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Advice on Last Week in Italy: Extra Days in Venice or Lake Como?

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My husband and I plan to visit Italy for the month of May to celebrate his retirement. It's our first trip to Italy.
We plan to spend the first 2 weeks exploring Rome and the surrounding area. Then one week in Florence with the
last week tentatively scheduled for 3 days in Venice and 2 days somewhere else, possibly Lake Como, then back to
Rome the day before our departure from FCO. (We chose roundtrip from FCO because of a great airfare deal.)

We've already booked apartments in Rome and Florence so those dates are fixed.

As much as I wish to see the Lake Como, I'm worried that with only 2 days there (one full day actually) we'll barely have time to relax. Plus on the return my husband suggests we take the to the train to Milan, then fly back to Rome the day before our final flight. So that means the train from Lake Como, metro to the airport, flight from Milan, overnight stay in Rome near FCO, then back to the airport the next morning. It seems like a lot of moving parts for the final leg of our trip.

I'm thinking perhaps another day or two in Venice because everyone says how wonderful it is, then work our way back by either train or plane and save the Lake district for another time. My DH says it's adventure and we should see as much as we can.

Any and all thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.

Posted by
2625 posts

I suppose you could squeeze that onto the end of your trip - you can do Venice to the Lake Como area by train in about 4 hours, it looks like. But here's my thought: you've got so a nice pace for your trip - 2 weeks in Rome! 1 week in Florence! You'll get to do numerous day trips from those cities. You might just want to do the same thing with Venice, which will give you 5 nights in Venice...which truly is a wonderful and spectacular city. Then you can do day trips from there if you get antsy...there's plenty of them...Padua, Verona, Vincenza.

Posted by
10251 posts

I agree with Valerie. It's not worth all that effort to go to Lake Como for one full day. If you would like to see an Italian lake, Lake Garda is very close to Verona. You might even consider splitting that week between Verona and Venice.

Posted by
11357 posts

I would stay in Venice for the entire time, and I think you'll wish you had a full week there. We are about to go back for the 8th time, we love it so! Take the high-speed frecciarossa train Venice to Rome, 3 /2 hours. Lovely trip.

There is ALWAYS next time.

Posted by
11613 posts

You can see a lot of a lake in one full day (an overnight or two-night stay), I would suggest Garda because it's closer to Venezia. The daytrips mentioned from Venezia are all beautiful. Ravenna is another lovely small city for a daytrip (or an overnight if you decide not to spend the entire week in Venezia).

There is great wine country north of Venezia and around Lake Garda, if that interests you.

A daytrip from Roma that is beautiful and relaxing is to Frascati, another would be Tivoli (the town as well as the Villa d'Este).

Posted by
3603 posts

I agree with those who say to stay in Venice. There's so much you can do from there. One thing we enjoyed was a cruise on the Brenta Canal. It starts in Venice and ends in Padova. You disembark at three Palladian villas for guided tours. A very relaxing way to see some of the Venetian countryside and hallmark architecture.

Posted by
209 posts

Hi Cynols
I would stay in Venice. Went for the first time last year and it was magnificient.
Also went to Lake Como and although beautiful it was rainy and drizzily for the 3 days we were there and I think it is very weather dependent as all the activities are really outside. We made the most of the time in Lake Como however we were not able to enjoy the many outdoor cafes, restauarants and natural beauty.
The train from Venice back to Rome will be very easy.

Posted by
5 posts

Thank you all for your comments and wonderful suggestions! You have confirmed what I already suspected: that we should spend more time in Venice. The decision on how to spend our last week in Italy was weighing on my mind. Now I'm convinced we should give Venice more of the time it deserves.

Also, you've given me great ideas for day trips I wouldn't have thought of on my own as a first-timer. Many thanks!

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