Getting to Venice from Germany

Carol, check our Air Dolomiti.

They offer direct flights between Italy and Germany: Munich to Venice and Frankfurt to Verona.

We flew with them last December and were very pleased with the service. Since we booked early, we paid 10 euros each more for the "Emotion" fare and got to use Lufthansa's Business Class Lounge at Munich airport (where we had breakfast and loaded up on snacks).

Hi,

If you get a good deal on the price of a plane ticket to Venice, decent dep time, and are not adverse to flying intra-Europe, why not, mostly from Frankfurt or Vienna, even from Munich?

Another option is the night train, change once in the morning in Verona. Take the CNL night train Munich-Verona, transfer to Venice.

There are direct flights from Zurich, its just that they list out at $854. Wizz Air does not fly Budapest to Venice, but they do go to Milan, which 3 1/2 hours from Venice (1 hr to Milano Centrale then 2 1/2 to Venice).
From Bern, its 6 hours on the train with a change at Milano Centrale.

If you are flying trans-Atlantic into Frankfurt, I hope your return trip will depart from another city, rather than backtracking to Frankfurt. Most websites allow multi-destination searches, which can save both time and money.
Two websites help find cheap fares between European countries: www.whichbudget.com and www.skyscanner.com
The Venice airport website offers an interactive map. You can click on a country to see if it is linked to Venice and get an idea of which airlines to check:

http://www.veniceairport.it/core/index.jsp;jsessionid=HF3OWCZA2HOVLQFIAIBCFEY?_requestid=514363&language=en

If you are making stops along the way, a car is a decent deal. We opted to lease a car. Starting in Amsterdam and ending in Rome. We visited Munich, and surrounding sights, then Salzburg, then drove the Brenner Pass to Verona. After Verona we went to Venice. Leases charge a pick up and drop off fee if it's outside of France (because the leasing companies are French car companies). When we priced it out, it was a decent deal and worked for our trip.

The earlier you get to Venice the better, in terms of heat and crowds. I suggest you use your third option, flying directly to Venice from Frankfurt at the beginning of your trip. From Venice, take the train to Verona and spend a night if there is an opera on. Otherwise, change trains in Verona and head north, maybe to Bolzano for the night. You could rent a car at Bolzano and visit the Dolomites for a couple of days. Then return the car and continue to Munich on the train. Bolzano to Munich is only four hours and you can buy inexpensive tickets In Advance on bahn.de.

Then rent a car in Munich to tour Germany, returning it there before your flight home. Don't drive a car across the border from Italy into Austria and Germany or you will pay big drop fees.

Thank you everyone! These are very helpful suggestions and I can go ahead and figure out this part of the trip. Carol