Venice to Varenna Question
 

I'm trying to plan my travel times for my May 31st trip from Venice to Varenna. Here is what I don't understand from the trenitalia website: When I do a search for Venice to Varenna my best option appears to be the 6:04 from Mestre to Milano Centrale (8:55) and then take the 9:15 from Milano Centrale to Varenna (10:17)

BUT when I do a search from Venice to Milan a Eurostar route shows up from Venice S.L. to Milan (6:22-9:05). From that point I could take the 9:15 to Varenna.

Obviously, the Eurostar route is the better route in my mind. Am I missing something here? I don't understand why it wouldn't show up on the Venice to Varenna search. Plus the train leaves from St. Lucia instead of Mestre so I don't have to take the shuttle to Mestre.

One more thing: Will 10 minutes be enough time to switch trains? (first time trainer here)

Thanks in advance...This board is great!!!

Your approach sounds sensible to me, and I wouldn't necessarily trust the Trenitalia site to pick the best - the site is quirky at best. Or it may be that they think a ten minute layover isn't enough. The Eurostars are generally on time, but could easily slip ten minutes. On the other hand, there are trains fairly often from Milan to Varenna, so at worst you could spend some time admiring the amazing fascist architecture of Milan's Central Station... and avoiding pickpockets. <grin>

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I just did the search myself and I see what you mean. It's hard to know why the results are as they are, but perhaps the system is programmed to require a minimum connection time of greater than 10 minutes. Normally, assuming the trains are on time, that would be enough connection time, especially since you're changing from a ES to a diretto, as opposed to the other way around (milk-run trains are more frequently late than the ES.)

I suggest you go for the ES route, and try for the 915 train. Enjoy Italy.

It really doesn't make any difference as to the type of train Milan-Varenna as to its leaving on time or not. Trains from Milan to Varenna <b> originate </b> at Centrale so unless there is some hold-up with passengers getting on, etc., it will almost undoubtedly leave on time.

That means the driver in this case is the timeliness of your arriving train.

Centrale is a large station with lots of platforms but if your arrival is within even five minutes and you look up at the departures board at the head of the platforms you should have time to make the train to Varenna.

Be aware, however, that they only run about every two hours.

One minor negative to a quick connection in Milan is that you might not find any open seats on the Milan-Varenna train and will have to stand for the 60+ minutes.

Intrepid1;

By 'the other way around' I was referring to the reverse itinerary. If I were taking the train coming FROM Varenna, and hoping to catch the ES at Milan with only a 10 minute connection, I would be more worried about missing that connection since, in my experience, direttos (such as the one between Varenna and Milan) are more often late than the ES between Milan and Venice (in either direction). (But I'd still go for it in the hope of making the connection anyway; I've made connections with less than 3 minutes to spare).