Northern Italy Itinerary Help
 

Hi everyone,
I am looking for a bit of itinerary advice for a future (June 2026) trip to northern Italy. My husband and I are in our late thirties, enjoy walking, hiking, but taking breaks for a beer or a glass of wine. We enjoy good food and relaxed evenings. A typical day in Europe for us consists of a small breakfast at our hotel/apartment, setting out for a hike or long walk through the city, stopping for a bite to eat/a beer when we get tired, wandering some more, a break at the hotel to rest and freshen up, and then heading back out for dinner and drinks. This will be our first trip to Italy. The plan is to start in Venice (I know it is crowded and touristy, but it is a place I want to see at least once), from there we will rent a car and head into the Dolomites for some hiking. After a few days of hiking, we plan to head to Trieste (will most likely return the car and take a train/bus) to relax and explore the surrounding area. Any recommendations on places to stay, good restaurants, etc. are greatly appreciated.

I am especially interested in recommendations around the Dolomites region (are the towns I have listed good bases, should we consider another town, etc.). Thanks!

Day 1: fly from MT, USA to Venice, Night 1: plane

Day 2: arrive Venice, Night 2: Venice (looking at the Dorsoduro neighborhood)

Day 3: explore Venice, Night 3: Venice

Day 4: more Venice, Night 4: Venice

Day 5: pick up rental car and drive to Dolomites, Night 5: Ortisei

Day 6: hike, Night 6: Ortisei

Day 7: hike and then drive to Corvara, Night 7: Corvara/Alta Badia

Day 8: hike, Night 8: Corvara/Alta Badia

Day 9: hike, Night 9: Corvara/Alta Badia

Day 10: leave mountains, return car, train to Trieste, Night 10: Trieste

Day 11: explore Trieste, Night 11: Trieste

Day 12: possible day trip, Night 12: Trieste

Day 13: wander/relax, Night 13: Trieste

Day 14: possible day trip, Night 14: Trieste

Day 15: explore/relax, make our way back towards Venice: Night 15: airport hotel

Day 16: fly home

I appreciate you giving Venice it's due - so many rush through it. And yes, it can be crowded but the city is so much more than San Marco and you will have time to see it.

Where are you planning on/around Trieste? Honestly, I was underwhelmed with the town itself as I had visited directly after Venice. I personally only needed one full day to devote to it. But YMMV.

In all, I feel you have pretty good framework here.

Hi, planning on doing day trips into Slovenia and maybe Croatia while in Trieste. I just didn't want to keep hotel hopping for that portion of the trip, and we like the idea of going to the coast after being in the mountains. (Having mountains at home, I find that when I am travelling I like spending time along coastlines).

Have you explored how to get around from Trieste without a car?

Really, your options are bus and a tourist ferry (which runs on a funky schedule at times). Just something to think about. Edit: if you end up renting, you will need a vignette in Slovenia.

If of interest, here are my reports on the Istrian Peninsula but I stayed overnight, did not include Trieste (previous trip):

Piran: https://jenntravelnerd.wordpress.com...y-piran-day-7/

Day trip to Predjama & Postonja; https://jenntravelnerd.wordpress.com...lunking-day-8/

Rovinj: https://jenntravelnerd.wordpress.com...-rovinj-day-9/

Pula: https://jenntravelnerd.wordpress.com...nema-problema/

And I case of interest, my report on Fodors where I have (yet) to finish with the very links above here: https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...-solo-1710120/

Actually, I think you could use another day in Venice. You only have two full days not impacted by arrival or departure. Your arrival day may not be very productive if you're jet-lagged. How long (and convoluted?) is your journey from Montana??

