Vernazza to Menaggio Transport

I am traveling to Tuscany with my mother in October and have one spare night. I would love to see a bit of the Cinque Terre but mom has a bad back and many hills stairs are difficult for her. Could you recommend a place to stay in Vernazza or Riomaggiore that we could get to easily by train or boat, where mom could access with some ease (with a single suitcase) and she could stay and have a view of the sea while I explore CT further? Grazie!

we're departing to Italy tomorrow. brother and sister in our 30s. all this trip was booked pretty last minute so practically nothing is finalized.

we want to start our trip in the area around the 2 locations I mentioned but can't decide which is better (and we're departing to Italy tomorrow evening so time is short to make up our minds).

we'll be arriving at Malpensa Airport at night (booked a hotel near the airport) and want to go to either Como or Lecco fir about 2 night before returning to Milan.

we'll be using public transport for the entire trip.

as far as transport goes, it doesn't make much difference since the traveling time from the airport to either of them seems similar.

Lecco was my original plan since it seems there are some hikes around which is something that appeals to us.

looking for hikes around como proves more difficult since all search results are about the entire lake como and that's not helping considering we'll be using public transport.

I've read comments here that Lecco is not that attractive of a town. on the other hand it might be less crowded than Como.

I was thinking maybe taking a day and going from Lecco to Varenna and taking the ferry from there to Bellagio and Menaggio.

I can basically the same from Como as well.

but again, can't find any real info on hiking from Como city specifically.

bottom line, I'm confused. I sometimes find that the "prettiest" town us not always the best to stay in.

can you help with any kind of input?

I'll be flying from the USA into MXP, landing at 7:30 AM in a few weeks on Thursday. Flight out is Saturday at around 5:00 PM from MXP to France. I mostly want to go to Lake Como, but I was hoping to also see Milan city if possible. I will be using public transport and prefer to stay somewhere that isn't Como city.

If anyone has experience, can you please give some advice on what would be the best way to do this? I was thinking either go straight to Milan and get an early train Friday morning to the lake and then straight to airport Saturday, or go straight to Lake Como and then Milan either late Friday night or super early Saturday and walk around for a few hours before my flight. I am open to skipping Milan if the schedule is too tight - I have already taken pictures in front of many churches and fountains in Europe, and I also don't have interest in museums.

I guess my concerns are using public transportation for such a long trip with a lot of transfers after landing in Milan - I could be held up in immigration for hours and maybe the trains aren't frequent? And also using public transport for a long trip on the same day as my flight out - if I don't make a connection, I could end up stuck somewhere!

Appreciate any insight you can give!

Thank you :)

experts we are planning a trip to Cinque this fall and rather than taking the train connection from Rome etc. We are thinking of renting a car parking it for our stay in Vernazza. Given we are 3 it would elevate the headache of luggage thru trains even though we are traveling light and gives us freedom in terms of arriving leaving etc. Any suggestions from experts?

I have read that one of the corona measures in Italy is that the capacity of the trains (and maybe other public transport) is limited to 50% of full capacity. This also applies to the regional trains ?

I'm planning to be in Liguria next month an want to walk around Cinque Terre and visit by train from La Spezia, so can start in the morning at one village/station and end at another village/station. Maybe also take a regional train into Genoa.

Experts flying into Rome at 745am arrival. then and catching a Trenitalia to Vernazza question. Given these uncertain time and capacity on train It is a Friday in September should I buy the tickets in advance now? The train departure would be at Noon which is 4 hours after my arrival and should give me more than amble time to travel to Termini to get the train. Thoughts?

Hi everyone!

My wife and I are traveling to Italy for two weeks. Do you have any suggestions on what to do or see? Here is our route with car and ferry:

1 night in Milano

1 night in Santa Margherita - visiting Portofino

2 nights in La Spezia - visiting Cinque Terre, Vernazza and Riomaggiore

1 night in Florence

5 nights in Amalfi - buss or scooter around the coast

3 nights in Capri - buss or scooter

1 night in Rome

So we were thinking about leaving the car somewhere in Amalfi because it seems that using car in the Amalfi Coast is unnecessary. Then we take a ferry from Amalfi to Capri.

Hi! I'm planning on doing a long holiday in Italy from the end of September until November. I will be doing most of my transport via public transport, but biking/hiking or renting a car every now and then might be an option too.

What I'm currently thinking about:

- Enter sicily by train, hop off on the east coast. Visit Taormina, Catania, Siracusa, and possibly Ragusa as main sites. 5 days?

- Take the ferry from either Pozzallo or Augusta to Malta

- Spend about a week on Malta

- Take the ferry back, see (possibly Ragusa here) Valle dei Templi, and the north and west of sicily. About 10 days?

- Take the ferry from Palermo to Cagliari

- Spend about two weeks on Sardinia (not sure what places yet)

- take the ferry from Porto Torres to Barcelona

Is this a feasibily itinerary? The suggested staying times for these places seem to be all over the place (e.g. 5 days enough for Sicily, two weeks in Malta) so I'm wondering if I'm taking it easy enough or if I could include Amalfi for example. Is two weeks in Sicily enough if I go by public transport? I want to see the main sites and take some relaxed days off too. I don't need to spend days in every town exploring every alley.

I plan on staying in hostels and cheap hotel rooms mostly. I can also bring camping gear but I'm not entirely sure if it's worth it as I think a lot of campings will already be closed in October. I don't particularly have a set budget but I prefer to spend my cash on good food and perhaps some guides. I don't have a need for luxury hotels or driving a car everywhere.

We have currently have plans in place for our annual one week stay in Bellagio at the beginning of September. Can anyone advise what the current situation is due to COVID-19? Are restaurants, shops etc re-opening and getting back to some sort of normality ? Is public transport operating as normal - buses, ferries etc ? Any information much appreciated as we need to decide whether to go ahead with our plans or postpone to next year. Many thanks.

My wife and I had an a trip planned from Oct 17-25, flying into Florence, traveling up through Cinque Terre, and ending in Lake Como, then flying out of Milan.

But due to airline issues we now have to begin our trip in Milan. I thought "who cares, we'll just reverse the trip" and rebooked our lodgings with that in mind, but (silly me), I've just realized flying out of Florence back to our US-based airport will be a significant headache based on the airline we're locked in with (multiple flights with really tight layovers, so any delay along the chain of flights would completely screw us. That's my nightmare!)

That's causing me to re-evaluate the whole trip! We're already locked into our Como stay from Oct 17-20 because we can't get a refund. But I started thinking, instead of going south maybe we head west from Como into the Dolomites and end our trip in Venice/fly out of Venice?

My wife and I love mountains, hiking, historic architecture, and great coffee/wine. The westward trip ticks those boxes but our travel dates might be a really bad time to visit the Dolomite range, as it looks like most things are closed. Anyone have any experience or insight about those areas at that time of year?