Pisa Travel Forum

Hi Fellow Members,
Hope you guys out there can assist me and my wife. We will disembark from our Costa cruise at SAVONA on 6th OCT(MON) 9am and plan to visit and take photo of the Leaning Tower for the sameday only and then plan to visit Lake Como and Bellagio. We only have 4 nights to spend up in Milan,Lake Como and Bellagio. Please advise me the following :-

1. Is there a regular train service from SAVONA to PISA ?
2. Is there any regular train service from PISA to get to Lake Como and
Bellagio?
Do we have to get to MILAN first and then take train to Lake Como?
3. How to get to Bellagio from Lake Como?
4. How to get to Malpensa airport from Lake Como?

Those might be silly questions but your help in letting me know would be appreciated. Thanks fellows.

http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

will answer all your train questions. October dates won't be uploaded, but times and fares will be much the same. For fares click 'buy'.

Trains from Savona to Pisa take from 2 - 4.5 hours or so, depending on which one you choose. There are some direct ones (the quickest) but most involve a change.

Trains for Como (there are 3 stations possible) take 7+ hours, and do involve more than one change (including Milan).

There is no station at Bellagio, so you will need onward transport (bus?) from Como. Lots of useful info on this page:

http://www.promobellagio.it/inglese/comeraggiungerci.php

For Malpensa you will need to get the train from Como to Milan Centrale (about an hour) and then the train (or bus) to Malpensa airport.

Details of airport transport from Milan here:

http://www.sea-aeroportimilano.it/en/malpensa/index.phtml?mod=arrivare_treno&to=come_arrivare

You won't need to book tickets online beforehand. You only need to book tickets in advance for reservation-only trains. Ordinary trains don't get 'full'; if there are no seats (which is fairly unlikely on most routes/times) you stand until one becaomes available.

It sems Como Lago is the best station for getting the onward bus to Bellagio, so choose that when you search Trenitalia.

From the city of Como to Malpensa, the STP bus no longer runs. You can take a train from Como to the airport, change in Saronna.
From the city of Como to Bellagio, two choices - one is on the lake in a ferry or hydrofoil. The other is the slow local bus. Both offer great scenery along the way. The bus goes thru some delightful villages, the views from the lake are spectacular.
From Savona to Pisa, there is a major train route along the Ligurian coastline, but you will have to change in Genoa and maybe La Spezia or one other place depending on which train you board.
From Pisa to Lake Como and Bellagio - there are trains which go to Varenna via Lecco and then a ferry over to Bellagio. Or you can take totally different train lines ( two of them ) to Como and then as above.
Pisa to Lake Como and Bellagio - as above, will require a change in Milan and maybe others again depending on which route you take. You may backtrack through Genoa.

This is a very busy schedule in four days especially if you plan on spending some time in Milan as well.
Most of the segments you describe are paralleled by autostradas - in visiting these places we have found it easier and faster to rent a car, although the costs are of course considerably higher. The major caveat - the last place you want a car is Milan, probably worse than Florence or Rome for driving purposes.
Good luck.