Can anyone recomend their favorite day trip from Venice? Murano, Vencenzia or Verona?

Murano is an island of Venice and is a 10-minute boat ride from the center.

I love Verona and have visited there a few times. It's about an hour from Venice and features an intact Roman arena, good food and wine, and some interesting churches and museums.

Vicenza (note spelling) is a good trip if you're interested in Palladian architecture.

Padua (Padova in Italian) is only 30 minutes from Venice and makes a great day trip. Of particular note are the Scrovegni Chapel and the Basilica of St Anthony. A few other sights round it out as one of my favorite and easy daytrips from Venice.

And since you mentioned Murano as a day trip, another "within Venice" option would be to combine Burano and Torcello, a few other out-islands.

Thanks, Ellen! I guess I am showing my ignorance of the region. My first trip to Venice.Would you recomend a train or car rental?So, I guess Murano should be considered a sight in Venice? I actually thought it to be farther away and a longer distance to arrive.

I would not recommend a car for Padova or Verona. It is very easy to do them by train.

But if you have never been to Venice, I highly recommend Murano, Burano and Torcello.

You can take in Murano at any time as it is very close, but a very nice little trip is done by boating out to Burano and Torcello. In Burano, do wander. The main tourist trail is filled with tacky shopping but the streets are lovely.

There is no driving in Venice. For day trips, you want to take the train, unless you want to see the Palladian villas of Vicenza, and then you'd probably do best hiring a driver who knows where to take you.

The lagoon of Venice has a number of islands, each with a very different feel and tradition. Have you looked at a guidebook? You might start there.

You don't say how long your visit is, but you may find that if you are going to be there for less than a week that you are fascinated by Venice itself and don't want to go beyond the lagoon.

What are you interested in? It's easier to advise about day trips if we know that you are mainly interested in shopping, architecture, byzantine history, off-the-beaten track advenctures, Roman ruins, food, wine, or Fellini, etc.,

Hi Mr. Zeppole! How are you? I am the guy who took your advice to try to rent and use a GPS in Venice! My trip begins in only two weeks! A week in Paris and a week in Venice!I love church's and sculpture, architecture and cemeteries. I enjoyed the train from Rome to Florence on my last trip. I also enjoy driving. I am really not sure how it will all play out. My plans change every day. All advice is greatly appreciated.Thanks, Jim.

hi ironandsilk

I have never been to the cemetery in Venice, but I understand it is not hard to get to and it is very atmospheric.

If you love church art. architecture and cemeteries, pay a visit to the island of Torcello, which is in the lagoon, and which can be reached by taking the vaporetto. (Your guidebook or hotel can tell how to do that.) It is where the city of Venice began a long time ago, but then everyone got malaria, so they abandoned that island. But there is still a beautiful church there, and a cemetery I believe. And a fantastic mosaic. The whole island is very atmospheric (and very small, and full of cats!). If you go, be sure to dress very warmly for the hour-long boat ride.

Verona is a very different place from Venice, but it has a perfectly preserved Roman arena right in the middle of town, which is something to see, as is the castle on the river, which is also a very good art museum.

Be sure when you are in Venice to go inside the church of Santa Maria Glorioso dei Frari, which has very unusual sculptures. Also, you might be fascinated by the richly decorated interiors of Scuola Grande di San Rocco and the Scuola Grande dei Carmine.

Also, if you like sculpture, be sure to visit the Basilica St Denis in Paris and visit all the tombs of buried royalty in the crypt, going back to Clovis and including Marie Antoinette. It is unique and wonderful, and the Basilica is the greatest church in Paris.

Since you love art and sculpture a day trip to Vicenza and Padua would be worth your time. An afternoon in Torcello is good for the soul.

Enjoy Italy!

If churches are your thing, ironandsilk, then you might consider a day trip to Ravenna. The mosaics there are stunning!

If you like, take a look at my trip report from a few years back (on Day 2)--

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34594217

Hope your trip is great!

Torcello & the cemetery island of San Michele are great but again they are not day trips, more part of Venice. With only a week in Venice I wouldn't take a trip anywhere else. If you go to Padua, though, be sure to book for the Scrovegni Chapel.

Some more votes for Padua and the amazing Giotto frescoes and for the lagoon island of Torcello.

I have been married 37 years and knowing my wife.I feel as though a day trip to Vencenza and Verona is likely.I agree with Caroline that with only a week in Venice why go anywhere else. Murano is also too close to pass up. I am aware of the cemetery island and it could probably be included in our Murano excursion.To be honest I felt it might pale in comparison to Pare Lechaise.In marriage one learns to choose your battles.I also heard that Venice is filled with churches I would choose a beautiful chapel over a plain cemetery anyday. Please keep the ideas flowing. I am still listening.
Thanks to all of you.

hi james,

with a week in Venice you have plenty of time when you are there to decide on any side trips- with the caveat that if you want to see the giottos in Padova, i seem to remember that you need to book [online] at least 24 hours in advance.

I already posted my suggestion for a day seeing the islands Murano, burano, torcello] on your previous thread. with teh shorter daylight of December, that will take you more of less the whole day, particularly if you stop off at the cemetary island of San Michele on the way there.

ideally you should do this trip on a clear day when the snow on the Dolomites should be visible.

have you seen the photos of the flooding? [and are you taking waders?]

hope you have a great trip,

regards, ann

James, at least some, if not all, of the vaporetti to Murano stop at San Michele.

Call me an optomist, but I am hopeful the flood waters will be gone by the time I arrive in 3 weeks. I would love to see the Dolomites as one fodorite did, but I am afraid the weather may cause problems no matter how we choose to travel.any thoughts about such a journey from Venice?

I think the poster meant that when you are in Venice you can see the Dolomites in the distance.

According to Donna Leon this is very rare.

It's easier to see the Dolomites from Venice airport. I've also seen them from on the lagoon near Torcello.

I think the poster meant that when you are in Venice you can see the Dolomites in the distance.>>

i was that poster.

we were surprised to be able to see the dolomites very clearly from Torcello when we went at easter- when we'd been to Venice before, we'd never spotted them. after we'd seen them the first time, we kept seeing them.

it might just have been that the air was vey clear then.

regards, ann