Verona, Vicenza, or Padua
 

I'm trying to decide which of these cities would be a good place to base myself for five nights in October 2010. I usually prefer to stay in larger cities rather than smaller towns, I love art and history, and I'd like to eat a good dinner after I've been away from the city all day. Right now, I'm leaning towards basing myself in Verona and going to Vicenza, Padua, and Mantua as day trips.

Also, since I'm going to be in the area for five nights, can you recommend any other good day trips? I will be using public transportation (and prefer trains over buses). I was maybe thinking Castelfranco or some of Palladio's buildings, but I'm not sure how easy these are to reach by train/bus.

Thanks for your help and please let me know if you need more info!

LauraFR75:

I would recommend staying in Venice. Padua, Verona, and Vincenza are easily accessible by train from the Venice train station.

I've stayed in all three cities. Verona is the better base for your interests, especially since it is a transit hub where a few different train lines cross—great for day trips to Vicenza, Padova, and particularly Mantova, which is on a less-traveled branch line.

I have stayed in Verona three times after my first day trip there, precisely because I like its small city vibe, great pedestrian center, good sights, great food and wine choices, good transit connections.

Aside from the places you've already named, while staying in Verona we took a day trip by bus to Sirmione on Lake Garda. I've considered day trips to Trento and even Bolzano in the mountains.

Thank you both for the replies. ellenem, I've always wanted to go to Sirmione, so I'm definitely going to look in to that. wanderful, I do love Venice, but I wanted to try something different this trip.

Based on your preference for size, Verona would seem to be the right fit. Is there a reason you didn't included Bologna among the choices? Had you only described your criteria and not mentioned specific towns, I would have suggested Bologna to you. So you might consider it if you haven't already. It fits all your criteria, and I prefer the food of Bologna to that of Verona, with restaurants in all price ranges. You can see all the places you mentioned in your list, plus Ravenna and Ferrara. I think Bologna is the richer art city.

If you base in Verona, seeing much of the best of Milano is not an impossible day trip.