Northern Italy

How long are you staying? Cinque Terre is a geographic outlier, the others are pretty close together, so maybe save that for another trip... or add a day to get there and a day tp get back to Verona, plus the time there. Otherwise fly into Milan, go to Lake Maggiore, then Lake Garda and Verona, go north to Bolzano and then end in Venice. Let's say Nights 1 to 4 at Lake Maggiore, Nights 5 to 7 at Lake Garda, Nights 8 to 10 in Verona (see an Opera in the Coliseum!), Nights 11 to 14 in Bolzano (Visit Otzi the ice Man) and touring the Dolomites by local bus (1 Hour to Ortisei for example and ride the gondolas to the Alpi di Suisi for a hike, or Kastelrotto from there), Night 15-17 in Venice. Fly out on day 18.

You can check train schedules on Trenitalia at https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html

A great trip.

Thanks for your suggestions - we don’t have a set amount of time but thinking 14-16 days iincluding fflying days

It’s more important for us to see the sights while there so 18 days is possible

hey hey andepjunk
need more info from you to help you out. how many is "we", budget in euros, how many days/nights total (not counting arrival or departure days, where are you flying into and out of? if venice is your flight departure city, it's a pain since many flights are very early 6am and transport to airport for departure. september is a busy month for harvest/fair/festival season, plus italy is always busy all year long hardly an off season time anymore.
many places you want to see are the same place others want to see so then there are crowds and many want to stay away from crowds. i always like to book hotels before flights, look at cancellation policies, know that check-in times are 3-4pm & check-out times are 10-11am or book a day before or a day after.
using trains are easier taking you city center to city center, look at buses, if you plan to drive a car it is mandatory to have an IDP (aaa.com/IDP) in italy. (trenitalia.com or italo.com are the trains, use italian names for train stations) pack light since you will be carrying, pushing, pulling.
"best" is so different between everyone, what i like you may not. do more research of the places you hope to stay in and see what it offers which will be: must see's/do's, so so see's/do's and not interested. top of page has search bar, type in city/town & click, on left is filter type, click travel forum, date 6 months or 1 year. good luck & enjoy
aloha

If you are planning 4 days in Stresa (including the Borromean Islands) and you are looking at 14 days that leaves you about 10.

Verona is worth a couple of days and the train gives you access to the very bottom of Lake Garda but if you want to experience the (slightly) less touristed other lake cities you will need to take the ferry or the bus from Verona. If you are looking at mountains Malcesine might make a good choice with a cable car up the top of Mount Baldo and an interlake ferry.

If you estimate 5 days between Verona and Lake Garda the leaves you five for Bolzano and the Dolomites - if you drop Cinque Terre otherwise you need to find at least 3 days in there and would probably need to take something else out.

As people have mentioned CT is the the geographical outlier here. It will be 3-4+ hours to La Spezia from MIlan so add getting from Stresa to Milan for total timing and about that long getting back. It's probably 5+ hours from La Spezia to Verona. Timewise it is obviously up to you but that's two full half days of your 10 on travel.

If CT is a must then I would suggest dropping Lake Garda since you already have a lake experience and do a lake, coastal, mountains vacation.

As others have said there are some critical elements missing to make a full trip plan, but I hope this helps.

=Tod

the suggestions look great - thank you

I'd try for 18 days so the trip is reasonably relaxing. You're going to have quite a few days when you take a day trip away from your base. While it's nice not to have to move your luggage around so frequently, this is going to mean you don't have tons of time just to relax and be in your base city.

The places you've identified are especially popular even in early September, though I'm not sure what you will encounter late that month and in October if your trip runs that long. You may find lodging more expensive than you expect. I found my choices rather picked-over by January-February in 2024, but I was trying for budget-level prices and needed rooms with twin beds; that made things more challenging. You'll be in Verona after the opera season ends, so I'm guessing that the Verona hotel situation may not be too bad.

Bolzano is a very pretty city with good bus service up into the Dolomites and an excellent archaeology museum (home of Otzi, the Iceman). However, it is not itself located in the mountains. If you want to hike, you might prefer staying in one of the mountain towns. Note that Bolzano doesn't have a mountain climate--i.e., it can be quite hot, though I'd expect not by very late September. Many folks visit that area without a car, depending on the buses. Whether a car is useful enough to bother with will depend on how much time you want to spend up in the mountains and which places you want to see.

The west side of Lake Garda doesn't have any rail service, but there are buses.

The Venice Art Biennale runs for much of the year (into November), so that will be an option for you if you like art. The exhibitions tend toward contemporary art. The main exhibitions are out around the Arsenale in the Castello district. The ticket is for two days, and it takes about that long to see all the main exhibitions.

Vaporetto tickets in Venice now cost 9.50 euros each, so I always recommend that travelers give some thought to how many trips they may take and consider buying a pass. Pass costs are as follows:

24 hours: 25 euros
48 hours: 35 euros
72 hours: 45 euros
168 hours (7 days): 65 euros.

Great information from everyone. I’ve been able to get it planned out going to Venice and circling to Dolomites,Peschierala Garda, Lake Maggiore then to Cinque Terre then need to figure out best way to get back to Amsterdam - if anyone has suggestions- I d done lots of research so looks like fly from Pisa or Genoa
.Now I have to figure out if we want a car or take train/bus - would love suggestions
Thanks!