venice in November?
 

I will accompany my husband on a business trip to Milan mid-November for a Friday - Monday length. His business obligations end Friday mid-day. We wanted to see "The Last Supper", then head off to Venice for Sat/Sun, returning to Milan to fly home Sunday night. Does it make sense to do this, or should we just stay in Milan for the two days? PS - neither of us has been to Venice. We had a layover in Milan once and climbed the cathedral.

Hello jedimac, not sure if I understand completely but think if I read your post correctly you will be flying home from Milan (Malpensa I would think) on Monday? But then again I get the impression you will be flying home Sunday evening.

Rereading your post it sounds like you will be flying home Sunday night. I have no idea where "home is" but assume that it is not the US as usually flights out of Milan are in the morning. So perhaps you live in another country in Europe, the UK perhaps?

Not understanding completely what you are saying at this point I would say just stay in Milan, which is a wonderful city to visit for a few days. I love Milan but know that some people don't.

Taking the train from Milan to Venice takes 3 plus hours. And of course then the time to get to your hotel and then of course in reverse. More information perhaps would help me or others to give you better thoughts. Best wishes. BTW, I would never count on the Italian trains to get me to where I need to be on the same day/evening of my flight.

Rereading your post one more time it appears that you will be flying home (whereever that is) Sunday evening.

I would spend the short amount of time you have in Milan. If I do not understand your post correctly I apologies. Best wishes to you.

Hi J,

If I read you correctly, you will train to Venice Fri evening and return Sunday evening.

Two days in venice is better than no days in venice.

((I))

Even a day trip from Milan to Venice via train is do-able (I've done it myself), and certainly an overnight visit will work out nicely.

Note that the train back from Venice will not take you directly to the airport (which airport, by the way?), so you'll have to build that additional travel time into your schedule. If you've not yet booked your flights you might be able to leave from Venice or one of the other smaller airports in northern Italy instead of making the trek all the way back to Milan.

As you'll be there on the weekend you'll be visiting with a very large crowd of tourists (though the crowd won't be quite as large in November). Be sure to get reserved seats for the train trip (the faster trains require this in any case) and book dinner ahead of time: you needn't do this before getting there, just stop by some place that looks nice (or that's been recommended to you) earlier in the day and tell them when you'd like to return that evening.

I have a friend who lives in Milan and when she craves her favorite seafood dish from her favorite Venice restaurant, she hops a train and does a day trip. Thousands of New Yorkers tolerate three-hour car rides every weekend to the Hamptons for weekend visits. Why not a one-time jaunt to Venice?

You can never be bored walking around in Venice and Venice is a feast for the eyes even for a very short visit. Just check the weather because November is a wet month.

Now that we're back online, thanks for responding on my question of Milan to Venice. We've decided to leave for Venice (from Milan) Friday mid day. Stay over two nights (any reasonable recommendations for hotels/B & B's ($150 US)would be appreciated) and return to Milan Monday morning for our 2:00 pm flight home.

One other question - we'd like to do a group walking tour of the city either Sat. or Sun. Would anyone recommend the secret itineraries tour through SelectItaly?

Thanks.

Hi J,

You can make reservations for the Secret Itineraries tour of Doge’s palace by calling 011 39 041 520 9070 from the US.

With only 2 days, I don't think the SI tour is important enough to warrant the time.

((I))

jedimac, I can personally recommend a place in Venice where I just stayed, B&B Al Saor. If you click on my name you can see a thread where I describe it in detail.

We paid 90 euro per night for our twin-bedded room, a slight discount because of our longer stay. Some of the rooms include kitchenettes, and they are larger (for only a small amount more money) and what I would choose were I travelling with my husband.

I'm not sure I'd bother with a tour, personally. Larger sites will be well-identified in whatever guidebook you choose (I really like the DK series), and in any case much of the charm of Venice is getting a bit lost in back alleys and just dropping in to whatever church happens to be right there in front of you.

The last day I was in Venice was a Saturday, and a large cruise ship was in port. Seemingly thousands of shell-shocked passengers being led around in groups by tour guides. Not my idea of fun. A local tour guide would like have a different perspective, of course, but I'm still not sure it's worth the time and money.

Hi jedimac, have a wonderful time. Just keep an eye on the news to make sure the train employees won't be on strike that Sunday. Also suggest you not cut the time getting to Milan to short as my experience with trains in Italy is that they often run late and you will still have to, I assume, take the Malpensa Shuttle Bus from the Central Train Station in Milan to the airport. Best wishes to you.