4 Days in Venice and in Veneto region. What shouldn't I miss?
 

I'll have 4 full days in northern Italy, and will be using Venice as a base town. From there, I'd like to take day trips, and tour the countryside. I will be there in January, so I believe the weather might not be so great.

Also, any suggestions for other towns in that area? I've heard Verona and Padua were great.

Am I missing anything?

Hi Romulus, have you been to Venice before? I ask because to stay in Venice when you plan on doing day trips is really not a good idea financially or time wise. Venice is a very expensive city and is not exactly the place everyone raves about for their food.

It sounds like you will have a car. May I sugges that you stay in towns in Veneto versus Venice. It would be so much simplier and certainly less costly.

If you are interested I can give you some places I love. Best wishes.

Yes, any places would be very helpful. I've never been to this area of Italy and have no idea what's in store for me!

Venice doesn't have good food?

Hi R,

Look up Venice under "Destinations". There should be plenty to keep you occupied for at least 3 days.

Padova and Verona are nice daytrips.

>Venice is a very expensive city and is not exactly the place everyone raves about for their food.<

Pish, tosh.

((I))

I think that Venice is an excellent place to stay. Expensive but excellent. Is not the same to visit the city during the day that staying there and walking in the city in the evening when the majority of tourists have gone.
On the other hand, there are a lot of places to visit in Venice and 4 days is not too much to see all the city and doing other excursions.
Anyway, If you want to do it, Verona, Padova (don't miss the Capella Scrovegni with Giotto frescos) and Vicenza are, for me, the most interesting places to visit.

> Venice doesn't have good food? <

Venice, like all other cities, has great restaurants and crummy restaurants. Luckily for us, the restaurants we found were mostly on the great side - am still dreaming of butternut squash gnochetti we ate at Al Fontego. YUM.

My very favorite is La Zucca...emphasis on very very fresh food. Wonderful for vegetarians but enough meat variety to satisfy the carnivores as well.

Here's a link to some Venice restaurant reviews... (be sure to look up La Zucca)

www.restaurantsomh.com/venice.htm

Venice has great food. It also has dreadful food--part of the daytripper herd legacy.

Generally speaking, the route along the infamous Daytrippers' Alley (roughly running parallel to the Grand Canal from S. Lucia Station, to the Rialto Bridge, and on to P. San Marco) has the highest proportion of the worst souvenir shops, tourist traps, and restaurants in the city.

This is largely due to the fact that the daytrippers don't often have the time to get off this route to find something better--and the shop and restaurant owners along the route know this.

In addition, most visitors to Italy know Italian food as pasta, veal this and that, pasta, tomato sauce, pasta, meatballs, etc., oh, and pasta. But the cuisine in the Veneto and especially in Venice is very different from the rest of Italy. More rice and seafood based, and influenced by Venice's past, wide-spread trading empire.

So many unaware tourists don't get what they expect Italian food to be, and though many Venetian restaurants now try to provide the more expected "Italian" dishes, such dishes are not their forte.

Good to know about the food, thank you!

As for day trips...Padova, Verona Vicenza? Anywhere else? And what should I do in these cities. I've never heard of Vicenza, and I only know Verona from Romeo and Juliette (sad isn't it).

Also, is it hard to have a car in Venice. How does that work? I know you drive your car and *drop it off* somewhere before you get into the main Venice area. Is this right?

Yes - it is hard to have a car in Venice. Their canals are their roads, so there are no cars - just boats!

For day tripping outside Venice, I would recommend travelling by train.

Hey, Romulus, let me try to help get things organized in your mind. First, you cannot drive a car in Venice at all. You will have to park it at the Piazzale Roma, then leave it there until you are ready to leave Venice. That's why people are trying to tell you that it isn't smart to stay in Venice and try to daytrip from there. You will waste a lot of time either getting your car for the trip or going to the train station to catch a train.

Perhaps you are already committed to a hotel in Venice. If so, and if you also want to visit other towns, I can understand your question. But I would not advise trying to make several day trips by train. Maybe one long day, catching the earliest train out and the latest one back, would allow you to see one or two of the three nearby cities of Verona, Padua, and Vicenza. I'd pick only one of those for a day trip if I were you. And I'd spend the rest of the time in Venice. There's plenty to see and do around Venice. Good luck.

Hi R,

What's your full itinerary?

((I))

With 4 full days, you'll have time to see so much more of Venice! I recommend Scuola di San Rocco (behind Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari) and, if you get to the Campo Santa Margherita, the Scuola dei Carmini is even more exquisite.

If you love Palladio, in addition to Vicenza (La Rotunda is a must see there), there is a tour along the Brenta Canal which passes some of the villas. Believe it's a combo of bus and boat-your hotel folks would know which days it runs. January may be "iffy" for that. Also Villa Barbaro, another Palladio, has tours (not daily in my somewhat older book).
I sigh for Venice!

Hi.

Do not miss the opportunity to avoid going to Murano for the glass.

B.V.

Hello all, I am smiling at so many of you getting in a "huff" over my comment about Venice not having the best food. Yes there are some good restaurants however let me tell you this.

If any of you have had the pleasure of going to restaurants in the region of Veneto that hardly ever see tourist and consequently cook for the residents of Veneto you would know what I am talking about. BTW, the residents of Veneto do not consider Venice a restaurant destination.

Cin,Cin!

Stay in Venice. You won't be sorry. You can cover a lot of ground there in 3 days, including an excursion to the islands of Burano and Torcello. On the other day, take the train to Verona. Great city for walking around.

Venice is a truly magical city. Get a good guide book and read it well. Get a decent map of the city, too...you'll need it.

Hi Romulus --

We enjoyed a short afternoon trip to the island of Burano when I was there this past June. We mostly wandered around and also enjoyed a fantastic meal at Gatto Nero. While there aren't any real "sights", it was nice to just relax and enjoy looking around. I have a photo album linked from my recent trip report.

Also visited Padova. It's a very short train ride and the Scrovegni Chapel is not to be missed. Good luck!

Thanks for the ideas!

Ira: I will be in Munich for 4 days, Innsbruck for 4 days, and then I will be driving down to Venice.

So if Venice isn't a great place to stay if I want to see many other towns, where would you reccomend??

I've been to a lot of southern cities in Italy (Rome, Sorrento, Naples, etc etc, and I've been all over Tuscany, so I'd really like to see Veneto.

Plus...my flight leaves from Venice January 4th, so I'll need to be close.

Perhaps I was just lucky, or worse, my taste is bad, but I never met an Italian restaurant in Italy (or the States for that matter) that I didn't like. :)

Venice does tend to be spendy -- hotel and food costs more than other places, but I'd spend at least a night there so you can wander the back streets, get lost, hear music winding down a side street, and drink the $20/glass wine on San Marco.

As for side trips, if I had it to do over again, I'd go to Verona and Padua, but that's the Shakespeare buff in me.

Have fun, whatever you decide!

Jules

Verona gets good reviews on this board. Also - the lakes - Lake Garda would be closest to Verona. From Verona you might even be able to do day trip TO venice versus the other way around.

I meant to include this link from Initaly.com on the Veneto area. It gives a several day itinerary in the Veneto area including Verona.

http://www.initaly.com/regions/veneto/veneto.htm

BTW -There is a good book called "Italian Neighbors" by Tim Parks about a brit living in Verona.

Keep us posted as you decide.