Concise report of our vacation in north Italy
Jun 19th, 2008, 02:26 AM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,546
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Concise report of our vacation in north Italy
As always, I started the preparation for this vacation one year ago. I would like to thank to all of you who spent time giving us very good advices and ideas. Your help was very precious for us.
For my husband this was the first time in north Italy (except Venice), while I was many times in this part of Italy (from Lake Maggiore till Verona). From my stories, my husband understood that I liked so much this part of Italy and he wanted to see it also.
We wanted to combine and to see nature and also cities with art and architecture. First of all we decided to make this trip by train, despite most of recommendations (from Fodor's and from friends). We were very glad about this decision, because :
- the train was available to take us in all the places we wanted to visit
- there was at least one train per hour to any of our destination
- was always in time, very clean , not crowded, cheap
- in this mode we had not problems with parking, finding the way, etc.
We had flights to / from Milan.
We stayed in the following places:
- Milan (7 nights) – hotel Genius Downtown (a stop from Cadorna Station)
- Verona (4 nights) – Nouvo hotel Rossi (near train station)
- Bologna (5 nights) – Zanhotel Regina (on the main street, very close to train station and in the city center)
- Stresa (2 nights) – hotel Primavera ( 1 minute walking to lake, on pedestrian street, very close to train station and very, very close to bus for airport)
All the hotels were 3 *. They were very well located for us , as we planned to travel almost each day by train. The railway station was on walking distance from the hotels, so we did not need taxi at all. The only time when we took a taxi was from hotel in Milano to Statione Centrale (to leave Milan for Verona). All the train stations (except Stresa) had lifts , so we had any problem with our luggage.
First part – Milano and day trips from there
We visited from here:
- Milano
The highlights were the roof of Duomo – were you can see very close a lot of statues that from the street you can not note them, and Cimiterio Monumentale with its huge monuments
- Bergamo
- Lugano and a tour of Lugano lake
- Varena and Villa Carlota (Lake Como)
- Cinque Terre – organized tour with Zani Viaggi
- Bernina Express and St. Moritz with Zani Viaggi
We enjoyed every minutes of these days, we like every thing we saw.
Second part – Verona and day trips (by train) from there:
- Verona
- Mantua
- Vicenza
- Sirmione (Lake Garda)
Also this part of the trip was delightful.
The Te and Ducale palaces in Mantua are superb.
Vicenza is full of beautiful impressive buildings (and of course the incredible Teatro Olimpico)
Sirmione has a beautiful position on the lake and the Villa of Catullo is an impressive archeological site.
Verona – as everyone knows – has the nice Piazza del Erbe, Juliet's house, Amphitheatre, Scaglieri's tomb and the beautiful Piazza del Signori.
The third part – Bologna
This is a very nice red town, with the longest streets with highest arcades that I saw till now. A lot of young people – students. Very nice buildings, leaning towers, nice public library, nice park with huge statues near the train station (this park remember me of the park in Marseille).
We visited (by train):
- Ravenna (exceptional mosaics on the walls of antique churches and mausoleums, Dante's tomb
- Ferrara – a very nice small town, with a lot of beautiful buildings and some palates (like Este)
- Rimini - we visited only the city, we did not go to the beaches. We found it as less attractive than all other towns that we visited in this trip, as we did not found here too many interesting things, except Augustus arch, the main piazza – where is a statue marking the place where Caesar stood after he traversed Rubicon, and the Fish market.
- San Marino (we took the train to Rimini and from there is a bus). The travel from Rimini to there is very nice, its position is superb. We visited the palace, the old town, etc. Half a day was enough for us there.
The last part – Stresa
As our flight back home was from Malpensa at noon, we wanted to be the last days near the airport, and not to travel in the day of the flight from Bologna to airport.
Stresa is a jewelery, as is also Maggiore lake.
The day when arrived, just walked in Stresa, admiring the view of Boromean islands, of the mountains and the nice hotels and houses in Stresa.
In the next day, we visited (in this order) isola Bella, villa Taranto, isola Madre and then we stopped at isola Pescatori for a gelato in the late afternoon.
In conclusion, it was a very beautiful vacation and we had a very good weather (not too hot, and rain in only one day 1 hour max.).
