cmeyer54

Hello - this website has been a little testy today so if this post is a duplicate or triplicate, pls excuse. DH and I are planning an 11-12 day trip to Northern Italy in early October. I've booked the air and first three nights in Venice. I've also booked a hotel near the Venice airport for our last night. The family spent just under two weeks in Florence, Tuscany and Venice last August. With teenagers in tow, we tended to find mid-range restaurants but would love to find 2 or 3 really top class places in Venice. We'll pick up a car when leaving Venice and that is when my planning needs help. Our interests are wine, wine, great views (Dolomites, lake Garda??), some churches, some museums, some galleries. I don't want to do a lot of packing and repacking so if there is a relatively central location a few hours from Venice that we could use as a base, great. We'll have 7-8 days to wander. We don't necessarily have to stay in Italy - as long as we're within a half day's drive back to Venice for the last night and early-ish flight home. Just looking for ideas, experiences, recommendations at this point. We loved Florence and Tuscany but DH is not one to return to the same place if there are unexplored environs still out there. Thanks!

cmeyer54

topping

toni_g_b

We found Trento a lovely surprise; we had only stopped there for overnight on the way to Bolzano. It was charming. And if you like wine, do try the grappa from Trento. It's distilled from the skins after the wine is expressed. May be an acquired taste - but it didn't take long to acquire!

WallyKringen

I would go Trieste and then up towards the mountains, Udine and such, they make good wine there and it is a rustic and scenic lesser-travelled region, and Trieste has good seafood and seaside culture.

Then keep heading east, to Slovenia - it has what you just listed, wine growing regions, lakes, spectacular mountain views, history - all that in spades, and it takes only 3 hours from Ljubliana to Venice by car.

Read up on it, you might be surprised! Start with www.matkurja.com/en/country-info/

Big_Red

We stayed one night on Lake Garda. We stayed in Riva. Lots of very nice photos. Very dramatic topography. We stayed in the Best Western Europa (Some rooms are lake front).

cmeyer54

Excellent ideas...maybe we'll do a triangular route from Venice to Trieste to Trento and back. Any thoughts on hotels, restaurants, etc? I did an interactive map and it should be less than 2 hours for any one leg of the drive. Are there any thermal spas up that way???

toni_g_b

We stayed at the Grand Hotel in Trento
http://www.boscolohotels.com/hotel.cfm?SectionId=839
and I couldn't speak more highly of it. Elegant building, friendly staff, perfect location to walk everywhere, parking available on the property. Breakfast was not included with the room so we chose to walk to a nearby bakery instead so I can't comment on that. I'm not sure if it will be open in October, but the rooftop bar was a charming way to watch the moon rise over the nearby mountains.

And if you're going to do a triangle between Venice, Trieste, Trento, try to see if you can swing just a little further north to the Dolomites. It would be ashame to be so close and not experience that amazing site.

cmeyer54

How much farther north would we need to go to the Dolomites? A little more research and I'm starting to think that maybe Venice to Trento to Lake Garda might be interesting. I'm sure we could find wineries and spas in those areas!

toni_g_b

Mapquest.com says Trento to Bolzano is 36 miles, 39 mins. We did it on the last weekend in August (maybe comparable to Labor Day weekend traffic in the States) and it took considerably longer but the views made it very rewarding.

Steve_James

Hi CM - If you want to see the best of the Dolomites, take the autostrada north from Venice to Cortina and head over to the spectacular Val Badia/Val Gardena area.

If you choose somewhere like Ortisei (- Val Gardena) as a base it would be ideal for seeing the Dolomites.

You are also close enough to day-trip to the 'Wine Route' area of the Italian south Tyrol - Caldaro, Appiano etc. (- between Bolzano and Trento).

You could combine the Wine Route with a visit to Trento or Lake Garda, which is only an hour further south. (For the best of Lake Garda scenery don't miss Riva, Limone, Malcesine ...)

Some links:

www.valgardena.it
www.altabadia.org

http://www.valgardena.it/?artid=726

http://www.suedtirols-sueden.info/en...wine-road.html

Hope this helps ...

Steve