My wife and I arrive at the Venice airport about noon October 10 and leave on a ship the late afternoon of October 17. Our visit centers around things associated with the Latin poet Catullus in Verona and Sirmio. We are interested also in other attractions reachable in that time, such as a Dolomite, or other sites or cities easily reached by car or train. We are thinking of going by rail from Venice to Verona (and vice versa), and renting a car in Verona before returning to Venice.

So we will need a moderate yet nice hotel in Venice that is convenient to the train. On our return leg, we might want one close to where cruise ships dock.

We'd like all thoughts on train schedules between Venice and Verona, and how best to buy train tickets (when and where).

Also, all thoughts on good car rentals in Verona; and medium-priced hotels in Verona.

Further, we need suggestions on how best to get to the tip of the Sirmione peninsula from Verona: Drive a car? (where to park in Sirmione!), public transportation, or some combination of the two.

We like good Italian food, fine art, and not climbing much. We are both slightly over 65. Our budget is neither modest, nor ample: if something is well worth it, we will consider it, but we often conserve resources. Hotels need to be clean. We are refreshing our Italian language skills, but one of us now speaks it moderately well (30%-40%), and the other learns rapidly.

Thanks again.

It would be good to know what you mean by moderate - in euros. What is moderate to some is budget to others - or upscale to some. (I find a lot of people say moderate when they really mean modest.)

If you check carefully for your Sirmione accommodation, you should be able to spot one that includes car parking. Ours had a car park about 10 mins walk from the hotel which was fine.

Be warned when considering day trips by car around the lake - travel times to be found online can be wildly out. Even our GPS was wildly out. I can remember one stretch that was meant to take 45 minutes which took several hours - this was on a week day in Spring with no accidents etc!

Getting to the Dolomites is worth the effort. I'd stay overnight.

Thanks, you two! That lake warning (GPS etc) sounds credible. Thanks.

New thoughts:

What are the best ways to get from Venice Marco Polo airport directly to Verona?

If by train, how do we manage the transfer from the airport to the train?

If we wanted to take a second connecting flight from Venice to Verona's Valerio Catulloi airport, what suggestions would you make to ease that process?

The train from Venice to Verona is only about an hour and there are many each day (some are a bit slower but still well under two hours) so I wouldn't bother flying.

From Verona to Sirmione there are trains to Desenzano-del-Garda from where you can get a 15 minute ferry over to Sirmione. It's great to arrive by boat, great views. I think you can also take a bus from Verona directly to Sirmione but I did the train/ferry combo. If you decide to rent a car and drive there I would park outside the town gate. They seemed to allow cars inside the gate(I believe if you were staying at a hotel there) but I would not want to drive - very tiny streets filled with pedestrians. I'm pretty sure I saw a few big parking lots outside the gates.

Here's my trip report, includes both Verona and Sirmione. http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-the-lakes.cfm

Photos of Sirmione - http://www.pbase.com/annforcier/ital...s_cinque_terre

Photos of Verona - http://www.pbase.com/annforcier/image/145706617