Northern Italy Itinerary Check
Jan 19th, 2023, 02:34 PM
#1
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Northern Italy Itinerary Check
Hello,
We are planning a trip to Northern Italy end of May/beg of June and looking for some itinerary and logistics feedback.
About us:
-Looking for good food, history and scenary.
-family of 5 with 2 teens and toddler, all are good travelers.
-We do not want to rent a car the whole time.
-Staying in a lot of hotels while not a preference is something our family is used to when traveling.
Tentative Itinerary:
2 or 3? nights Venice walk around exploring, gondola water taxis.
Take train or transfer from Venice to Verona and rent a car?
3 nights Lake Garda interested in doing a family bike ride along the lake...explore the villages. Not interested in theme parks. Not sure yet what town would be best to spend nights.
3 nights dolomites, possibly staying at Ortisei. Interested in the scenery, unique cuisine, biking, light hiking, parks/playgrounds looks great, WW1 museum, gondola/ski lifts.
1 or 2 nights Milan fly home to US from Milan
Additional Questions:
Best place to rent and return a car for exploring lake garda and dolomites?
Verona looks like an interesting place, worth a stay?
Any recommendations for places to see, visit, etc are welcomed!!
We are planning a trip to Northern Italy end of May/beg of June and looking for some itinerary and logistics feedback.
About us:
-Looking for good food, history and scenary.
-family of 5 with 2 teens and toddler, all are good travelers.
-We do not want to rent a car the whole time.
-Staying in a lot of hotels while not a preference is something our family is used to when traveling.
Tentative Itinerary:
2 or 3? nights Venice walk around exploring, gondola water taxis.
Take train or transfer from Venice to Verona and rent a car?
3 nights Lake Garda interested in doing a family bike ride along the lake...explore the villages. Not interested in theme parks. Not sure yet what town would be best to spend nights.
3 nights dolomites, possibly staying at Ortisei. Interested in the scenery, unique cuisine, biking, light hiking, parks/playgrounds looks great, WW1 museum, gondola/ski lifts.
1 or 2 nights Milan fly home to US from Milan
Additional Questions:
Best place to rent and return a car for exploring lake garda and dolomites?
Verona looks like an interesting place, worth a stay?
Any recommendations for places to see, visit, etc are welcomed!!
Jan 20th, 2023, 07:48 AM
#2
Why Milan in this trip?? I would leave Milan for another trip and add the nights/days to Venice and/or Ortisei. If you drove from Ortisei to Milan, it would take upwards of 5 hours, and you'd probably want to return the car at Malpensa (and NOT drive into Milan). Then you'd take a train (1 hour) into Milan. And train back to Malpensa (1 hour) for the departing flight. If you drove to Verona and returned the car there, it's a 2.5-3 hour drive and a 1+ hour train to Milan, so close to a 5-hour journey overall.
If you haven't been to Venice before, three nights would be an absolute minimum stay IMO. That's only two full days with perhaps the first day impacted by jet lag.
There are a few WWI museums and sights in the Dolomites. Are you considering a specific museum? Because there is so much to see in the Dolomites and driving speeds are low, you'd need to carefully organize your sightseeing and prioritize your interests, since hiking and biking and riding chair lifts all use up a lot of time.
If Milan is dropped, I'd rent and return the car in Venice. After Ortisei, I'd drive back to Venice via Cortina. If Milan stays in the plans, I'd compare the cost of renting in Venice and returning in Verona to a round-trip rental in Venice. (One-way rentals usually include an extra charge.) Depending on the time of a flight departing from Venice, you might be able to spend the last night in Treviso rather than at the airport.
If you haven't been to Venice before, three nights would be an absolute minimum stay IMO. That's only two full days with perhaps the first day impacted by jet lag.
There are a few WWI museums and sights in the Dolomites. Are you considering a specific museum? Because there is so much to see in the Dolomites and driving speeds are low, you'd need to carefully organize your sightseeing and prioritize your interests, since hiking and biking and riding chair lifts all use up a lot of time.
