Cinque Terre v Dolomites v Lake Como

As great as your three options are, I think with the time you have, much of which would be spent traveling, you might consider Padua and Verona and then flying from Venice to Athens. Train to Manarola is 5+ hours, to Como 4 hours, Bolzano 3 1/2 and you still have to get back to an airport. Venice has 2 direct flights to Athens at reasonable prices.

Given your facts as stated a visit to Lake Come would take the least amount of travel time plus get you just an hour's train ride to Milan for a flight to Athens.

Or add a day each, to two of your other locations and then just fly to Athens from Venice. Whatever best stikes you fancy.

We loved the Dolomites! We stayed in La Villa/Stern and drove the passes of the alps. It was beautiful and a different experience from typical Italy. I'm not sure where you would rent a car, but we met people that had driven into the mountains from Venice for a day trip. I wouldn't stay in Bolzano, it isn't in the mountains. We loved our stay at : Ciasa Montanara - http://www.montanara.it/index.php?page_id=1050&lang_id=3

We also enjoyed Verona. You really can't go wrong......it's Italy :-)

Two nights at your disposal (June 22 and 23).
That's a short time.

SCENARIO 1: Your flight to ATH is out of VCE.

The best might be to stay in Venice those two extra nights and visit Verona and Padua from there (assuming you are in Venice long enough, at least 3 nights, before then to visit Venice and the lagoon).
If you are interested in a lake, lake Garda is sufficiently close to Venice for you to spend your 2 nights there and then come back to Venice airport on the 24th, since your flight to ATH is not early.
The Dolomites are also close enough to do the same, however in that case I'd recommend renting a car to visit the mountains and return it at the airport when you depart from VCE. A car would also be a good idea for Lake Garda, although the train stops in both Peschiera and Desenzano.

SCENARIO 2: Your flight to ATH is from Milan.

If flying to ATH from Milan is a better flying option, I would make that decision based on which of the Milan area airport you are flying out of.
If flying out of Milan Malpensa (MXP), then the best option would be to spend those two nights in Stresa or surrounding area on Lake Maggiore.
If flying out of Linate (LIN) or Bergamo (BGY) then Lake Como is closer.
There might be no direct flights to ATH from Milan Linate (LIN). Not sure if Alitalia still has their seasonal flight to ATH.

The Cinque Terre is too far from Venice and too far from any airport that can take you to ATH. So you should eliminate this choice altogether.

Would look at Cortina in the Dolomites and Lake Garda as an option instead of Como since it will be closer ; keeping the flight out of Venice.
If Lake Garda see if you can fly out of Verona it would be a shorter trip than back to Venice but even Venice is still a manageable distance
Cortina D' Amprezzo is not very far from Venice, 2 hour drive each way and right in the Dolomites. Many things to do there (Tre Cime is nearby)

Thank you all for your help! I figured Cinque Terre and Como might be too far for that amount of time. I just might give the Dolomites a try!

Hi,
We've never been to the others on your list, so I can only recommend the Dolomites.
We also stayed in the Dolomites in La Villa, Alta Badia.
We also stayed at the Ciasa Montanara, as Susan and Monte mention above, but we stayed twice :)
www.montanara.it
www.altabadia.it

The Val Gardena also makes a good base for 2 nights. We stayed at the Garni Ariston in St. Christina, Val Gardena.
www.garniariston.com
www.val-gardena.com

Paul

kaitlin,

Of the places you mentioned, the Dolomites are somewhat of an "outlier" as transporation is not as easy there (depending on which part of the Dolomites you want to visit). In line with the options that Roberto listed, it would help to know which airport you plan to use for the flight to Athens.

Ken,

The flight back to Athens would be from Linate in Milan.

kaitlin,

Which airline are you using to ATH? I haven't seen too many departures from LIN to ATH.

As you're departing from Milano Linate, Lago di Como will probably be the best choice as it's the closest and easiest to get to. The small town of Varenna is a big favourite with many here, and it's only an hour out of Milan. Linate is relatively close to the city, so easier to reach than Malpensa.

The Cinque Terre would still be possible, but two nights would only allow one full day of touring so that would better be left for a future trip. Given the travel times back and forth from Milan to the C.T. it's not really the best choice in this case.

The airline is Alitalia. There is one flight 7:25p-12:50a from MXP, and another from 7:30p-12:50a from LIN. Both for the same cost. I am thinking I would only spend one night (the 22nd) in the Lake Como area, then head back to Milan later in the day on the 23rd so I would have a tiny bit of time to look around Milan on the 24th prior to heading out.