I'm so confused trying to figure out which train station I'll need in Milan to get to Como! One book said Centrale, one said Nord, and one said Piazza Garibaldi! Please help!!

There two railway lines from Milano to Como. The main line goes from Milano Centrale (www.trenitalia.com) and the trains to Como are en route to Switzerland. There is a separate line run by Ferrovie Nord Milano (www.ferrovienord.it) from Milano Cadorna - these trains are local stopping trains and take about an hour, but are more frequent and the terminus, Como Lago, is more central. Milano Cadorna can be reached by metro - as I remember it, the metro station has a different name but the connection to Cadorna is clearly marked on maps.

Milano Centrale (Milan's main train station, with trains to everywhere in Europe) is also located on the Milan subway system. I think that the subway station is across a park from the train station.

Milano Centrale is the FS' (Ferrovie dello Stato, the Italian national railway) main Milan station, although there are numerous suburban FS stations as well.

I believe that the train from Centrale goes to a station in the "downtown" (that's my descriptive word)area of Como, while the one from the Nord station stops near the lake and is more convenient if you are taking the hydrofoil to one of the towns on the lake.

Oh, thank you! That explains why I've been seeing different stations for what seemed like the same trip!

Hi Bashaw,
To round-out the picture and further confuse everything:

The FS line actually has 4 Milano stops, including Centrale and P. Garibaldi (the other 2 are P. Greco and Lambrate). All are also on the metro. This train makes only one stop in Como, at S. Giovanni station which is, as Howard say, not at the lakeside.

The Ferrovie Nord trains can be boarded at 3 stations in Milano: Bullona and Bovisa in addition to Cadorna (Nord). Again, these stations are all accessible by metro. The FN trains make 3 stops in Como, the Lago station being right at the lakeside. (Camerlata and Borghi are the other 2).

Hope this is more help than hurt!