zwho

Hi, Here's my problem, and (I know everyone should be lucky enough to have my problems!) We finish up a cruise in Venice on June 20 in the a.m. We have to fly Swiss, because of FF miles. They don't fly out of Venice, so we need to get to Milan, I suppose. So we can't make it there on the 20th, they only have morning flights out to the U.S., so we have 1 day to play. We have been to Venice before and are spending 1 day there with the cruise. Should or could we do a trip to Lake Como and take the train to Milan late at nite? Should we find somewhere closer to Venice for a day trip. How far is the Milan airport from the historic center? We have flown home from there before, but I can't remember!! Any suggestions on how best to spend the day (6/20) and still make it to Milan for our 7a.m. flight on (6/21) would be very much appreciated. Thanks, Mary

rex

<<Should or could we do a trip to Lake Como and take the train to Milan late at nite? Should we find somewhere closer to Venice for a day trip. How far is the Milan airport from the historic center?>>

No, I don't think that Lake Como is your best bet. Lake Como is past Milan, and you can't really get "there" (depends on where "there" is, on Lake Como) in less than about 3.5-4 hours. Even though the days are maximally long on June 20, I just think it is too much time spent in transit.

Yes, you could day trip to any of a number of destinations en route from Venice to Milan - - but it would (most likely) require renting a car, which is a lousy bargain compared to the train (for a one day car rental), unless you are a party of four or more.

Milan center is 35-55 minutes from Malpensa (I think), depending on whether you're asking about cab or other public transport. There are numerous threads here on the Malpensa Express, bus versus train and the whole transport issue to the airport.

Best wishes,

Rex

zwho

Thanks Rex, So we will probably stay around Venice and take a late train (if we can) to Milan. We have spent 3 days in Venice. I hate to sound like a dud with no imagination, but I don't know that I want to return to any of the museums we have been to or just get lost strolling thru the city, and I just need some ideas of where to spend a day. Are there any day trip destinations ( an hour or so) that we can do? Thanks again. I am being lazy. I haven't looked in a guide book yet.

rex

Why nothead straight to Milan? You can amuse yourself there for a day wth no problem. Make reservations and go see the Last Supper.

Jocelyn_P

There are many interesting cities on the train line between Venice and Milan, any one of which could eat up a good part of a day. You could see Verona for Romeo and Juliet, the Roman Arena, and fantastic strolling and people watching, Vicenza for Palladian architecture, or Padua for Scrovegni Chapel (Giotto's frescoes). Of course if you haven't spent any time in Milan you could easily fill a day there.

Mimar

If I had an extra day in Venice, I'd take the boat trip along the Brenta Canal to look at the Palladian villas.

Other thoughts: night on Lago di Garda or in Verona.

Do you have to leave one day after your cruise ends? Couldn't you add one or two days?

ira

Hi z,

>We [will] have spent 3 days in Venice.<

Lucky you. Now you can spend another day in Venice

or Padua, or Verona, or Milan.

Cicerone

Can you use FF to go home on Swiss via Zurich? There are three Swiss flights a day from Venice to Zurich on June 20 and 21st, at 9:30 am, 3:30 pm and 7:40 pm. Flight takes about an hour. Not sure where in the US you are returning to, but this may enable you to make a connection to your US flight that day, or at the worst to overnight in Venice or Zurich (not a bad thing). Even better would be to go from the port to the airport in Venice and check in for both portions of your flight, including your heavy luggage and then head into Venice for the night with only carry ons.

Even if this is not included in your FF, the Swiss website is showing that the one way fare Venice-Zurich is 95 Euros for some flights, which is a very good price.

Cicerone

OK, having looked again at the Swiss Air site, and assuming you are flying Swiss and not a code share with Swiss, I would definitely recommend you fly from Venice to Zurich, because it appears that all US bound flights on Swiss from Milan require a connection in Zurich. To go all the way to Milan to end up in Zurich anyway seems like a waste of time and money. Look into Venice-Zurich-US

zwho

I am really confused here. I see where I can fly out of Venice on their web site. That was the problem. Whoever I spoke to at Swiss said they do not fly out of Venice. Thats why we were going to Milan. I have to call tomorrow to confirm the reservation and thank goodness I haven't transferred the points yet! Thank you so much for your help Cicerone. What would I do without the help of the people on this site? And Ira, ya I know I'm a spoiled brat, taking a place like Venice for granted, but I do know how lucky I am to get to see all these amazing places. I just want to make good use of my time and see whatever I can while I'm in the neighborhood! Thanks agin for all the suggestions. Hopefully we won't need them and can just get on a plane in Venice. We usually do stop in Zurich and I love it there.

Cicerone

Website for Swiss is Swiss.com you can look up the flights yourself. The airport for Venice is actually in a town called Mestre and is called Marco Polo Airport, perhaps that is why the salesperson said they don’t fly out of Venice. . . .

dickv2

Goo morning, have flown out of Venice about three times and from Zurich to Venice twice over the years... The flights are still listed on the Swiss Schedule.. The did discontinue them
for a short period November of 2003 when is the last time I tried to fly into Venice via Swiss. Richard of LaGrange Park, Il..

rex

<<The airport for Venice is actually in a town called Mestre and is called Marco Polo Airport>>

I don't think that this is factually accurate. I have never read anything about the airport's location being in Mestre, technically or otherwise.

And I can't iamgine that a passenger is supposed to know to look in any other city for VCE (Marco Polo, THE airport for Venice), any more than a traveler is suposed to look in Roissy for Paris (CDG) or Queens for New York (JFK).

Anyhow, I think that VCE is actually located in Tessera, whose boundaries may be little more than the airport itself, and one hotel - - http://www.flyhotelvenice.com - - see also http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...2&tid=34470700 for some conflicting (out-of-date?) info on Tessera. It's one of those places that most people who have been there, or are going there - - never know the name of, nor do they need to.

Cicerone

Rex, please re-read my post. I was not implying that the PASSENGER should know the name or location of the airport, I was saying that perhaps the salesperson (quite stupidly) did not know the name or location of the airport when he/she tried to enter Venice as a departure point. I can’t imagine that Swiss’s system is set up that way (their website certainly lets you use “Venice”) but was trying to come up with a reason why the Swiss salesperson said there were no flights between Venice and Zurich, when they are several a day.

In defense of my own post (and why you should attack my post in quite the way you did is beyond me), I am currently working on a real estate development project about a mile from the Venice airport, and know the area pretty well. The area surrounding the airport is called Mestre. I believe you are technically correct that the name of the town in which the airport itself is located is Tessera. However, I have found that many Italians refer to the airport as “Venice Mestre”. Much like the airport near Newark, New Jersey is located partially in the town of Elizabeth, and while its official name is Liberty International Airport, most people refer to it as “Newark Airport”.

Cicerone

zhwo, I just did some more looking at the Swiss site. You may have to buy a round trip ticket, as the price I quoted yesterday seems to be have been part of a round trip. The good news is that the price I quoted yesterday was Euros, and the real price is in Swiss Francs which makes the fare cheaper. Round trip Venice-Zurich is CHF183 which is about $150. The one way fares on Swiss are outrageously expensive, just buy a round trip and don’t use the return portion. We do that a lot here.

Sorry if I confused you with my earlier post.