I haven't been to Trieste in decades, so I'll just assume you know what you want to see/do there and how long that would take. If excursions into Slovenia and Croatia are planned, make sure your car rental company knows. Very likely not a problem, but there could be additional insurance costs. Confirm. FWIW, I'd want more time in the Dolomites, esp. as you mention walking/hiking first in your interests. You could also swap the Lake Garda area for Trieste. Lots of great hikes, esp. at the northern end.

https://www.komoot.com/guide/1901/hi...und-lake-garda

FYI, if you pick up the rental car in Venice and return it in Trieste, you will likely incur a one-way surcharge. And then you have to spend a bit more to get back to Venice for your departing flight. (Both the drive and the train ride take less than 2 hours.) Your flight will likely be very early in the day, so you'll want/need to return to Venice the night before your flight.

[Posted before I saw your comments about Slovenia and Croatia.]

Good call. I had mis-read Night 1 being on a plane.

I would want 3 full days in Venice at minimum. OP does seem narure focused, so 2 full days might work for their interests, but hopefully they can elaborate.

Thank you everyone for your replies, and for sharing your trip reports; I have some reading to do! I will consider moving a night from Trieste and doing another night in Venice. I am not exactly interested in spending more time in the mountains. I want to see the Dolomites and do some hiking, but quite frankly, after about four days of mountain scenery, I am ready for something I don't see at home every day (I know that all mountains are different, and that is why I am excited to see the Dolomites, but a change of pace will be needed after four or five days). I briefly considered the lakes region, but I am fortunate enough to live near lots of mountain lakes, so I would prefer to visit other cities or coastal areas. As for the rental car, I am tempted to drop it back off in Venice before moving on to Trieste. If I do day trips out of Trieste, I will probably just go with a tour company. We recently had a very rough car rental/driving experience in Mexico, so would prefer to keep driving at a minimum during this trip.

Alta Badia - Trieste is a long journey and gets even much longer without a car.
It's easy to go by public transport from Venice to Ortisei and Corvara.
But it's much less easy to do so in the Eastern Dolomites, the Soca Valley and South of Trieste.

Istria has some very scenic coastal towns like Piran, Porec or even Rovinj and a big Roman amphitheatre at Pula. But the pebble beaches there are nothing to write home about.
The only good sandy beach in the wider Trieste area is at Grado.
But the mountain area between Alta Badia and Trieste is interesting too: Falzarego Pass WW1 fortifications, Cortina d'Ampezzo, 3 Cime del Lavaredo, Lake Misurina........
But you cannot visit everthing, of course!

We are currently in Italy, and we recently spent 4 nights in Venice. We love, love, love Venice! You are spot on about staying in Dorsoduro. We stayed at Hotel Agli Alboretti, about a one minute walk from the Accademia Bridge. We love this location; so much quieter than San Marco. We did something very touristy, we took a gondola ride. Picked it up at one of the piazzas in Dorsoduro. The gondolier took us on the smaller, less crowded canals. It was wonderful.

Be sure to take the elevator to the top of St.Mark’s Bell Tower at sunset. Absolutely amazing!

We arrived today in Varenna after spending 4 nights in the Dolomites. Absolutely glorious scenery and stunning views! Probably our top favorite destination of our fabulous trip filled with many wonderful destinations. We stayed in Merano, which we enjoyed very much, but I think Ortisei is better if you are doing a lot hiking.

[QUOTE=neckervd;17657797]Alta Badia - Trieste is a long journey and gets even much longer without a car.
It's easy to go by public transport from Venice to Ortisei and Corvara.
But it's much less easy to do so in the Eastern Dolomites, the Soca Valley and South of Trieste.


I briefly looked into taking a train to Bolzano and then busses to Ortisei, but it looked a bit convoluted and time consuming vs renting a car. Maybe I am missing something here?

KarenWoo, thank you for the hotel recommendation in Venice! I am glad to know that Dorsoduro is a good choice.

Should be nice! And kudos for planning in advance.

I agree that it would be better if you can spend 3 full days in Venice – there’s a LOT to see and enjoy there.

If you haven’t already purchased your airline tickets, you might consider flying home from Trieste. No reason to back track and change hotels an extra time!