As always, we loved Italy, its landscape, cities, people. One more time we are convince that if you have time, you can stop each 10 km. there and you will find something interesting and worth the visit!
For my husband this was the first time in north Italy (except Venice), while I was many times in this part of Italy (from Lake Maggiore till Verona). From my stories, my husband understood that I liked so much this part of Italy and he wanted to see it also.
We wanted to combine and to see nature and also cities with art and architecture. First of all we decided to make this trip by train, despite most of recommendations (from Fodor's and from friends). We were very glad about this decision, because :
- the train was available to take us in all the places we wanted to visit
- there was at least one train per hour to any of our destination
- was always in time, very clean , not crowded, cheap
- in this mode we had not problems with parking, finding the way, etc.
We had flights to / from Milan.
We stayed in the following places:
- Milan (7 nights) – hotel Genius Downtown (a stop from Cadorna Station)
- Verona (4 nights) – Nouvo hotel Rossi (near train station)
- Bologna (5 nights) – Zanhotel Regina (on the main street, very close to train station and in the city center)
- Stresa (2 nights) – hotel Primavera ( 1 minute walking to lake, on pedestrian street, very close to train station and very, very close to bus for airport)
All the hotels were 3 *. They were very well located for us , as we planned to travel almost each day by train. The railway station was on walking distance from the hotels, so we did not need taxi at all. The only time when we took a taxi was from hotel in Milano to Statione Centrale (to leave Milan for Verona). All the train stations (except Stresa) had lifts , so we had any problem with our luggage.
First part – Milano and day trips from there
We visited from here:
- Milano
The highlights were the roof of Duomo – were you can see very close a lot of statues that from the street you can not note them, and Cimiterio Monumentale with its huge monuments
- Bergamo
- Lugano and a tour of Lugano lake
- Varena and Villa Carlota (Lake Como)
- Cinque Terre – organized tour with Zani Viaggi
- Bernina Express and St. Moritz with Zani Viaggi
We enjoyed every minutes of these days, we like every thing we saw.
Second part – Verona and day trips (by train) from there:
- Verona
- Mantua
- Vicenza
- Sirmione (Lake Garda)
Also this part of the trip was delightful.
The Te and Ducale palaces in Mantua are superb.
Vicenza is full of beautiful impressive buildings (and of course the incredible Teatro Olimpico)
Sirmione has a beautiful position on the lake and the Villa of Catullo is an impressive archeological site.
Verona – as everyone knows – has the nice Piazza del Erbe, Juliet's house, Amphitheatre, Scaglieri's tomb and the beautiful Piazza del Signori.
The third part – Bologna
This is a very nice red town, with the longest streets with highest arcades that I saw till now. A lot of young people – students. Very nice buildings, leaning towers, nice public library, nice park with huge statues near the train station (this park remember me of the park in Marseille).
We visited (by train):
- Ravenna (exceptional mosaics on the walls of antique churches and mausoleums, Dante's tomb
- Ferrara – a very nice small town, with a lot of beautiful buildings and some palates (like Este)
- Rimini - we visited only the city, we did not go to the beaches. We found it as less attractive than all other towns that we visited in this trip, as we did not found here too many interesting things, except Augustus arch, the main piazza – where is a statue marking the place where Caesar stood after he traversed Rubicon, and the Fish market.
- San Marino (we took the train to Rimini and from there is a bus). The travel from Rimini to there is very nice, its position is superb. We visited the palace, the old town, etc. Half a day was enough for us there.
The last part – Stresa
As our flight back home was from Malpensa at noon, we wanted to be the last days near the airport, and not to travel in the day of the flight from Bologna to airport.
Stresa is a jewelery, as is also Maggiore lake.
The day when arrived, just walked in Stresa, admiring the view of Boromean islands, of the mountains and the nice hotels and houses in Stresa.
In the next day, we visited (in this order) isola Bella, villa Taranto, isola Madre and then we stopped at isola Pescatori for a gelato in the late afternoon.
In conclusion, it was a very beautiful vacation and we had a very good weather (not too hot, and rain in only one day 1 hour max.).
