We'll be based in Venice for several days in the fall, and our thinking is that we'd like to explore the surrounding area a bit. Any recommendations for day trips by train? We're fleixible and open to almost anything, including sites that require a lot of walking.

Thanks.

Many interesting places are close enough to Venice for easy day trips. Each has its own special features. I've listed them in order of distance from Venice.

Padua: Giotto's masterpiece, Scrovegni Chapel; Basilica of St Anthony
Vicenza: many examples of architecture designed by Palladio
Verona: intact Roman arena, great walking center of town great wine bars

Fans of mosaics also head to Ravenna for a day trip, but it's a bit further than I'd want to go just for the day.

Also don't forget about a boat ride in Venice to the out islands of Burano and Torcello.

You can catch the train from the station in Venice to Verona. Alternatively, a change of trains at Verona will take you to Lake Garda.(Peschiera del Garda)

If you're willing to go a bit further Ravenna is fabulous, and I also liked Ferrara, which is on the way.

Thanks, gang. I'll check on the times and distances on Trenitalia.

Any others?

You might consider a Brenta Canal cruise to visit some of Palladio's villas. I think it ends up in Padua and you take the train back to Venice.

I enjoyed Padua, Vicenza was a bit of a bust IMO, but I am not an architect fan. Also we paid maybe 10 or 15E to go into the theatre but in the end I wasn't sure it was worth the money. Cruising the Ventian lagoon over to Torcello - wonderful day. And the mosiacs in Ravenna - definately wonderful, but it would be a long day trip - we did it as a two night stop between Venice and Florence.

Hello k9korps.

You have received some wonderful suggestions.

If you want a short train ride and the chance to get away from a lot of tourist you might want to take a look at this website regarding Treviso which is about a 30 minute train trip from the Santa Lucia train station in Venice. Also, on the left hand side of the website you will see a list of cities. If you click on Congeliano you will have information about that small charming town also. Congeliano is about another 20 minutes or so from Treviso. Both are north of Venice and would make a relaxing day if you had time and were interested. The train stations are both located very conveniently for exploring either town. The area is rather my "home away from home" and I always love the peace, the gentle and well mannered residents and the lack of crowds of tourist. Well and seeing all my friends of course! If you do happen to visit do have a glass of Prosecco as this is the "home" to the true Prosecco wine. Best regards and have a beautiful time in Italy.
http://www.italyheaven.co.uk/veneto/treviso.html

If you have any interest in architecture, walking down the Corso Palladio in Vicenza is like a dream. Padua is worth seeing too, especially the Scrovegni Chapel.

Ravenna is wonderful but the quickest train time is 2 hrs 30 mins each way, it's better to spend a night and see all the mosaic sites.

Have you considered visiting the islands in the Venetian lagoon? Burano is like a baby Venice, simple small houses brightly painted. Murano has all the glassblowing factories and a glass museum. And Torcello is a quiet escape. Then there's the Lido, a barrier island-town with a long sandy beach. All of these are reachable by vaporetto (waterbus) from Venice.

Thanks. Excellent suggestions. Keep 'em coming.

Re Ravenna. For a trip that long, we may go to the lake district an stay over one night.

Ravenna (near Rimini) has the mosaics, not Varenna (on Lake Como). Two different places.

I recently returned from Venice and did day trips to Ferrara and Verona. I visited Ravenna back in 2006 and anjoyed seeing the mosaics.

Monica

We did day trips to Padua, Brenta Canal boat cruise, and Bassano del Grappa. Bassano is totally different from Venice, pretty town with an Alpine feel to it. Palladio's bridge spans the river there.
We did a separate trip to the Venetao later and enjoyed the architecture in Vicenza, a beautiful city.