Northern Italy and Slovenia

When is your trip?

I would not want to drive from Venice to Ljubljana after a possibly-sleepless overnight flight. I would not be a safe driver. Padua is a very short train ride west of Venice. It has more than a day's worth of sights (pre-book the Scrovegni Chapel) and a large historic area that makes for pleasant strolling. It's also a good base for Vicenza, Ferrara and Verona--all easy by rail. I think Bolzano would be pushing it a bit and wouldn't want to try to squeeze in a side-trip to the Dolomites. The mountains are really a multi-day destination, not somewhere to go for a few hours.

I haven't been to Turin but believe it deserves more than a day if you're going to travel that far, so I'd leave it for a later trip.

Personally, I'd drop Milan as well and use the time farther east, but I note that you are flying back from there so will probably need a last night nearby. The Duomo is great. Bergamo has a lovely historic center on a hill.

I haven't been to the Cinque Terre for decades so am not the one to comment on current conditions there.

Unless you alter your trip to spend significant time in the Dolomites, I don't see the need for a car on the Italian side of the border (there will be parking issues nearly everywhere), but driving is probably the easiest way to get from Italy to Ljubljana.

I would not drive directly to Slovenia, either. Take a GoOpti shuttle or a FlixBus directly from the Venice airport to Ljubljana. Spend the first day in Ljubljana. Pick up a car the second day so you can day trips or relocate.

I love the Cinque Terre, but I'd drop it on this trip. Turin too. (Was just in both places in May.) You're going to blow too much time getting over there and back all the way from Slovenia). Spend more time in Slovenia and add northern Croatia: Istria and Plitvice Lakes National Park. Drop the car near Piran; take a GoOpti shuttle or bus up to Trieste, and take the train from there on to Verona. Visit Padua, Veona, Parma etc by train. (was just in Vicenza and Ferrara in May, lovely towns too) and fly home from Milan or Venice.

We are trying to go at end of October. The flight we want to take is an overnight and I luckily am one who sleeps like a baby on any flight. So, if we did drive to Slovenia right away, I wouldn't be worried about it. Picking the car up in Ljubljana does sound like an option though.

We would be open to changing our base from Verona to elsewhere since we would really like to see the Dolomites, which would then give us the ability to keep the car.

Turin is only on the list because we are potentially meeting up with someone for the day. Milan is only on the list for ease of flying home and being able to see Cinque Terre.

Perhaps we could ditch the car in Verona, and take trains on the tail end of the trip?

Is this too ambitious? When mapping this all out it seemed the longest drive was only about 3.5 hours

If the Dolomites are a priority, you need to stay there for several days. Since they're mountains, getting there and getting around takes longer. I agree that unless you are meeting friends, drop Turin (a great place - but you don't have time on this trip) and Cinque Terre (too far out of the way).

As for your drives, I'm not an expert, but when I did some of this by car 20 years ago, I remember being SURROUNDED by trucks on the highways, which slowed things down. Trains would definitely be easier than driving once you're out of the Dolomites.

I like Milan, but many do not. If it doesn't interest you, you need only stay near the airport the night before your flight. If you specify whether you fly out of Malpensa or Linate, people can have suggestions for where to stay to maximize your time at other places.

It is definitely best to rent and return your car in the same country cost wise. I also would skip Turin. You are moving around so much. Stating near the airport in Milan and skipping Milan itself sounds more doable to me.

There is a very convenient Avis rental car counter in the center of Ljubljana in the Grand Hotel Union Business.

most likely flying out of Malpensa so we could make some changes based off that

My husband and I were in Bolzano Oct. 15-22 of 2018, loved every minute and wished we could have stayed longer. It's such a liveable city with a daily market where you can buy all the food you need. After that we went to Verona, Padua and Venice for the rest of October.

If you enjoy hiking and wine, you will love Bolzano. It was a little past season for the Dolomites (limited lifts running), but still doable and amazing and it's worth a couple of days up there. Another day we hiked up from Bolzano center to wonderful Runkelstein Castle, then meandered back through vineyards for two hours. We loved Ötzi's museum. We spent a day biking the wine trails. The white wines in the area are spectacular.

I found two local festivals online that were unique (by American standards), gorgeous and crazy fun. The parade at the Grape Festival in Merano was a tapestry of Italian and Austrian costumes and music, and was followed by a classic Passeggiata and then a concert in the Kurhaus. https://www.merano-suedtirol.it/en/merano/info-service/events/the-merano-grape-festival/the-traditional-grand-parade-on-sunday.html

And then there was the "Wine Lane" (Weingassl) festival in Tramin. What can I say? Kurtze Lederhosen, thigh slapping dances, oompah and every other kind of band, all kinds of wine tasting and a happy, (but civilized) crowd in a little lane in the town that invented Gewürtztraminer. (Go early to enjoy the dancing and tasting before the big crowds arrive.)
https://www.tramin.com/en/event/termenotramin-wine-lane/

Both events were as genuine and fun as they look in their advertisements. And we didn't hear a single person (except my husband) speaking English at either festival. We did the whole week by train and bus, no problems. The bus ride up to the Dolomites is gorgeous.

But you know, we loved Verona and Padua too. Still, Bolzano is the place we dream about. (Disclaimer: I can speak German, but not Italian, so that made the Alto Adige easier for me.)

On this trip, we found that even though distances between cities were short, traveling on the train from one to the other still took up the better part of a whole day, so maybe a car is better for city hopping.

I would skip Piran (I'd consider it less of a draw in fall but could be wrong), read up on Dolomiti more to bone up that section, skip CT (awful crowded if the weather is good, awful period if it's rainy, as it is apt to be in October), skip a day in Parma, keep Turin and Milan at the end--consider adding time to Turin, as it sounds pretty fabulous.
So, Slovenia + a real hiking trip in lovely countryside, then cap it with some city time.

