Art, Food, Wine and Leonardo--Not Necessarily in that Order

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 :)

Just looking for some additional advice or recommendations - here is what we have so far;

8/26 - Arrive at FCO 745am, will take car service to our hotel (Hotel Martis Palace) to drop luggage and start exploring Rome.

8/27 - Rome. Vatican museum.

8/28 - Rome. Colosseum tour.

8/29 - 710am Fresciarossa train to Milan. Arrives 1050am. Already booked the tickets. Pick up car rental and drive to Lake Como. Staying in Diamond Apartments in Bellagio.

8/30 - More Lake Como. Staying same place.

8/31 - Driving to the Dolomites. Staying at the Hotel Angelo Engel in Ortisei.

9/01 - Dolomites. Won’t bore everyone with the list of hikes, but the hikes and scenic pass drives are the main reason for coming to the area. That and some of the lakes in the area.

9/02 - Dolomites

9/03 - Dolomites

9/04 - Dolomites, then driving back to Milan, staying at the Sheraton airport hotel that is literally in the terminal.

9/05 - 1020am flight back to US.

I think having basically 3 full days/nights in Rome is this plenty. Not sure that a day and a half (2 nights) will give us much time in Lake Como, but we’ve never been and would like to check it out unless someone has a better option. I think our time in Dolomites will give us enough time to do some hikes and explore the area. Obviously I’d rather have weeks to spend in each area, but unfortunately that isn’t an option haha.

Any suggestions or recommendations for these areas?

Son and I would like to attend the Italian Grand Prix in Monza next year and looking for suggestions. Where to stay with easy access to the track all three days? Best places to sit for race, qualifying, practices? Rent a car? Even tho there are plenty of hotels in Milan, we’d prefer to stay closer to the track. Is it easy to get to Milan if staying in surrounding towns? Are there shuttle buses from Milan to track on race days if we end up staying in Milan? Please share your experiences. Thanks!

I’m coming in through Milan, picking up a rental car to drive around Piedmont. We fly in/out of Milan and dropping our rental car before a couple days before we fly back to avoid car return stress on the day we fly back.

Instead of heading to the city, it appears Omenga is the same distance from MXP as Milan city center and planning to spend last 2 nights there.

. Any advice on ease of getting a taxi to the airport? Or am i best to just add a day to Piedmont the stay at an airport area hotel the last day? I hate to be in an airport hotel, but not feeling like going into Milan at the end of the trip.

Thoughts?

I realize 3 days is way too little, what is the best option to plan our itinerary.

Family enjoys beach, strolling around, sight-seeing, hiking and FOOD. No museums.

What should be the mode of transportation?

Where should we stay?

Any local food places you can recommended?

Thanks in advance.

HiUnited has dropped fares to Milan from NYC so we are considering for end of August and then spending a week in Lake Como area with last 2 days in Milan. We will need covid tests for re-entry to the US and won’t have a car. How easy is it to find fast turn around testing in Milan city center? Thanks I’m advance!

Hello!

Planning on traveling to Italy for New Years. Specifically Milan for New Year’s Eve. I know that a lot of things could be closed/ restrictions because of covid, but trying to figure out what the best thing would be! Anyone have any recommendations for dinner reservations ? Or places to go that evening?

Thanks!

First off- this may be a bit of a 'bouncing around' post. Sorry! Trying to keep it clear...

I'm planning a trip for Spring 2022 Italy and France. So far, I have booked:

A) Flight into Rome and out of Paris

B) 3 nights in Rome and the following 4 nights in Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore).

This leaves 8 nights before my flight home.

I planned to get from Rome to Riomaggiore by train, via Florence, but this isn't booked yet.

I had thought after check out in the CT that I would go to Milan on an early bus or train, spend the day, and take a night/sleeper train from Milan to Paris, which I would then make my base, and do day trips here and there. I have been to Paris before, as well as Marseille and Nice. LOVE all three - want to see more of France, but also want to have a home base, to feel less nomadic.

I've found plenty of advice to take the Thello train for this. However, I also saw somewhere credible (of course...I can't find it again to quote here... it was on the Thello or Eurail website or something like that...), it looks like the Thello Paris-Milan/Venice is discontinued. Is this true? Are there any other sleeper train options Milan to Paris? I would really like to be able to do a few hours/day in Milan, but am completely open minded.

As a follow up question - I had thought it may be worth it to get the Eurail global 10 day pass. I believe it's good for 10 random days within a one or two month time period. Is this a better plan, to get me to my base camps, and use for the day trips from Paris, allowing me to do them solo rather than booking viator, or some such tour company?

Appreciate all friendly pieces of advice and responses!

Hi everyone,

We are scheduling a 1-month trip to Italy in August, including the below spots.

While we will of course make advance bookings for rooms according to our itinerary, we are interested to learn whether there are any additional things you highly recommend booking in advance. (e.g., Last Supper in Milan, scooters in Tuscany, ...)

Of course we realize this depends a lot on what we will do exactly, but that is something we are still planning over the next weeks. Therefore, any suggestions on 'what to definitely book in advance' for the below destinations would already be very much appreciated.

- Milan

- Cinque Terre

- Pisa (optionally also Lucca, both on the way to Siena)

- Tuscany (incl. Siena, San Gimignano, Volterra, Chianti, Montepulciano, Pienza, Montalcino, Saturnia ; no Firenze as we've been there before)

- Bologna (night stop on the way to Venice)

- Venice

- Verona (night stop on the way to Como)

- Como

Additionally, any additional comments / tips on the itinerary above are of course also very much appreciated.

Thank you,

TraVeL

Our family is planning to ski 3 to 4 days in Italy in late December 2021. We are intermediate level, 2 adults (late 50's) and 2 teenagers. We plan to visit Milan and Venice either before or after the skiing.

We are looking for some advice on the following:

1. Is there usually enough snow in late December or early January?

2. Which ski resorts will be suitable and easy to travel to from Milan? We do not have a car.

3. Will it be easy to rent skis at the resort? We plan to bring our own boots and helmets.

4. We have not skied in Europe before. Will it be very different from US and Canada?

Thanks in advance for any tips and suggestions you can provide!