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How to best fit day trip to Dolomites into our itinerary?

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My husband and I are planning a two week trip in early July 2025. This is our first trip abroad together, but we are excited to experience the food, culture, and history. We also very much enjoy day hiking and are looking forward to exploring Northern Italy and the Dolomites. Here is our rough outline so far, but we are struggling to logistically fit in a day hike in the Dolomites. Any and all advice on timing, logistics, etc. welcome!

Fly into Rome and arrive on Saturday, July 5th - stay for 4 nights
Train to Florence on Wednesday, July 9th - stay for 4 nights
HELP at this point we are between two different options (pending cost of flights):
1) Go to Venice, the Dolomites (i.e., hiking to Lago di Sorapis), then Lake Garda or Lake Como, and then fly out of Milan
2) Go to Lake Garda or Lake Como, the Dolomites, and then onto Venice and fly out on Saturday, July 19th

For our vacation style, we do not like feeling rushed and like having time to explore. We know it will be Jubilee in Rome, but this is the only two weeks we can get off together. Additionally, I do not care to spend much time in Milan, but we are very interested in Venice (especially glassblowing!). We are trying to avoid renting a car, but I fear that with our side trips, one will be necessary for part of the trip.

Thank you in advance for your time and suggestions!

Posted by
15900 posts

I would do no. 1. And I would definitely rent a car for your Dolomites and Lake portion.

Rent a car at Venice Piazzale Roma at the end of your stay in Venice and return it at the airport the day before your flight home, no matter which airport you depart from. Sleep at an airport hotel, after you return the car at the airport.

If you decide to do lake Garda instead of Lake Como it would be closer to go back to Venice and fly out of Venice, instead of Milan-Malpensa, which is far. Milan Malpensa however has more flights (and often cheaper flights) to North America, so shop around and decide.

Both Venice airport and Malpensa airport are far from the city center and require an early rise to make a morning flight, so sleeping at an airport hotel the night before the flight home is what I usually do, especially Malpensa. In your case I would do the same even if you come home from Venice because at that point, you will have visited Venice already before heading to the Dolomites.

Posted by
17253 posts

I would recommend Lago di Garda over Como, and you can avoid Milan altogether.

If your goal is to hike Lago di Sorapis you will definitely need a car. Pick it up after your stay in Venice and use it for the Dolomites and Lago di Garda. You could return it to Venice airport, with an overnight at an airport hotel as Roberto suggests. Or you could book a flight out of Bologna (British Airways has 3 a day in summer), return the car there, and enjoy an overnight there. Or you could book the evening flight from Bologna, but then you would have an overnight at Heathrow built in to the flight itinerary.

We much prefer Bologna airport over Marco Polo, as it gets very busy with cruise ship passengers. But maybe the early morning flights are not as badly affected as the 11 am one we booked.

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