Maybe pick a stopover to allay concerns about the drive--I would not plan on a three hour drive after a flight, too many variables.

Lots of good comments here. Verona is a lovely city, so leave a day for Verona itself.
Before you plan the Dolomiti, check the usual weather for when you will be there. If it's usually raining the week you want to go, you might want to do something else. Weather in high mountains is always variable so you could get bad or good weather any time.
As for travel, if you have to get from Verona to Turino or Milan, I'd suggest taking the train because you'll be able to get the high speed train and it's very relaxing. At one point we were going 297 km/hr and it was silent and smooth. Much quicker than driving, and less stress. I recommend buying your ticket well before you need to leave (the day before is good) just because Italian train stations can be a shmozzle and the service is slow (we were in a line at the Verona service counter waiting for our number to come up and the line just wasn't moving at all. We weren't in a hurry, but other people were and everyone was very stressed and tense. When we got up to the counter, the workers were chatting about where to go for dinner that night. So no fire within with these "service" workers).

If not purchasing train tickets online, get the Trenitalia app.

As others have suggested, you will want to rent and drop your car in the same country.

Verona is fine for a day trip to Lake Garda, as well as the Valpolicella wine region. Lake Garda itself is also in Bardolino wine country. We did a day wine tour and that was an enjoyable experience.

Overall there is a lot of driving and I would just leave a lot of flexibility to drop locations if you want to just stay and chill out on one place. Personally I would only have three or four locations for a trip of this length.

wow, great responses! The festivals mentioned sound like they would be a great experience. We are going to sit down this weekend and try to tidy up our plans, so I'll report back with what we come up with!

We may try to cut a few hotel changes out and do more day trips from a certain area, but we do love city hopping! (and I love driving too)

thanks again for all the great advice

Also. Yes, we will definitely be dropping the car off in the same country (probably just not the same city). It's much easier for us to fly into Venice over Ljubljana so we will pick up there. No worries, I have a few cappuccino before any serious driving. We also are the try who will stop anywhere that looks interesting along the way, so it should be pretty easy going.

We just returned from our trip to northern Italy which included stays in Verona, Brixan (north of Bolanzo) ,and Santa Cristina in the Dolomites. We spent about 4 hours in Balzano/Bozen while connecting between a bus and train.

We spent 2 nights in Verona and loved it. We decided if we went back to northern Italy we would definitely stay in Verona longer and use it as a base for day trips, including Lake Garda.

From Verona you can get a train to Balzano or north to the next town, Brixen. Brixen is a beautiful small tourist town. We enjoyed spending the night there, visiting the cathedral and a museum, and walking around the town. Bozen did not feel like a tourist town - more like a small city where it would be pleasant to live. It also has a cathedral, along with several museums, a classical music festival, a nice park with walking/biking paths and some attractions that are a bit out of the city. i don't know if you would need a car to get there or if there were local buses.

Our hotel rate in Brixen included a card that covered many southern Tyrol museums and attractions, a lift pass on the Plose lift (accessible by bus), and local bus/train fare (including fare out to Val Gardena). Bozen hotels probably offer the same program. There are some lifts near Bozen, so I assume there is hiking not too far out of town.

From both Bozen and Brixen, the #350 bus goes to Val Gardena. In both cities there are bus stops right by the train station. A car is not necessary in the Val Gardena area of the Dolomites. It might be for other valleys - I picked Val Gardena for our stay mainly because we could reach it via public transportation. For some loop hikes, a bus is easier because you might start at a lift in one town and come down a lift in another.

If you like churches/art, stop in Padova/Padua (between Venice and Verona) to see the Scravegni Chapel. Tickets are easy to obtain online, but must be purchased at least a day in advance. The chapel is only a 10 minute walk from the train station.

We were in northern Italy for 3 and 1/2 weeks and relied on public transportation the entire time.

I brought home a number of maps and bus schedules so if you have any questions about details, feel free to ask.

I love the Dolomites. October is changy weather wise. If weather is good, head north to the Dolomites, if it is not so good stay south in Garda/Verona/Padua.

https://www.suedtirol.info/en

Also check out Gillian Price's Hiking/Trekking guides for the Dolomites.

You have five/six days allotted for Slovenia - you can see a lot. You have seven days left in Italy and I agree with others that including Turin and the Cinque Terre will be too much travel, not enough touring.

Verona/Padua/Bolzano are all great, as is Lake Garda, and lots of other small places between Verona and the Brenner Pass. The trains from Venice to Verona and those other places are so frequent that dropping the car back in Venice makes a lot of sense to me. Also Verona is the station where a lot of train changes occur (Venice to Milan, Bolzano or further north back to Milan, etc).

https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html

There is very extensive bus service throughout the South Tirol as well so getting to smaller villages (Santa Cristina in Val Gardena for example, 1 hour to Bolzano translation, 7 euros) and back from hikes is pretty straight forward.

Rich--

I can only speak to the Slovenia part of your itinerary. My girlfriend and I were in Slovenia for a wedding in July 2017. Her parents were immigrants from Slovenia. Beautiful country, Lake Bled is gorgeous and Ljubljana is so rich with history and culture. If you get a chance go to the largest ski jump in the world located in Planica. I'm not a skier but it was pretty cool to see.
I agree with a contributor about driving to Slovenia. Don't do it immediately after landing in Venice. Get a good night sleep. The roadway can be very curvy and a lot of hair pin turns. Drive it during the day. There is a brand of beer called "Union". Very tasty.
Have fun.

Kenny C.
Cleveland, OH