If Milan is dropped, I'd rent and return the car in Venice. After Ortisei, I'd drive back to Venice via Cortina. If Milan stays in the plans, I'd compare the cost of renting in Venice and returning in Verona to a round-trip rental in Venice. (One-way rentals usually include an extra charge.) Depending on the time of a flight departing from Venice, you might be able to spend the last night in Treviso rather than at the airport.
Last edited by Jean; Jan 20th, 2023 at 08:02 AM.
Jan 20th, 2023, 07:58 AM
#3
Your other thread on this subject has some replies you might find useful. As far as Verona goes, I've always though to f it as a day trip as it has good rail connections. The Coloseum is well preserved and the main square in front of it has some nice cafes and restaurants for a leisurely lunch. There's some nice shopping and the tourist trap that is Juliet's balcony.
Jan 20th, 2023, 09:29 AM
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Originally Posted by Rubicund
Your other thread on this subject has some replies you might find useful. As far as Verona goes, I've always though to f it as a day trip as it has good rail connections. The Coloseum is well preserved and the main square in front of it has some nice cafes and restaurants for a leisurely lunch. There's some nice shopping and the tourist trap that is Juliet's balcony.
Jan 20th, 2023, 09:38 AM
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Jan 20th, 2023, 09:51 AM
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Originally Posted by Jean
Why Milan in this trip?? I would leave Milan for another trip and add the nights/days to Venice and/or Ortisei. If you drove from Ortisei to Milan, it would take upwards of 5 hours, and you'd probably want to return the car at Malpensa (and NOT drive into Milan). Then you'd take a train (1 hour) into Milan. And train back to Malpensa (1 hour) for the departing flight. If you drove to Verona and returned the car there, it's a 2.5-3 hour drive and a 1+ hour train to Milan, so close to a 5-hour journey overall.
If you haven't been to Venice before, three nights would be an absolute minimum stay IMO. That's only two full days with perhaps the first day impacted by jet lag.
There are a few WWI museums and sights in the Dolomites. Are you considering a specific museum? Because there is so much to see in the Dolomites and driving speeds are low, you'd need to carefully organize your sightseeing and prioritize your interests, since hiking and biking and riding chair lifts all use up a lot of time.
If Milan is dropped, I'd rent and return the car in Venice. After Ortisei, I'd drive back to Venice via Cortina. If Milan stays in the plans, I'd compare the cost of renting in Venice and returning in Verona to a round-trip rental in Venice. (One-way rentals usually include an extra charge.) Depending on the time of a flight departing from Venice, you might be able to spend the last night in Treviso rather than at the airport.
If you haven't been to Venice before, three nights would be an absolute minimum stay IMO. That's only two full days with perhaps the first day impacted by jet lag.
There are a few WWI museums and sights in the Dolomites. Are you considering a specific museum? Because there is so much to see in the Dolomites and driving speeds are low, you'd need to carefully organize your sightseeing and prioritize your interests, since hiking and biking and riding chair lifts all use up a lot of time.
If Milan is dropped, I'd rent and return the car in Venice. After Ortisei, I'd drive back to Venice via Cortina. If Milan stays in the plans, I'd compare the cost of renting in Venice and returning in Verona to a round-trip rental in Venice. (One-way rentals usually include an extra charge.) Depending on the time of a flight departing from Venice, you might be able to spend the last night in Treviso rather than at the airport.
Regarding WW1 Museums, i just looked further and you are correct there is many and they arent that near Bolzano or Ortisei. Maybe Instead our teens will be interested in the musuem in Bolzano with the ice cave man and the kids and toddler would have fun at cool playground in Bolzano called Talvera Park. Ortisei seems like a good base to explore some of the surrounding areas, bike, light hiking, riding cable cars..etc.
Jan 23rd, 2023, 10:07 PM
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If you're in Ortisei, you could look to see whether Munich offers you an alternative route home. By train Munich and Milan are not so different in journey time. If you did this, you could perhaps hire your car in Bolzano and return to same.
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