Bologna - one of my favorite Italian cities. The best food, beautiful architecture, great shopping, few tourists. Good halfway stop for an overnight.

Even with 4 days in Venice, IMO that's not long enough to even think about doing day trips. We'd spent a total of 6 holidays of 1 or 2 weeks each here before moving here and felt we'd barely scratched the surface. Have you been to any of the outlying islands? Burano & Torcello are a daytrip in themselves.

But if you must - Padua is a popular trip (although it also deserves a stay in itself). Or take a boat trip to visit the Palladian villas of the Brenta Canal (although I'm not sure if these would be running as early as April).

Even if you do feel the need to get out, there's no point in keeping a car after you get to Venice - parking is expensive & trains are cheap & efficient.

I would definitely spend a day on th outer islands. Torcellos is fantastic and Burano cute and interesting. And Murano is fine if you want to see glassblowing and shop. But you can;t do all 3 in one day.

Vicenza - my favorite small city/town in the area.

One's I've done are Padua (only half an hour by train; fabulous market; book the Scrovegni chapel in advance); Vicenza is like being in a dream; Ferrara is a delight (rent a bike; if you really like to cover territory then there is a direct train from Ferrara to Ravenna to see the mosaics); Bologna and Verona are slightly longer trips but great cities; Bassano del Grappa is a nice trip halfway up to the Alps (once spent half a day in Vicenza then the 2nd half in Bassano). I haven't hit Trieste yet as a Venice side-trip, but will someday.

Thanks for the Venice tips, definitely will consider being there 3-4 nights. Any recommendations on what area to stay in ? And hotels?

I would definitely NOT drive into Venice or Florence - but could rent a car outside of Florence.

Bologna sounds great...it was actually on my list. We are big foodies. Would 2 nights be too much? I hate staying only 1 night in a town.....!!

My mother in law's husband is from Trieste! I would love to go there... but might be too far.!

2 nights is only 1 full day. That's all we've so far managed in Bologna, and while it was better than 1 night it wasn't enough - just a taster.

Ok, so Bologna, Verona, Vicenzia and possibly Padua sound great, plus an outer island).
What would be a good stop between Firenze and Venezia?

How does this tentative itinerary sound?
We have 10 nights. We fly into Milan. Firenze is key....- I would prefer staying in only 3 or 4 hotels.

Day 1- arrive in Milan. Stay 1 night (or 2 ?) - or scrap Milan altogether and take train to Florence?
Day 2 - take train to Florence - Stay 4 nights
Day 6 - depart Florence via train to Bologna (or drive?). Rent car. Tentative visit to Ravenna, Ferrara or Parma. Stay 2-3 nights. OR Stay in Verona.
Day 8/9 - depart to Venice via train. Visit islands 1 day
Day 11 - early departure to US

I agree with almost all the above advice. We did do the three islands in one day in May -- and we didn't feel rushed. It's a way to really get a sense of where Venice came from and its physical setting. The one three-star city I didn't see mentioned is Ravenna. It's close and unique. All the other cities are excellent, but none has the extraordinary mosaics and churches like Ravenna.

Ok! Ravenna is being added to the list!!
thanks for that insight Paolo

I would definitely spend a day on th outer islands. Torcellos is fantastic and Burano cute and interesting. And Murano is fine if you want to see glassblowing and shop. But you can;t do all 3 in one day.>.

well, actually you can, if you give yourselves enough time.

get the boat from the fondamente nove [but have a look at the marble curtains in the Gesuiti church round the corner before you go] and get the vaporetto to burano. Get off and get the little ferry to torcello. tour torcello [mainly the cathedral] and have lunch. then get the boat back to Burano and tour the island. then get the vaporetto back to Venice, but get off at murano - the "pharo" stop. walk around the island, then get the vaporetto back to 'venice when you've had enough.

did anyone take a look at the tentative itinerary?
Sounds like:

