curlyhair412

We want to visit northern Italy.What airport do we fly into ? We would like to stay in one location and travel from there. . What points of interest are the best sights? We would like to venture into Switzerland too.. Should we take a train or drive? ? Again ,thank you people for all of your advice. Our trips have been just wonderful because of your expert advice....

cmeyer54

How much time do you have? We flew into venice and drove from there to cortina to bolzano to riva de garda to milan to verona and back to venice over a 2 week trip. you could fly into milan and take trips to bergamo, como, bellagio, verona and perhaps to piedmont. or...fly into milan and out of venice or vice versa.

bobthenavigator

It would take 3 locations to cover north Italy as day trips.
Milan, Bologna, and Venice.

Jean

I would add Torino and Genoa to Bob's list. You need to narrow down what part of northern Italy you want to see.

How much time? What time of year? What part of Switzerland?

zeppole

Even if you stayed in the 3 or 5 cities named above, there is no way you are going to "cover" Northern Italy in day trips, unless you spend 3 months at it -- and I'm only talking about seeing the major points of interest.

How long do you have? It is less than 3 weeks and you want to go to Switzerland, you will only be able to see a fraction of the famous tourist sights nearest to the northern border, so you need to identify whether you are most interested in experiencing: the great art cities, the great natural beauty or the great wine regions for your touring.

Accommodations in the biggest cities of northern Italy tend to be very expensive, and using a car to get in and out of them for day trips is very time consuming because of heavy traffic (and stressful too -- and it's a fortune for parking!)

Even if you want to travel by train, bus and ferry, you might want to look into a smaller-town base with a train station where accommodations are cheaper.

With a rental car, it is easier to find a single base outside the cities that is very affordable and makes for easy driving in and out and finding parking every night. There are wonderful farmhouses all over northern Italy that make convenient bases for touring, including access into parts of Switzerland for a day.

curlyhair412

we will be there for seven days in september... we were in Venice and Milan three years ago .Torino ,Genoa and Como would be great... We would like to go over the border into Switzerland into wine country. Do we take a train and if so which one?

Jean

With only seven days, I don't see how you can include Switzerland except perhaps as a day-trip from mid-Lake Como. Frankly, with only seven days, I'd pick only two places/cities to stay in and explore, then plan a couple of day-trips to nearby smaller towns.

Where will you fly in and out?

curlyhair412

We do not know.. I think Milan...What two places do you suggest?The day-trip sounds just fine from Lake Como..What train do we take?

Jean

(I'm saying this as gently as possible.) You seem not to have a clue on where you want to go, what you want to see/do.

I suggest you do some research and print out a map of northern Italy to refer to. You can click on "Destinations" at the top of this page and navigate your way to information on Milan, Lombardy and the Lakes region (for example). Your local public library will likely have tourist guides for Italy that you can peruse. Once you've narrowed your wish list, you can come back and post questions about timing, logistics, etc. If you want to travel primarily by train, you can check timetables at:

http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/homepage_en.html

When you type in your dates of travel at the above link, don't use September (which may be too far in the future) but rather the same day/s of the week in, say, July or even next week. The schedules won't change significantly, if at all, in September.

curlyhair412

Jean, you are soo right.. We have free airline tickets and a free time share. so my husband said" ask your fodor family to give us some suggestions. I planned such wonderful trips with you guys.. We went to Rome ,Venice. Sorrento. Florence and Capri. He was so impressed with the private gondola in Venice and all the arrangements you fodorites recommended. We just came back from Arizona and of course he was amazed with the Enchantment Spa and the EL Tovar. We are young in our late fifties and want to travel .We are not old people.. we like to party and have a real good time. Our girls tell us we are seniors on spring break.. So where to go ..Again it is left up to me. I thought northern Italy would be fine because we can go into Switzerland too...We must use the tickets this year..Again, no direction ..we want to see more than one country.Thanks for your patience...

Jean

OK, let's start with which airports your free tickets can take you to. With only 7 days on the ground, I would think you want to consider only cities you can reach with non-stop flights from your home airport. So which ones in northern Italy are those? If non-stop isn't possible, which airports can you reach with the best (and fewest) connections from your home airport?

"I thought northern Italy would be fine because we can go into Switzerland too." Technically true, but that would really limit your options unless you can fly into one airport in one country and fly out of another airport in the other country.

So, do some research on the free tickets and your airport options. There isn't much advice we can give until you provide more info.

Jean

Well, duh. I forgot to ask where the time share is located.

nochblad

I would suggest only 2 places to be based in - Como and Verona.

For Como I suggest you give a look at Cernobbio. Hire a car drive into Switzerland and visit wine area around Mendrisio. Go up to Lugano then return to Lake Como via Gandria - Porlezza - Menaggio. Either by car or boat you can do Cernobbio - Cadenabbia (see Villa Carlotta's gardens) - Bellagio - Varenna. There is a car ferry between Cadenabbia- Bellagio - Varenna. Also from Como you are close enough to do a day trip to Stresa to see the magical Borromean islands.

Drive to Verona with a stop at the old town of Bergamo. From Verona, apart from its own sights, you can visit Lake Garda . Sirmione, Salò etc but you are also close enough to visit Mantova which is a small but magnificent town famous for the Gonzaga family. Many sites to see and all within reasonable walking distance. If you have time you could also visit Cremona where luthiers are still at work continuing the town's honoured tradition.

curlyhair412

I will wait until i get my definite flight from Newark to Milan. I can go anyplace with the timeshare. We are not locked into one location., . We are probably going to stay in the Lake Como region... .. I will be on the forum just getting knowledge from the fodor family. Again ,thanks to all of you wonderful people..I will return with specific info.