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-   -   Need ideas for Northern Italy (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/need-ideas-for-northern-italy-498121/)

Mylesaway Jan 24th, 2005 05:41 PM

Need ideas for Northern Italy
 
I planned my trip last year to Tuscany using this board, and you people were fantastic. So I'm going to try again for this year.

Tuscany was a perfect mix of museums in bigger cities, countryside drives, and walking in picturesque little towns.

This year, my mother has her heart set on northern Italy for some reason.

My wife and I are going to Rome for 4 days alone, and then we are meeting up with my brother, my mother (80) and my nephew (20) in Venice.

We are then going to spend 11 days in Northern Italy. Not my first choice, because I'd like to see more museums and spend more time in Rome. I've never been. But it's a family vacation.

So where should we go and how long should we stay there?

So far, we're planning 3 days in Venice. Also, a couple of days around Lake Como. We're going to go to Milan, Verona, Padua too.

But where else should we go? What are the great little picturesque towns? And how long should we spend in different places. I'm figuring, a day in Milan, try to take in the opera at night (my wife's choice...not mine!), but that's all we'll spend there. Verona and Padua also a day each.

But what do you guys think?

1. What would be your itinery in northern Italy?

2. Which hotels in Venice (around 150 - 200 Euros/night)

3. Which hotels in other places?

4. Must see little towns.

Thanks everyone,

Mylesaway

tuscanlifeedit Jan 24th, 2005 07:09 PM

Let me see if I have this right: 11 days, the first 3 in Venice, leaving 8 days?

So, in 8 days, you have:

Lake Como (I suggest Bellagio and the Hotel Belvedere)
Verona
Padua
Milan

And you want more towns? Whoa, I say, slow down. With just two days in each of those places, you are seeing an awful lot. I don't think you need to add any other places.

Bellagio and Varenna are charming little towns.
Verona is lovely with lots to see.
Milan: a great big city with lots to see.
I don't know Padua, so I won't say anything there, but I still feel that this is a very full itinerary.

I will be anxious to read what others have to say.

Jean Jan 24th, 2005 07:12 PM

11 days which you've already planned as follows: 3 days Venice, 1 day Verona, 1 day Padua, 1 day Milan, 2 or so days in/around Lake Como. You don't say how you plan to do the 1-day visits to Verona, Padua and Milan. Will you be packing up and moving each day? Or travelling to/from a base town? Train or car?

Your answers may impact the advice you receive. Frankly, with 11 days and an 80-year-old mother, I'd move around less or at least eliminate the one day visits.

For hotels, do searches: "Venice hotels," "Milan hotels," etc.

P.S. "My mother has her heart set on northern Italy for some reason." I'm not sure what you imagine northern Italy to be like, but it certainly offers "museums in bigger cities, countryside drives, and walking in picturesque little towns."

Mylesaway Jan 24th, 2005 07:37 PM

You guys are terrific. Let me be more specific.

For a 15 day trip -

4 days in Rome at the beginning.

3 days in Venice next.

So now we're talking about 8 days. In this time, we are going to spend a couple of days in Lake Como. The rest is up in the air, according to what I research and what you people say. I want to hit:

Milan
Padua
Verona

I'm driving. Love to drive in Italy. I'm a New Yorker (living in LA) and I'm completely at home driving in Italy. But this means we're a little more flexible to go to smaller towns and to plot our schedule.

Thanks -

Mylesaway

rex Jan 24th, 2005 07:38 PM

Add Trento.

Best wishes,

Rex

Mylesaway Jan 24th, 2005 08:07 PM

I forgot to reply to one point. We will try to stay in one hotel and make day trips.

So, for example, if Verona is a day trip from Venice, we'll stay in a hotel in Venice longer. When I said 3 days in Venice, I meant that we would have 3 days to walk around and tour only Venice. But we can stay there longer.

Or we can stay in a hotel in Lake Como longer and make day trips from there.

I'm actually just planning the trip now and wanted your input. But I definately don't want to stay in more than 3 hotels in 11 days. Preferably 2 if it feasible.

I just don't know the territory!

Thanks,

Mylesaway

zozozo Jan 24th, 2005 10:37 PM

When are you going? There is also opera season in Verona.

bobthenavigator Jan 25th, 2005 06:54 AM

If I had 11 days in north Italy, during good weather months, and had a car, and could fly home from Milan, then I would do this:
Venice-4

Castelrotto[Dolomites]-3
Stop in Verona enroute

Lago Como--4-day trip to Lugano]
Fly home from Milan

Good luck !

