MmePerdu

I have nothing against Verona, visited on a day trip while I stayed in Venice. I might not shoot myself if exiled to Verona but I would wish I was in Venice. Pepper is right. I believe you when you say the decision has been made but, if you waver in your commitment, we're here to support you.

Abby5205

Yikes! Thank goodness this trip is not until 2016. The only hard wired part of the trip is entry to Rome and exit from the Luberon(TGV to Paris and home) The days between will be filled with Venice, undetermined town(or maybe not) and Villefranche. I think part of my problem here is that my wife has heard so many negative stories about Venice that it has colored my opinion. The good news is that I don't believe it all. Part of the reason is that I have read all the good news on this site. I will enjoy Venice!! Thank for the end notes Pepper and Perdu.

michele_d

You will most definitely enjoy Venice if you take our advice to get off the tourist route. During our week long stay in Venice we occasionally crossed the Rialto Bridge or St Mark's square. It was quite irritating and I couldn't wait until we could wander down some alley away from the hordes. If you only visit the tourist spots with thousands of other tourists your opinion of Venice would most definitely be negatively colored.

Peter_S_Aus

In Verona, you could happily spend a full day in the Castel Vecchio museum. In Venice, visit the Querini Stampalia Foundation, near Campo Maria Formosa.

Both Castel Vecchio and the ground floor of the Foundation were designed by Carlo Scarpa, and so there is a nice conjunction in the architectural handwriting.

Click on my user name and you will find trip reports for visits to Venice. We are in Venice right now, apartment on Fondamenta Briati, Dorsoduro.

nytraveler

Awful stories about Venice are usually, IMHO, from people who have been there on a day trip and were herded around fora few areas to a couple of major sights and spent their limited there fighting the mobs.

If you stay there you

have a completely different feel in the am before the crowds arrive and after 5 pm when many depart

there is WAY more to see in Venice than San Marco, Duomo and Doge's palace

you need at least a couple of days to see the outlying islands (Torcello is fascinating, Burano charming and Murano - well great if you want to see glass being blown)

part of the fun of Venice is exploring other areas of the city, esp in the evenings, and being able to dine, walk and appreciate it like locals

michele_d

It still stuns me that people visit Venice as strictly a day trip.

Peter_S_Aus

Everyone says that Venice is romantic, the most beautiful city on earth, and many other superlatives. It is also a pretty tough town to get around until you get a handle on it. I say this after spending about eight months in Venice, over four long visits, and we are in Venice right now.

A day trip to Venice just does not work, and even a two day visit, spending a night here, does not do much. If you arrive at Venezia SL rail station, you are faced probably with a 40 minute ride on a crowded water bus to the Piazza. Walking that with luggage is just about impossible. At times you will be walking down streets less than two metres wide, following a tour group of fifty somewhat bored souls. I’ve seen some ten-on-the-Richter-scale meltdowns, visitors hopelessly lost, walking in circles.

My suggestion – give Venice a miss unless you spend five nights here. Preferably in the middle of winter.

annhig

My suggestion – give Venice a miss unless you spend five nights here. Preferably in the middle of winter.>>

hear hear, Peter. when my "guide" [a local drama student] set off at a rate of knots to escort me to my digs this last February, I struggled to keep up with her, and I'm sure I'd never have been able to work out the route she took, which involved numerous backstreets. Much easier to get the vaproetto which I would have done had i been by myself.

Actually I wasn't sure why she didn't, as we had to get the vaporetto to cross the Grand Canal and the cost of the ticket to hop over from one side to the other was exactly the same as from P. Roma to the stop we were heading for. I don't think that there was much saving in time either.

I came to the conclusion that it was habit - locals tend to walk and not use the boats unless they have to.

BTW, have you noticed the vaporettos being less busy this year? I noticed in February that they were introducing automatic barriers at the entrance to the platforms which would make travelling without a ticket [up to now very possible] much more difficult. I wondered just how many people were travelling illegally and if the introduction of the barriers would make any difference.

dwdvagamundo

Peter--I think that's unduly pessimistic. Our first stay was three nites (2/1/2 days coming by train from Bologna) and we felt we got a good initial feel for the place.

danon

"A day trip to Venice just does not work...."

I did not like making day trips FROM Venice - jammed packed vaporettos
to and from the train station ( or to the islands.)
It was in May this year.

annhig

good point, danon, which might be a good reason for staying somewhere in walking distance of the station if you had it in mind to make a lot of day trips while you were there.

the other point is that locals tend to walk a lot so they are not worried by the crowded vaporettos.

flygirl

This past December I was there for 17 nights - I know a bunch of people there now, which makes a big difference of course!

I'd say no less than three nights for your first time there. Weigh the hassle factor of moving to a new town/hotel with just staying put seven nights and doing somewhat longer train rides.

Where else are you planning to visit?

Why all the way to Milan? If you are set on Milan, why not stay in Venice 5 nights, do your local day trips, and then two nights in Milan?

arbegold

I lived in the Veneto for 12 years. Venice can be very crowded and hotels overpriced. I assume you're taking the train from Rome and suggest staying in one of the better hotels around the Mestre train station. Busses and trains take 10 -15 minutes to get from there to Venice. If you want to see the dawn get up early, conversely evenings are lovely. Two days in Venice is plenty as the churches and museums have art work similar to what you'll see in Rome. I'd take an early AM train to Verona, about 1 1/2 hours and stop in the beautiful city of Padova. Think Kiss Me Kate.After 2 days in Verona I'd rent a car, do Lake Garda where there's lots to see. You should also stop in Palladio's city of Vicenza. Look at a nickel and you'll see the Villa Rotunda that Jefferson used as a model for Monticello.This itinerary requires only 1 hotel change.

Pepper_von_snoot

Only penny-pinching Christians wearing sackcloth and sandals with black socks stay in Mestre.

And where in Rome would one find the paintings of Pietro Longhi?

There is a Peggy Guggenheim in Rome? Cornell boxes? Jackson Pollock's? The Angel of the City?

I think the advise above is coming from a drunken Christopher Sly.


Thin

dwdvagamundo

Abby--

Hope you love Villefrranche-sur-Mer as much as we did.

flygirl

The artwork in Venice is to be found by merely walking around. I've had trips where I didn't go inside a single church or museum for days...

sandralist

>>The artwork in Venice is to be found by merely walking around. I've had trips where I didn't go inside a single church or museum for days...<<

I couldn't disagree more, and if you are interested in the art of paintingand architecture, it is worthwhile to invest in a quality guidebook that focuses on art and architecture and decide what you want to see and where you want to go in Venice.

sandralist

Also, regarding Verona, or Venice, any advice that begins with "I cannot imagine taking a trip where I...." -- one can stop reading there. I have spent 4 days in Verona and enjoyed it immensely, whereas my first visit to Venice, where I spent 5 days led me to conclude it will never be my favorite Italian destination, and while I have since revisited it to see more of the artworks in its churches and museums, I have never stayed overnght in the city again (although I am glad I did so the first time).

But I have NO trouble imagining why people who visit Venice for a day, either from a cruise ship or Padova, are telling the truth when they say they had a wonderful day there. And obviously I have no trouble imagining 4 wonderful days in Verona -- or else I wouldn't have planned to do it myself.

Sometimes I wonder if some people travel simply because they don't have any imagination. so travel is stimulating. But you don't have to be Shakespeare to imagine why Verona would be of interest for 4 days or more.

Mimar

I'd rather stay in Verona than Mestre, which strikes me as the worst option.

Pepper_von_snoot

The Stones of Venice by John Ruskin. Read it.

Thin