IMO the "problem" with going to the city of Como is that it is not located on the prettiest or even the most interesting part of the lake.

I think the better option might be to take the bus over to Menaggio as Neckervd has suggested.

I stayed in Como and loved it - though many may prefer 'fishing villages' like Bellagio, where they now angle more for the tourists' euros and are often very crowded) but yes occupy serenely sublime positions on the more beautiful part of the lake. Como is a real regional city and a nice one that most neglect when doing the lake. And it has boat and bus connections all over the lake.

I think if you are coming from New York City then Turin is more interesting than Milan, with more scenic vistas. One of the villages on Lago di Como is more of a break from urbanity than the city of Como.

I believe there is a bus that goes from Malpensa airport directly to Lugano. So that's another option.

We are doing the same itinerary in June and we are doing 4 nights Turin/4 Como/5 Milan. Our tentative day trips are:

Turin - Sacra di San Michele
Como - Lugano
Milan - Verona and probably one of either Genoa or Bologna

We decided not to do longer than 4 nights on Lake Como as we thought it might get a bit repetitive after that since most of the attractions are related to the natural beauty of the Lake and the Villas that surround it. Of course everyone is different and I'm sure there are plenty of people that would be happy spending their whole vacation there but with teenagers in tow we wanted to keep our itinerary a bit more varied :) We won't have a car either, the only thing we found that no car makes difficult is touring vineyards in Piemonte but pretty much everything else you would want to do should be reachable by train.

Mikedallas,

If you are thinking of hiking up to the Sacra di San Michele please know that it is very, VERY steep hiking. You can read stories from people who keep travel blogs about how they started the hike and ended up in tears halfway through -- and these are grown men! It can also be really hot in Piemonte in June during the sunniest part of the day. If your kids are super-troopers who never complain or just love that sort of thing, might work out. And I think there is a bus or funicular to get to the top?

On a different subject, I hope you are planning to take the family to the movie museum in Turin and go up the glass elevator to the top. Try to do on the clearest day you have so you get a good view of the Alps. Also, there is an underground museum that might interest kids (military defenses) and an absolutely crazy museum in Turin that has hundreds of precise 18th c. botanical models of fruits. It's small, so it's just a duck in and out, but if they are interested in environmental science, it's a real look back in time.

In the trip report I posted above (here it is again - http://www.pbase.com/annforcier/dolo...ino_alto_adige) I describe in detail the hike up Sacra di San Michele. There was no funicular, I believe at one of the train stations (not the one from which you hike up) it is possible to get a taxi.

It is extremely steep. I did it on a very hot, humid day and it was horrible. The hike I mean, once at the top it was great.

Sorry, that link was to the photos (although there are a few pic of the hike up to San Michele), here's the link to the trip report

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...nd-castles.cfm

7 days in Turin is great, in my opinion, this is just what I did last year. So much to do in and around the city.

Sleep 2 nights at Aosta and you can really enjoy the highest mountains of Western Europe!>

Keep 5 days in Turin perhaps and 2 nights in Aosta - too far for day trip as others have pointed out. But a terrific experience.

Also, must start searching for airfares! Pronto! I welcome any suggestions on that subject as well.>

You may find flying into and out of Milan cheaper and Milan's Malpensa Airport is way west of Milan towards Turin.

Have you been to Italy before? If so I can see spending a week in Turin (well I can't myself but I can see why others would) but if not having seen Venice or Rome or Florence I'd put them first - but that is just my subjective take - kind of like going to England and staying in York or Bath and not London.

Cities like Turin and Milan are nice but northern Italy in general is so industrial and modern compared to farther south IMO.

Frencharmoire,
Thanks very much for the heads-up, according to the website there are buses available from the train station starting in Mid-May. Failing that we will shell out for the taxi, our kids might make it to the top walking but I'm not sure I would :) We are definitely planning on doing the Cinema museum, especially since our daughter has aspirations of being an actress. In Milan, we were also thinking about doing the tour of the Ansalmo workshops (where they design the sets and props for La Scala) but I haven't found any reviews on it so we may just do the La Scala tour instead. We took our kids to Spain last year and found as long as we mix things up (indoor vs outdoor, art vs other stuff) that they do pretty well. As long as our son gets gelato or chocolate 2x a day he will be happy :)

mikedallas,

Sounds great. Be sure to leave plenty of time for the cinema museum in Turin because it has loads of fun details, plus they show clips of movies in many different rooms, so that can be time consumimg (but really a lot of fun though). I've never even heard of the Anselmo workshops, so can't offer any advice, but it sounds fascinating. (I have been to the cinema museum in Milan, and that is very tiny and can be safely skipped).

Genoa is very far for a day trip from either Turin or Milan. Bologna or Verona is easier. With kids, I might pick Verona. The Shakespeare connections are in dispute, but it is a very lovely town with 2 roman amphitheaters and a cheery vibe, with a river rushing through it. Bologna has attractions, but many are related to its history as a university town or its present day life as a pasta capital. For future doctors or scholars (or chefs), it's most interesting. For actresses, maybe less so (and future chefs have a lot to enjoy in Turin).

A nice museum for everybody in Milan is the Ambrosiana because it's kind of like a mini-Smithsonian, more a collection of one-off unusual treasures than a lot of paintings. It's fairly small, so about 40 minutes there gets you through the whole thing. Also Milan hosts temporary art shows that can be small and interesting for younger people -- like an M.C. Escher exhibit or Ai Weiwei.

Torino is a great town for gelato and chocolate of every description. I'm guessing the Milanese eat those things somewhere, but most of them are trying to stay thin all the time, so I suspect they only do it in hiding. But sounds like your son has a sharp eye or nose for it, and I am sure it exists Milan.