We will be finishing a tour of Italy near Venice next October and will stay on for approximately 10 days of independent travel by train.
After 2-3 days in Venice, I'm thinking of visiting Padua, Vicenza, Bergamo and finishing in Milan. How many days to allow for each of these? In particular, I'm not sure how much there is to see/do in Vicenza. Thanks for your thoughts.
Posted by
CA, USA
1276 posts
It's an age-old question. After each trip there are often towns where I wished we had stayed longer, others we could have skipped. But nobody wants to do the same trip twice. The RS Village Italy tour starts in Padua and it's a nice town with a pedestrian-only street, , many restaurants, a market square, church, large park/piazza (supposedly the largest piazza in Italy) and so on. Many people on the RS tour spend an extra day or two before the tour starts there and from comments on this forum seem to enjoy it. We liked the town, especially sitting down for a Aperol spritz and watching the world walk by.
We visited Vicenza a few years ago to see the architecture by Palladio and it was a nice town to walk around for a few hours. But maybe others would find it delightful for 1-2 days. Also in the area you'll be visiting is Verona which we haven't been to but have read good things about.
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
1235 posts
Places long that line you don't mention:
Verona is a chic, mostly pedestrian core with an intact Roman Arena, Theater and cafe culture feel. It is a pretty city with medieval buildings with faded murals from the several hundred years alter with the 'elegant decay' feel that the Veneto does so well.
Brescia is am interesting city with a whole series connected piazzas, under rated Roman ruins, and a castle on top of the hill to cap everything off. I personally preferred Brescia to Padua - they are similarly sized cities - but I'm apparently alone in that.
I think Vincenza is probably fine as a day trip or replaced by a different place unless there's something really drawing you there.
Planning is always about making hard decisions. Have a great trip,
=Tod
Posted by
Washington DC
28535 posts
I have been to all those places and think Vicenza needs less time unless you want to really, really get into the details of the Palladian architecture (which I have not done). Vicenza is also very close to Padua, so you won't have a long train ride to get there. I'd go with either one night in Vicenza or none--seeing it on the way from Padua to Bergamo.
There is considerable variation in train routes, travel times and fares between Padua and Bergamo. Some of the trains go through the aforementioned Brescia. I'd recommend looking at the train options early on, because the schedules and fares might affect what time of day you want to move on from Padua.
Posted by
Venice, FL
95 posts
Hello,
I am in the process of planning our Northern Italy trip and YouTube videos are helping me choose the towns that appeal to us most to determine how many days at each town. We find the videos very helpful as most of them tour the town pretty extensively.
Hope they help you too!
Enjoy!
Can't wait to get there!!!
Kim