Day 1- arrive in Milan. Stay 1 night (or 2 ?) - or scrap Milan altogether and take train to Florence?
Day 2 - take train to Florence - Stay 4 nights
Day 6 - depart Florence via train to Bologna (or drive?). Rent car. Tentative visit to Ravenna, Ferrara or Parma. Stay 2-3 nights. OR Stay in Verona.
Day 8 - depart to Venice via train. Visit islands 1 day
Day 11 - early departure to US

sorry pattytravel - we got sidetracked.

why not fly directly into venice? [milan is the outlier on your route, IMO] this avoids the early flight that most airlines seem to have from venice to the USA.

you could then do this:

Day 1- Arrive venice. stay 4 nights
Day 4 - rent car. visit Ravenna, Ferrara, Parma and Bologna.
Day 8 - Arrive ? [town/city convenient for train to Florence] and return car. depart to Florence via train.
Day 11 - departure to US [can you find flight from Florence?] otherwise you may need to spend a night at Milan, in which case you could lose a night from venice.

I like your thinking annhig, but guess what? the tickets are purchased!! Used my Amex MR points to get an amazing deal from Miami - first class. I tried to change them some months ago but you know how free travel is!

That said, I can reverse what you recommend:
Day 1 - arrive Milan and take train to Florence, stay 4 nights
Day 5 - rent car from xx town near Florence; go to Bologna. stay 3 nights, explore area/day trips as above: Ravenna, Ferrara, etc.
Day 8 - return car; train to Venice - 4 nights. Do the islands one day.
Day 12 - depart from Venice.

I think that feels good. U?

okey dokey, patty - into Milan and out of Venice it is! who could possibly resist bargain 1st class tickets?

i know that i mentioned renting a car, but have you looked at getting trains instead of renting a car to explore from bologna? I don't know what the timetables are like but if you are only interested in towns/cities, it may be easier than renting a car. OTOH if you want to explore the countryside, the car is essential.

PS - the itinerary looks peachy!

I wouldn't leave Venice, but I would definitely take a vaparetto to Murano, Burano and Torcello. Have lunch at Locando Cipriani, on Torcello.

I would also advise doing it all by train. A car is a liability in any historic Italian city - parking is difficult to find, you can't drive at all in many central areas (ZTLs) without a permit (you *would* get fined) and many streets are very narrow and hard to navigate. The trains are fast, efficient & cheap.

For my taste you are fitting in far too much - with 12 nights I'd stay in a maximum of 3 cities (as you are doing, which gives 11 full days minus 2 days spent partly travelling so 9 full days) but do no day trips at all outside those 3 cities - but our travelling styles are evidently jut different.

For 4-5 days in Venice, what would be the recommendations for the top places to visit with Venice as the home base? Day trip to Bologna? And one island? Other suggestions? I need to go to Zurich after Venice. Thanks.

juliamjayne - in 4-5 days you probably have time for no more than 2 day trips at most - one to the islands of the lagoon, and the other to somewhere like Bologna, though it does take at last 85 mins [if you get a direct train, more if you have to change].

in a day you should be able to see all three of the main islands comfortably, unless you are visiting in mid-winter.

are you flying to Zurich?

I'm flying into Milan, out of Zurich because I'm visiting family in Davos, Switzerland. I was thinking of 4 days or so in Venice and some day trips and maybe one night in Bologna. Thank you for suggestions. Would you recommend a day trip to Verona or Vicenza?

Padua is one place which is easy to get to from Venice. [there's a thread about it going at the moment]. I'm not that fond of Verona, though others love it, and i don't know Vicenza.

but in 4-5 days, you don't actually have that much time for day trips out of Venice.

an overnight in Bologna might be better than trying to do it in a day.

I was thinking that in 4 days we could do 2 days in Venice, a day on the little islands and a day to some outlying town such as Padua, etc. Then I can go for a day and night to Bologna, and from there to Switzerland through Milan.