Kja, good call on looking into flying out of Trieste (I just assumed I wouldn't have great options) - it looks like I can possibly get flights back but only on certain days of the week. Something I will keep in mind when setting our dates. If I can find find flights (Delta - seems to be an option on Mon, Tue and Thurs), this will allow me to add an extra day in Venice without changing anything else, so thank you!

[QUOTE=cubeck;17657809]a train from
Venice to Trieste is about 2.5 hours with a change. By car it’s actually a bit longer. The trains that go to trieste are regional express. Personally I’d take the train to Trieste, but perhaps that’s just me being the long time Italy traveler. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done A LOT of driving in Italy, mostly in the north but the trains are not to be overlooked either.

Depending on what you end up deciding about those last few days, you might also consider Llubljana or other airports.

I get it but know that your driving speeds will be very low (often lower than the posted limit), so what you can see/do in a day may be less than you think. Lots of hairpin turns and very little wide open spaces. Lots of cyclists and the occasional herd of cows. Your mentioned bases are less than an hour's drive apart. FWIW, I would pick two bases that are farther apart. If possible, drive onward to Trieste or back to Venice via Passo Giau or Passo Falzarego which will take you to Cortina before you turn south.

FYI, the Dolomites isn't just about stunning mountain scenery. There are WWI battle sites and fortifications, museums, cemeteries and memorials, etc. The Ice Man exhibits at the archeology museum in Bolzano are fascinating.

We did a similar trip many years ago. Started in Venice for 4 nights, drove to Cortina (gorgeous), on to Bolzano, dropped down to Riva de Garda, Milan, Verona and back to Venice. Just under 3 weeks total.

"a train from Venice to Trieste is about 2.5 hours with a change. By car it’s actually a bit longer. The trains that go to trieste are regional express. Personally I’d take the train to Trieste, but perhaps that’s just me being the long time Italy traveler. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done A LOT of driving in Italy, mostly in the north but the trains are not to be overlooked either."

If you go from Corvara to Trieste, you will of course not backtrack to Venice.
The fastest itinerary goes via Longarone to Ponte nelle Alpi and then on motorways A27 and A 28 to Portogruaro, where you reach the motorway A4 to Trieste airport (Ronchi dei Legionari) and Trieste.
The most scenic one goes via Cortina d'Ampezzo - Misurina - Auronzo - Mauria Pass - Carnia and on motorway A23 to Udine - Palmanova - motorway A 4 - Trieste airport (Ronchi dei Legionari) and Trieste.
All that has absolutely nothing to do with the Venice Mestre - Trieste itinerary (1 hr 55 min by direct train: resp 90 miles motorway plus 5 miles national road).

But that's not the main problem.
If you want to do day trips from Trieste by public transport, you may run into some problems, because public transport from there to Slovenia and Croatia is rather poor
https://www.autostazionetrieste.it/e...internazionali
Trains to Divazza or Postojna railway station (from where you have to look for local transport to the caves) are not more frequent.

On the other hand, trains from Venice to Verona (change) - Bolzano/Bozen and connecting buses from there to Ortisei run almost every hr (4-5 hrs journey).

TRIESTE AIRPORT (less than 100 miles from Venice airport):
Forget it for flights to transit hubs others than Rome and Frankfurt

Jean, I have been debating between Corvara and Cortina, so I might look into that as an option. I like the look of the hikes around Corvara a bit more (less touristy/crowded than Cortina), but most would be possible to do from Ortisei. I am not worried about slow driving in the mountains (used to it here in MT), and if we end up doing half-day hikes, I am fine with that. cmeyere54 - how did you like being based in Cortina and Bolzano for that portion of your trip?

As for Trieste day trips, I don't plan on using public transport but rather private shuttles/vans. More expensive, but I prefer the flexibility. Also, Trieste works great to fly out of (but only on certain days), so I will probably stick with that plan vs heading back to Venice.