Milan and Lake Como

[kslatts]

We are planning a trip to Milan and Lake Como for a few days in October half term, we are looking to go on Thursday 28th Oct and return on Monday 1st Nov.

We were thinking 2 nights in Lake Como and 2 in Milan city centre, does this sound reasonable.

Any recommendations for accommodation?

Also, which airport would be best?

We are hoping to go to the AC Milan game on saturday evening, and then we assume stay sat and sun night in Milan, or would we be better staying at Lake Como for the 4 nights and travelling into Milan for the day on the Saturday.

We also need to decide about transport, if we were to hire a car what are the roads/driving like. Would we be able to drive into Milan for the day or would parking, etc be impossible.

Thanks in advance.

You don't mention children, our DD would be borned stupid by football. IME, it would be better to try to use public transport in Italy, the driving style takes a bit of getting used to. I can't recommend accommodation, when we went to Como a couple of months ago we camped. IIWY, I think I'd go down the route of spending more time in the Lakes rather than Milan itself.

We went to Milan and Lake Como last year. IMO you will need a hire car, we got one at the airport, parking in Milan was fine and the car was invaluable in Lake Como! We rented a villa, not that practical for your stay. Have a lovely time!

I forgot to say, I'd do the 2 days Milan, 2 days Lake Como, I wouldn't drive to Milan for the one day and then spend it at a football match. We went to the San Serro (sp?) on my Dad's insistence (not to watch a match, just to see it?) I seem to remember it's quite out of the way (we took a tram).

We stayed here for a few days in July:

Villa Marie

It is in Tremezzo, about an hours drive from Milan. There were bars and restaurants and a ferry stop about 5 mins walk from the Hotel. The couple that run it are lovely. Check out the rave Tripadvisor reviews.

Gorgeous views over the lake to the Villa Balbianello which was in Casino Royal and is truly gorgeous. Also 5 mins by ferry to Bellagio. We will be going back!

Traffic round and through Milan was awful. And the road around the lake is a little vertiginous in places . I would consider using public transport. There are buses and ferries from Como to most places around the Lake. Como should be easily reachable by train/bus from Milan and the airport.

Thanks for the replies.

Portofino - Villa Marie looks lovely, I've emailed them to ask about availability.

We are taking our dd's aged 11 and 8, they are keen to go to the football, and dh is very keen.

Dh is going to see if he can get the extra day off work so we can do 3 nights in Lake Como.

Regarding airports in Milan there are two:
Linate that is the nearest one near to city centre.
Malpensa the principal one and far from the city centre, but there is very quick train (two floors) from the airport to the city centre and it will cost you around ?2.50 per person, and the journey quick, beautiful and worth it.
It may be cheaper for you to go to Malpensa instead of Linate, you should search on the net and see which one is the viable to you.

To go around Milan you can use the metro that is easy to use it and quick and if you get there early enough to have all day free you can buy DAY TICKETS, from the airport where you are going to get the train to the city centre.
Please have some ?uros with you to buy water, nice and delicious pastries, etc?

You may like visiting the Duomo (Milan Cathedral) there is tube that goes to Duomo station, but I think you are going to love taking a tube to via Montenapoleone (shopping area) and walk to the Duomo through a pedestrian road.
The Roads Via Montenapoleone, St Andrea, Via Gesu, are the shopping area if you want to shop for Gucci, Prada, etc...
However you can find nice and much cheaper shops near to the station such as Via Monte de Piata and when you going throught the pedestrian road to the Duomo there lots of shops and galleries that are much cheaper then Via Montenapoleone.

This is the map of Milan/Montenapoleone area:
maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=via%20Montenapoleone&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

This is the map of the subway/metro in Milan for you familiarise with before you go:
subway.umka.org/map-milan.html

Take you camera with you.

Have a wonderful time.

Chris UK, this is great stuff. I am going on a girls weekend to Milan - any restaurant suggestions??