Getting a bike in a box to Bormio

It's a bit of a sod of a journey with a bike box.

A quick search on the trenitalia website shows that there's a train from Milano Centrale to Tirano every two hours and the journey takes two and a half hours. It's a treno regionale and takes bikes and should have plenty of space for a bike box.

You need to get the train into Milano. I *think* (but I couldn't swear to this) there are restrictions on bikes on the Malpensa Express but given your bike is in a box these wouldn't apply (although there might be restrictions on luggage size. [See the EDIT below]

As the hotel person told you, there's a connecting bus service from Tirano that's timed to connect with the train. Here's the link for the bus company:

http://www.busperego.com

The picture shows coaches which should have a reasonable amount of luggage space underneath. The buses that I've seen between Tirano and Bormio also have luggage space underneath.

My impression is that Bormio is fairly quiet in summer - I could well imagine that there might be problems if a load of people turned up with skis and winter sports equipment, but in summer that's less likely - although there's always the *possibility* of a load of people with bikes. But in any case, Tirano to Bormio isn't far (37 kms - according to these guys) - and at a (wild) guess I'd have thought you'd be talking maybe 50 euros for the taxi fare not 300 - your helpful hotel person (or the tourist office) should be able to tell you pretty much exactly.

A couple of points: I've assumed that you're talking about Milano's Malpensa airport, but IIRC Ryanair's Milano is actually Bergamo airport.

The other option you *might* want to think about would be flying to somewhere in Switzerland (Zurich?) and then getting the train to Tirano via Sankt Moritz. I doubt this will be easier, and in any case you still have the issue of the Tirano bus, but it's a possibility.

This page:

http://www.bormio.it/english/how-to-get-to-bormio.php

has got lots of useful links (including a taxi firm).

EDIT:

Just to make your day complete. the Malpensa Express goes to the Milano Cadorna station - which is 5 stops on the metro from Milano Centrale. There is the alternative of a train from Gallarate station - but this involves a shuttle bus. Bergamo starts to look the more attractive option.

D'Oh should have asked which airport. The Linate shuttle looks like a good bet.

I wasn't trying to put you off - it's well worth the time for the transfers.

Assuming you're going for a week or so, you might want to consider doing a two-centre with Livigno, which might open up some more possibilities.

You can do the Mortirolo from Bormio - but bear in mind that the SS38 is off-limits to bikes. There's a cycleway (called the Sentiero Valtelina) that takes you to from Bormio to the bottom. More information here:

http://italy-cycling-guide.info/routes/ ... altellina/

(I've just noticed that I forgot to post the gpx files - will do that now).

rodgers73 wrote:

I hired a bike in Bormio rather than taking my own. Could be easier than this plan?

Out of curiosity : how much did it cost?

Ah, just saw your comments re car hire costs

When are you going?

You could look into a firm such as http://www.5034events.co.uk/40026/info.php?p=10&pno=0. You could see if they could give advice/lift.