Northern Italy experts - what would you do?
 

Failing to receive enough ideas from my original post, I'll re-post, minus a flowery introduction.

I've flights to Trieste - where would you go from there? I prefer luxury hotels, where would you stay if you would advise remaining in Trieste itself?

What would you do?

P.S. Searching this forum has yielded little in the way of results that I can tailor to suit myself, I've four nights to kill, not just a day or two.

Slovenia: Ljubljana, Lake Bled, and Portorocz. Of course, it would help to know if you plan to drive and time of year--those flowers would be nice.

How about Postojna?

http://www.postojnska-jama.si/

Steve

Thank you for that suggestion, I would most certainly visit that if I went to Trieste, however, I'm really looking for places to stay and base myself rather than individual attractions.

MK - How far do you want to go?

Personally I'd head for the Dolomites and base there for a few days. Somewhere like Cortina.
But maybe you don't want to go that far ...

Alternatively Lake Bled or Llubljana as Bob suggested - would you consider Slovenia?

Steve

Otherwise if you prefer to stay in Italy and want a city base for a few days I'd recommend TREVISO.

Besides being one of the most attractive towns in Veneto it's less than 30 mins from Venice - and near enough to lots of other places of interest for day-trips, e.g Vicenza, Padova, Asolo, Bassano del Grappa, Marostica ...

From Treviso you can also get up into the Dolomites for a day (- e.g to Cortina or San Martino di Castrozza.

Verona, Bologna and Ferrara are within a couple of hours too, so lots of options really.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

m_kingdom, if you decide on the Dolomites, I would recommend this spa hotel in Valdora.

http://www.hotel-hubertus.com/

I was there 18 months ago (June) and it was wonderful. The area is absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, it is a 3.5 hour drive from Trieste, so it may be a little too far if you only have a few days.

If you decide to visit the area, I have a trip report I can send you from a long-weekend from Milan.

regards Ger

Thank you for those responses.

Slovenia doesn't appeal to me in the winter.

I'm not prepared to hire a car, as I rarely drive on the continent. I'm flying in (if I decide to go) to Trieste airport, and would like to be able to get into a taxi and not spend more than 60EUR on the transfer. I require a comfortable hotel, preferably with an indoor pool and/or spa treatments.

Please could you expand on transportation to the suggested places. Many thanks.

Treviso is a 2-2.5 hour train journey.

Some trains are direct, others require a change at Venice Mestre or Portogruaro-Caorle.
For details see
www.trenitalia.it

.....

You can find hotel info for Treviso on:

http://turismo.provincia.treviso.it/...ry_Normale.asp

Here are two 4* ones:

http://www.boscolohotels.com/hotel.cfm?SectionId=813

http://www.hotelcadelgalletto.it/index.htm

.....

The Dolomites (e.g Cortina) would be about another 2.5-hour journey from Treviso - so may be too far for a short visit unless you can fly into Treviso rather than Trieste.

You can find hotel info for Cortina on:

http://www.cortina.dolomiti.org/

Yellow Pages has links to Cortina hotel websites

http://www.paginegialle.it/pg/cgi/pg...0D'ampezzo

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Why the lack of preparedness to hire a car on the continent m_k2? Anything to do with your age?

I'm only there for a few nights, I can't be bothered with directions, and Italians driving, it's not relaxing especially in the winter.

However, I'm still not sure if I'm even going there, indecision!