Michael Jan 25th, 2005 07:08 AM

If you type Faenza, you can get to my trip report on northern Italy. "pictures of northern Italy" will get you to the link for my Ofoto pictures of that trip.

Michael Jan 25th, 2005 07:09 AM

Typed in the search box, in case you are not familiar with the system.

snookss Jan 25th, 2005 08:32 AM

Just around the corner from Venice is the Country of Slovenia and Croatia. A day trip to Pula, Croatia will be well worth your time. Also, remember how close you are to jumping into Switzerland and Austria. Salzburg is another day trip. I went to Italy last year and plan to return this April for a month. I think you will find the northern part of the country refreshing after seeing Rome.

Wayne Jan 25th, 2005 11:04 AM

You can add to your list of small towns these that I particularly enjoyed:
-San Pellegrino Terme, north of Bergamo, where the famous water comes from.
-Monte Isola on Lago d'Iseo.
-Malcesine on Lake Garda.
-Another vote for Trento.
-Bosco Chiesanuova, north of Verona.
Good luck.

valtor Jan 25th, 2005 11:25 AM

Very close to Milan (~ 1 hour) is Magiore Lake. Around the lake are a lot of small nice towns. I highly recommend Stresa (one day tour). From Stresa you can take a boat (5 minute cruise) to Isola Bella, one of Boromean Islands. All the island is a parc and a castle. The garden of the castle is very beautiful, and some of the rooms in castle are nice decorated.
The promenade near the Lake, in Stresa, is also nice. You can take here a cabin to the top of the mountain.
Very close to Stresa is Acona (comming from Milan, you first meet Acona). Here is a huge statue of Cardinal Boromeo, and you can climb inside of the statue till the 'head', , from there it is a nice view of the lake and of the islands.

TravelsWithStDavid Jan 25th, 2005 11:46 AM

Padua is a great town and has lots to see, but you can easily do it from Venice, it is less than an hour by train. The Scrovegni Chapel with Giotto murals would fulfill your museum desires. There is a great market on Saturday mornings in the Prato de Valle and one Sundaya month there is an antique market in the same square. Last year we took the Brenta Canal tour from Venice to Padua which was delightful, beautiful Palladian Villas and a relaxing day. You can also do it in the reverse direction, depending on the day. You can also drive to Cortina from Venice. The drive through the Dolomites is beautiful. I also agree that Trento is a wonderful City to walk around, and easy to get to from the Autostrasse if you are driving. Sirmione on Lake Garda is another interesting town where you can stop for a few hours. It is not far west of Verona.
Sounds like a great trip. Have fun.

julieanne Jan 25th, 2005 12:32 PM

Having been to Italy 4 times, I have to put in my vote for Lake Como. It truly is one of, if not the, most beautiful places I've been. If you stay in Bellagio, you take boats across the lake to various towns, varying from tiny and quaint to somewhat substantial (Como). I am sure you won't regret it.

Mylesaway Jan 25th, 2005 07:45 PM

Thank you so much everyone. This was exactly the type of advice I was looking for. How long, where to go from where, and little towns we might have missed.

And I guess I'm going to Trento (per your suggestions!)

I feel obligated to report back on my trip for others on the board in the future. I'm not sure how to do that, exactly. Do I just write a trip report and post it?

For example, last year when I was in Tuscany (we went at the beginning of July so that we could see the race [Palio?] in Sienna) my most memorable experience was walking in the woods of Assisi where St. Frances used to go and meditate. I'm not even Catholic...I'm Jewish...but there was something magical about those woods. I would urge others to leave a couple of hours aside for that if they are in that area.

So how do I post tips or my own observations that are not a question and that others can use on this board in the future?

Mylesaway

P.S.
Thanks so much again!!

rex Jan 25th, 2005 09:40 PM

<<how do I post tips or my own observations that are not a question and that others can use on this board in the future?>>

Just use a message header that indicates that you are "reporting back", as opposed to asking a question...

Like "Things we saw on our recent trip to Northern Italy", or take a look at how people post a "trip report", or it can even still be a question - - "Did anyone else have the experience of xyz... while traveling in abc...?"



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