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Itinerary Suggestions for Northern Italy

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In the past, we have happily paid for a Rick Steve's travel consultant to help us plan some amazing European trips. Unfortunately, they no longer provide this service so I am hoping for some good planning suggestions from foks on this forum.
Next summer (June 2024) we would like to travel to Northern Italy. I know it will probably be hot but since my wife is a teacher that is the only time we can travel. We can allocate about 14-16 days for this trip but that's about it. We took Rick's 17-day Italy tour about 12 years ago and absolutely loved it and would like to duplicate parts of it.

The places we definitely want to see again include Bolzano and the beautiful Alpine Valleys nearby, Lake Como, and possibly, Cinque Terra. We have been to all of those places before and would like to return. We would, however, like to experience someplace new in the area that we haven't seen before so we might want to replace the Cinque Terra with that. We love Venice and have been many times so we might fly to Venice for a couple of days to begin our trip.

Some of our other travel preferences:

1) We like to stay in a place for several days so we have time to explore it and feel "at home". Besides, we don't like to spend all our time checking in and out of hotels and bnb's. Our favorite past vacations have involved spending the first part of our trip in a special city like Paris, London, or Venice and then renting a car and driving to a special hub like Aix-en-Provence, The Lake Country, or an Italian agriturismo and day tripping from there for a week. However, I'm not sure if this trip will lend itself to that kind of travel.

2) We are in our 70's and in reasonably good shape. However, we can't do extremely physically challenging activities. (no mountain climbing!). We do enjoy leasurely hikes though.

3) We like short guided tours (especially food tours, history tours, etc.)

4) We enjoy being on or near the water some of the time.

5) We are comfortable renting a car or using public transportation or a mix.

6) We prefer staying in B&B's or small hotels

Can anyone recommend a specific itinerary for us? What would be an interesting new place for us to see besides the places mentioned above? (We could possibly eliminate Cinque Terra and replace it with something else)

Thanks a bunch for any suggestions!

Bob

Posted by
4907 posts

June is a great time to go! I would not worry about that at all.
Venice, Bolzano, and the lakes would be plenty for me with roughly two weeks, especially once you flesh it out and determine day trips, etc.
If you'll be itching to add one more place--and love the sea like I do--maybe you would like to hop over to the Istrian region of Croatia by ferry (round trip from Venice). Venezia Lines runs the ferries (I hope to one day do this pairing), and you could just enjoy Rovinj or rent a car and explore the interior hill towns. Or, you could rent a car and explore Slovenia.
Another option would be to pop up into Switzerland (maybe Bellinzano-Lugano and fly home from Milan).
I feel like Cinque Terre is a bit of an outlier and I like to concentrate my travel as locally as possible, but if you long for Liguria, the Camogli area is a nice alternative, as is Lerici-Tellaro. On the Adriatic side, you could take a train down to Senigallia (gorgeous old town steps from the sand!), and there are some pretty coastal areas down there as well as attractive inland towns like Urbino. That would be more for if you extend to 16 days.

Posted by
12313 posts

Maybe substitute Bologna and Assisi for Western sights? The suggestion for Lakes and Dolomites is a good one too. Summer is the time to visit that area.

Posted by
381 posts

Lake Garda is fabulous. We stayed at Torbole near Riva Del Garda and it was stunningly beautiful. Lots of activities up that way too.

Posted by
2544 posts

We went to northern Italy this June and absolutely loved it. Except the heat and humidity in Venice. Check out my trip reports for the Dolomites and Stresa.

Instead of Bolzano, consider staying in Ortesei or Santa Cristina. We stayed at La Tambra in Santa Cristina and it was wonderful. Great accommodations and best pizza and steak we’ve ever had.

Consider Stresa on Lake Maggiore. We stayed at Hotel du Parc in lake view rooms and it was fabulous. Ask for a room with a balcony. It’s dreamy. Take the ferry to the islands. Mid June was the perfect time to be there. Amazing flowers in full bloom. I liked it more than Lake Como. And it’s only 45 minutes from Milan airport.

Posted by
975 posts

Maybe consider one of the towns on the mainland of Venetian lagoon like Chioggia. Ravenna is worth a visit if you are interested in seeing some beautiful late Roman mosaics in old churches. May be crowded now as it is the alternative port for cruise ships to Venice……. Padova (Padua) could be an interesting base, lots of history, very walkable. I really enjoyed the city. Good train connections to the rest of northeastern Italy. Agree with the comment that the CT is an outlier for this trip, too much time to travel there and so much to n the area between Venice and Bolzano. For a bit of change you might want to think about a trip from Bolzano up to Innsbruck, it can be done in a day by car and provides some stunning scenery. Or spend some time visiting some of the Veneto villas and gardens.

Posted by
14 posts

We enjoyed Bergamo and stayed at a wonderful family-run hotel within a 10 minute walk to Citta Alta. Hotel was in a very picturesque spot with an excellent breakfast and wonderful owners. We loved Bergamo. After Bergamo we stayed on Lake Garda which I recommend. From there we stopped at the art museum MART in Rovereto (enroute to Bolzano). Hotel in Bergamo was La Valleta Relais: https://www.lavallettabergamo.it/

Posted by
103 posts

Instead of Bolzano, consider driving another 30 minutes north and staying near Merano. There, you will encounter an idyllic blend of nature and history. Walks like the Tappeiner Promenade and waalweg trails (ancient irrigation channels) in the region would be perfect for what you are hoping to experience. Here's a good guide to begin with: https://throneandvine.com/things-to-do-merano-meran/

Posted by
188 posts

I second the suggestion of Stresa. I’m sitting on our hotel balcony there writing this! It’s busy, but it has a nice vibe. Great waterfront walk. Lots of restaurants.

Posted by
274 posts

We spent the summer of 2022 in Northern Italy (we have a kiddo in school, so we're in the same boat with regards to summer travel). We set up home bases in Treviso, Mantova/Mantua, and Stresa, with lots of day trips and a few short weekend trips to Venice, Verona, and Padova/Padua. We found the weather in June to be warm but not miserable, although I wouldn't book anyplace to stay that doesn't have AC.

If you're looking to be on the water, we very much enjoyed Stresa. If you have a car, you can visit Orta San Giulio, Arona, and other towns on the lake, even all the way up to Switzerland. I wouldn't go through the effort to go all the way to Cinque Terre - especially in the summer. It will be packed with throngs of tourists and day trippers. We really liked Verona, and as long as you avoid "Juliette's balcony", it has a lot to offer, including some beautiful wine bars by the river.

If I were going for 16 days, my itinerary would look like this:

  • overnight flight to Venice - 1 night
  • land in Venice, take a water taxi from the airport (a bit of a splurge but an amazing way to start a trip!). Venice - 3 nights
  • train to Verona - 4 nights
  • rent car from Verona train station; drive to agriturismo/B&B outside of Verona; B&B - 2 nights
  • drop car and train to Stresa - 4 nights
  • train to Milan - 1 night, fly home
  • fly out of Milan

If that's too much moving around, you could drop the 2 nights in a B&B and allocate them elsewhere. And if you'd rather go back to Lake Como, go there instead of Stresa (absolutely no shame in going back to places that you like!). I think Padua/Padova would also fit well in place of Verona. It has a great atmosphere, incredible market, beautiful Cathedral, and the famous Scrovegni chapel.

Although that doesn't fit in Bolzano....so maybe this instead:

  • overnight flight to Venice - 1 night
  • Venice - 2 nights
  • Bolzano - 3 nights
  • Verona - 4 nights
  • Lake Como or Stresa - 3 nights
  • Milan - 1 night; fly home from Milan

I hope that helps!

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