio.

2. Varenna-Esino. You have to use two sites for some reason. Use www.bahn.com to find connections from Aix to Milano Centrale, then use www.trenitalia.com to find connection from Milano Centrale to Varenna-Esino. Once you are in Varenna, walk 10min down to the dock and take slow boat/fast boat/car ferry to Bellagio. The car ferry runs until about 10pm, so this is the low cost route if you are arriving late.

3. Como Nord Lago. This one gets you closest to the Como boat dock and the bus to Bellagio. But it is more convoluted. The best connection is probably Milano Cadorna to Como Nord Lago, but you have to make you way from some other Milan station to Milano Cadorna.

The bus route from Lugano is described by the previous poster.

Yes, Milan - unavoidable since it is the big hub for that entire region. There are no straight-line and really fast connections from the South of France to Northern Italy. No matter which route you take, either via Lyon-Chambéry, or Lyon-Geneva, or along the coast via Ventimiglia, you're looking at more than 8 or even 9 hours to Milan.

Start looking at www.voyages-sncf.com for Aix or Avignon to Milan, then from Milan onwards it's at www.trenitalia.com, the state railways, or the semi-private http://www.trenord.it/it/orari/consu...rroviario.aspx

Here's pdf listing your options from Milano:

http://www.hc-bellagio.com/wp-conten...-CITY-2012.pdf

You may check:
Avignon dp 7.15 - Bellagio ar 18.20, change at Lyon PD, Chambery, Milano PG and Como SG,
Avignon dp 8.51 - Bellagio ar 19.55, change at Mulhouse Ville, Zurich HB and Como SG
Avignon dp 9.51 - Bellagio ar 20.50, change at Lyon PD, Chambery, Milano PG and Como SG,

The Como - Bellagio bus leaves from San Giovanni railway station
http://www.sptlinea.it/Portals/5/Doc...linea%2030.pdf

Dukey1 wrote on Nov 4, 13 at 9:22pm

"You can wait for years to answer but the transport possibilities are not going to change."


This means what? A propos of what? Responding to what post?

Thank you for asking. I thought it was an alternative universe.