Please sign in to post.

Itinerary suggestions for before/after Trieste?

Posted by (Central Pennsylvania) on

Hello! My husband and I (early 50s) are taking a guided bike tour into Slovenia and Croatia that will start and end in Trieste, Italy, in mid-May. We'll fly into and out of Venice from the U.S. We plan to arrive 2 days ahead of the tour (mainly to adjust to the time zone before biking). And, we plan to extend our trip by adding 4 days after the bike tour, so that we can explore that region of Italy a bit. I am kindly asking for itinerary suggestions for those unplanned days.

For reference, we enjoy art and history, but tend to reach a saturation point fairly quickly (i.e., two museums in a day will be plenty). We love being outside, sight-seeing on foot, admiring architecture and nature/gardens, and sampling the local food/drink. We will be relying up on public transportation entirely.

My current thought (based on very preliminary research) is to head straight to Trieste upon arriving, spending two days there before departing on the bike tour. My reasoning is that, it being a weekend, Venice will be crowded and more expensive, and we will be tired and needing to rest up for our biking journey, so perhaps Trieste would make more sense? I am not wed to this idea, though.

Upon returning from the biking, we're considering 2 nights (one full day) in Verona, and 2 nights (one full day) in Venice before flying out. Does this make sense? Would it be better to spend all our time in one or the other? Should we skip the first two days in Trieste and spend them in Venice instead, and still keep Verona in the middle? Thank you for any advice you’d like to offer!

Here's a rough sketch:

  • Day 1 (F): arrive in Venice at 10am after red-eye flight. Should we stay in Venice for the weekend, or head straight to the Trieste region?
  • Day 2 (Sat): ?
  • Day 3 (Sun): ? - Just need to arrive in Muggia by mid-afternoon to check in with bike tour. Staying overnight in Muggia as part of the tour.
  • Days 4-9: bike tour
  • Day 10: after breakfast in Piran, Slovenia, we'll be transported back to Trieste, Italy.
  • Days 10-14: ? - We'll be flying out of Venice at noon on Day 14.
Posted by
508 posts

In the Trieste area we especially enjoyed a day we had out with a guide to see the WWI sites. The mountains between Italy and Slovenia there. We arranged our guide by emailing one of the museums. I am not remembering which one and not finding it again on a search. But this blog has some good information. https://www.manusmenu.com/wwi-italy-guide?cn-reloaded=1 Our guide who took us to some of the little museums and through the remains of the trenches was a delightful young man and it was a great experience.

Other things we considered but didn't do partly because of limited time and partly because not great weather were going up to Fruili wine region https://www.vogue.com/article/friuli-italy-wine-region-guide and going over to the Aquileia roman ruins https://www.fondazioneaquileia.it/en/visit-aquileia .

As you will be in Trieste even if just passing through I would highly recommend this book about its history. Beautifully written and very interesting. Trieste And The Meaning Of Nowhere by Jan Morris. The city has an amazing history.

We used GoOpti shuttle service from Venice airport directly to Trieste as we had spent a week in Venice on another trip and our ultimate destination was Slovenia and Croatia. In Trieste we stayed at the Forvm Hotel which was very central and had very good service.

Enjoy the planning!

Posted by
75 posts

Hi, my wife and I are traveling to Italy for a tour with a Rick Steves Guide named David Tordi. We are going in a few days early and taking the opportunity to stay in Trieste for two nights and then taking the train up to Udine. He suggested these smaller cities. We are going in late March. From the reading I've done, both seem to be very worthwhile to visit and are definitely off the radar. Both are well connected by rail to the rest of Italy. Our tour will start in Ferrara.

Venice is certainly a wonderful city, but we have been there several times and wanted to try something different. Trieste has a lot of history and food and wines. We are staying downtown in a hotel rated 4.8 on google travel for 135 euros. I see that Trieste is about a three hour train ride from Marco Polo. You can fly into Trieste and that is what we plan to do.

Sounds like a nice trip.

Posted by
33 posts

You do not say where you will visit on the bike trip and that would impact where to spend the last four days for me. I would probably tend to stay in one spot since I am guessing you will have done lots of moving on the bike trip.

On our amazing trip to Slovenia last September, we briefly visited Trieste and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. We enjoyed learning about the transitions and impacts in that region from Roman, Italian, Austria-Hungarian, and Yugoslavian, to today. We spent a wonderful day touring Udine, Collio, and Gorizia with Sonia Cos, a great guide from Discover Friuli. I highly recommend her.

I could see staying in Udine for several nights and doing day trips in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Lots of history and great food and wine in that region to enjoy. I would go back to see Cividale and the mosaic school in Spilimbergo. Depending on how much of Slovenia you covered on the bike trip, it is not far to Kobarid, the WW1 museum, and the foothills of the Julian Alps. Elbrich Bos at Explore Friuli was very helpful but tour dates did not work for us - her website may give you some ideas as well.

Enjoy!

Posted by
2 posts

Laurie Ann, Bill, and Barb - Thank you for your helpful feedback and tips! Sounds like starting out with a couple days in Trieste will be very worthwhile.

Barb, you are correct that we'll be on the move for our bike tour, and that's an excellent point about staying in one place for the rest of our trip afterward. Having never been to Italy, I definitely want to spend some time in Venice, but I'm not sure whether it's the best spot to drop our anchor for 4 days. Is it easy enough to take a day trip to Verona from Venice, for example?

FWIW, our bike tour (the Istria to Adriatic tour with VisitGoodplace) will cover Muggia, Piran, inland towns of Grožnjan and Motovun in Croatia, Poreč and Umag, before heading back to Piran.

Thanks again!
K in PA

Add Reply

Please do not reply to violations of our Community Guidelines.