As always, we loved Italy, its landscape, cities, people. One more time we are convince that if you have time, you can stop each 10 km. there and you will find something interesting and worth the visit!
Jun 19th, 2008, 02:39 AM
#2
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 7,067
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thank you for your report. It's especially timely for me as I leave two weeks from today and will be doing many of the same things. I'm based for 6 nights in Padua and plan on day trips (by train) to Verona, Vicenza, and Bologna. I'll have another day and can't decide between Mantova and Sirmione. How much time did you spend in each of those places? If you could only have done one of those which would it be? Also, did you buy your train tickets the day of travel, or before? Any more details or tips for any of the places you've visited (especially the one's I'm going to). Thanks
Jun 19th, 2008, 03:11 AM
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,546
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Isabel, very difficult question! Really, I cant answer!
Sirmione is so different from Mantua, as I can not choose between them. depend on your interest. There is the lake, small town with narrow streets with a lot of shops, how can I compare it with a city with big buildings and wonderful palaces?
If your trip includes many cities and you would like to take a break and to enjoy nature, lake ...then go to Sirmione.
If you want to see very beautiful and interesting palaces, then go to Mantua.
I am sure that you will not regret, not important what will be your decision.
In general, for all our day trips we took the train around 9 in the morning and around 5 pm in afternoon.
We bought the train tickets in the day when we travel.
We always bought return tickets also, in special if we took regional or IC trains that do not require seat reservation.This does not save money, but you do not need to worry about buying ticket when you return.
The tickets for the regional and IC trains can be used (once) in the next 6 or 3 months (I do not remember), so yes, if you want you can buy them in advance. Just do not forget to validate them at the small yellow device first time when you take the train in that day.
We took trains with seat reservations (in general EC) only we moved from a city to another with our luggage.
We tried (when we had luggage) to take trains that depart from the city where we were (and not coming from other part or / and have the last station at our destination. In this way we were sure that we had enough time with our luggage and not to worry.
I had printed at home a list with some trains in the morning and some in afternoon (for return) for each of my destinations. This help us to know the hour when we have to be at the station, and to not loose the time. in general, if you are 20 minutes before the train departure, it is enough to buy the ticket and to go to the train.
In general, in Italian trains you can not hear what is the station where the train stops now, so it will be helpful if you look, before you take the train, at the table in the station and see the name of one or two stations where your train stops before your destination. So you know sure when your station is.
In each city, look for tourist information office and ask there for the city map; they can give you info how to reach different sites, etc.
Sirmione is so different from Mantua, as I can not choose between them. depend on your interest. There is the lake, small town with narrow streets with a lot of shops, how can I compare it with a city with big buildings and wonderful palaces?
If your trip includes many cities and you would like to take a break and to enjoy nature, lake ...then go to Sirmione.
If you want to see very beautiful and interesting palaces, then go to Mantua.
I am sure that you will not regret, not important what will be your decision.
In general, for all our day trips we took the train around 9 in the morning and around 5 pm in afternoon.
We bought the train tickets in the day when we travel.
We always bought return tickets also, in special if we took regional or IC trains that do not require seat reservation.This does not save money, but you do not need to worry about buying ticket when you return.
The tickets for the regional and IC trains can be used (once) in the next 6 or 3 months (I do not remember), so yes, if you want you can buy them in advance. Just do not forget to validate them at the small yellow device first time when you take the train in that day.
We took trains with seat reservations (in general EC) only we moved from a city to another with our luggage.
We tried (when we had luggage) to take trains that depart from the city where we were (and not coming from other part or / and have the last station at our destination. In this way we were sure that we had enough time with our luggage and not to worry.
I had printed at home a list with some trains in the morning and some in afternoon (for return) for each of my destinations. This help us to know the hour when we have to be at the station, and to not loose the time. in general, if you are 20 minutes before the train departure, it is enough to buy the ticket and to go to the train.
In general, in Italian trains you can not hear what is the station where the train stops now, so it will be helpful if you look, before you take the train, at the table in the station and see the name of one or two stations where your train stops before your destination. So you know sure when your station is.
In each city, look for tourist information office and ask there for the city map; they can give you info how to reach different sites, etc.
