Quick trip to Milan - where to spend 3 days?

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 :)

Hello. We are planning our trip next summer, which will be based in Italy since our daughter already has a school trip scheduled there.

We're planning to spend about 12 days in Italy, ending in Venice. We have 5-6 more days to play with, and were debating between going to Switzerland for the first time, or going to Milan/Lake Cuomo (also for the first time).

I'm hesitating to add the Switzerland portion onto our trip, out of concerns that it might complicate our travel next summer for Covid-related reasons. I'm worried about things like a difference in entry requirements, extra testing requirements, etc. We are all four fully vaccinated, but who knows what the rules will be concerning that by June 2022?

Since nobody has a crystal ball, I was hoping someone could at least talk about how easy it was to travel between Italy and Switzerland this summer (for vaccinated Americans, if that is relevant).

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give. :)

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?

Hello!

Last I tried planning this trip pre-Covid, I was trying to stuff too much into too small an amount of time. I'm hoping to find out now if I've got a good amount of time in each place or if I should shuffle things around in the plan.

Right now it looks like this:

Florence: 3.5 days (not including arrival day)

Rome: 4.5 days (including a day out to Pompeii)

1 day in transit

Lake Como + Milan: 3 days (not including departure day)

Is that a good amount of time in each place or should one place have more or less? I've a total of 12 days total (not including departure and arrival) that I can use. Pompeii is the only thing that I am not willing to cut if need be.

Thanks for the help!

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!

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?

Greetings! Our younger 18 year old son will be studying in Florence for the year, and we'd like to visit him following a work trip to Monaco. I have a two part question.

Traveling with my husband and me will be our 21 year old special needs son. We are open to suggestions from experienced travelers as to our transportation and itinerary.

Our 21 year old is hyper-verbal and has an intellecutal disability along with autism, so visiting very quiet museums, churches, etc is something where his vocalizations may not be welcomed and also where the content isn't something that would interest him. He's sweet as can be but a bit loud.

I was thinking of taking a train to the Italian border and then perhaps renting a car. From reading other forum posts, I *think* there are two towns near the border where there are rental car agencis. That said, in the US where we are from, there is a major shortage of rental cars. I don't know whether that is so in Italy or Europe overall, but it seems like smaller cities might be more impacted than say Rome or Milan, etc.

We would enjoy spending a day or two in the Cinque Terre area. Our older boy enjoys easy hikes, walking along the beach, and perhaps a boat or ferry ride. Other than that area, I am entirely clueless as to what might be lovely spots to visit. I'm betting that there are many, but we again need to take into consideration our 21 year old's disabilities.

The conference in Monaco finishes on Thursday, October 21. Our younger boy will be out on a 10 day break through Sunday evening, October24th, so he can meet us.... somewhere.. for a couple of days, depending upon where he might be traveling with his college classmates. Or we can just meet up with him in Florence where we do plan to spend a few days.

Can you tell we are just at the very start of figuring this out?

Is renting a car and driving to Florence adviseable? Or is rail the way to go? My husband and special needs boy will likely fly back to the US from Florence after several days, but I may meet a gal pal there and extend the trip. Thank you for your patience in reading and for any ideas you may have to assist us. Grazie mille!

Hey there. We are planning a trip to Italy (and Paris) next June. We are bringing our DDs, first timers to Europe, ages 21 and 16. I’ve been reading through itineraries, guide books, youtube videos of Italy and getting so excited. We have limited time (only 10 nights in Italy) and we are packing in A LOT I know. We are considering using Zicasso or another company to make the most of our time, especially since we are trying to do so much...Here’s our latest itinerary so far. (we like to see as much as possible/get a taste so we know where to spend more time the next time:)

. Summary. 2 nights, 1 1/2 full days in Venice,

4 nights in Florence with day trip to Cinque Terre, 5 nights in Rome with day trip to Pompeii and Amalfi

*We already bought our tickets flying into Venice

Day 1. Arrive Venice from Paris on the 13th. Half day in Venice

Day 2. Venice

Day 3. Take a late train from Venice to Florence.

Day 4. Florence

Day 5. Florence. (Day trip to Cinque Terre)

Day 6 Florence

Day 7. Train to Rome by 7pm. Stay near Piazza Novana

Day 8. Rome

Day 9 Rome

Day 10. LONG day with private guide to Pompeii/Amalfi

Day 11. Rome

Day 12. Departure day

Grazie!

Hello! Our family is planning a trip to Italy in early June. We want to spend 7-10 days there. There are 5 of us, two parents and three kids ages 18-24. We are thinking of flying into Rome and taking the train from there to Florence then Cinque Terre then Venice and flying out of Venice.

1. Does this sound like a reasonable itinerary or is it too much to fit in?

2. I have seen some articles online about some of these places being overrated and crowded. Is this true? Is there somewhere better worth seeing?

Thank you for your help!!

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!