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3 weeks in northern Italy: these 5 home bases?

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Hi all,
My wife and I will be in northern Italy Sept 28 - Oct 21. We are arriving in Venice by plane and departing by train (from either Turin or Milan). We travel out of curiosity about local food and people. At each destination we try to do something just a little bit out of the ordinary (e.g., learning to row or taking a night kayak tour in Venice). We like to hike/bike/swim. We don't shop. We devour cities by foot looking for surprises., while also enjoying a lengthy meal, or cafe stay. We like to avoid crowds/queues when possible. We visit museums on occasion but those visits tend to be short. We're likely to take a few small group tours that are food/wine centered. We'll get a car when it makes sense, or choose whatever other form of transportation is most convenient between destinations.

We have a thought to limit our Airbnb/hotel changes to 5. The plan is still coming together, but looks like:

  1. Venice (3+ nights)
  2. Bologna (3+ nights) - visiting Parma & Ferrara at least. All day food tour?
  3. Cinque Terre, Rapallo, ??? (3+ nights) We'll hike around Cinque Terre, but that's all we know.
  4. Stresa, somewhere on Como (?) . Our interest is in exploring lake villages and doing hiking. Visit Sacro Monte di Varallo perhaps.
  5. Turin. Trips to Aosta, Alba, Dronero(?), Marmora(?)

I expect we'll have a car for #4 and #5 (staying at places with parking, parking outside villages when visiting). We've driven in Italy before so no concerns beyond discovering what will be most convenient.

Any opinions on the home bases, transfers, sights or experiences would be most welcome!

thanks!

TJ

Posted by
11818 posts
  1. Stresa on Lake Maggiore or another place on Lake Como?
  2. Alba makes an excellent base for visiting the wine villages of the Langhe, Barolo, etc.
Posted by
2 posts

Thanks Suki. Right, we're thinking about Stresa on Lake Maggiore, but we're open to another lake base.

We are interested in Alba. If we based there instead of Turin for that part of the trip, we could visit Aosta while we are still based in Stresa.

thanks again,
TJ

Posted by
11818 posts

We have stayed in Santa Margherita Ligure twice and enjoyed it. Camogli is another good choice. These two would be in place of Rapallo.
We had a car.
We also stayed in Monterosso on the CT for three nights. Left our car in the parking lot while we hiked.
We loved Bologna and would consider a return there, staying a week or more. There are day tours to Modena and Parma focused on food of the region.
Stresa is a nice lakefront town. Day trip is easy to Lake Orta but do not stay there. We also stayed across the lake in Ranco which we enjoyed.
We have spent a lot of time ( 4 trips) in Bellagio on Lake Como. One trip to Lake Garda.

Posted by
1663 posts

I’m partial to Lago Maggiore. An alternative to Stresa is Verbania across the Bay. Very centralized for lots of ferry exploring To me, Stresa seems very Americanized for tourists. Summer ferry schedule ends around 2nd-3rd week in October.

But Lago Maggiore is fabulous and enough to keep you busy without renting a car.
1) ferry to Borromee Islands
2) bucket gondola in Laveno (ferry across lake)
3) day trip by ferry to Switzeland or lago Maggiore express
4) day trip to Valais valley in Switzerland. Or Zermatt
5) tram up mountain in Stresa
6) day trip to Milam, or spend two nights before you fly out.

I’ll send you PM with additional info.

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