Northern Italy in March - Itinerary Help

Seven nights means you only have six days. That being the case, consider half the time in Venice and the rest in Milan. Personally, I'd spend four nights in Venice and two in Milan. But then, I simply love Venice because it is like no other place in terms of uniqueness.

Hello caseyk.lake, and welcome to the boards!

You have a restricted schedule of 6 nights and the last one is in Milan so you have 5 nights to play with so if you want to try and see two cities/locations then 3/2 is the obvious way this would seem to work out. I personally love Venice and would advocate 3 mights there - especially because that includes your landing day/night so it shouldn't count as a full day.

As for a second location there is a list of obvious places accessible by fast train and then fast train onto Milan when it's time.
- Bologna is short on big sights but is the culinary capital of Italy so would certainly provide food and tourist options for a couple of days.
- Florence is the most obvious choice and has sights and food enough for a week so two or three days would just scratch the surface.
- Verona is somewhat out there suggestion, but is a pretty, genteel city with a Roman arena and theater (still in use) and is a very pedestrian friendly, arty, cafe culture kind of town.

There are smaller towns that might work - Lucca, Modena, Pisa, Siena - that are all with an hour by train of one of the bigger cities but unless you have a real affinity for a small town I think I would stick to a big city on a such a tight schedule.

There are fast trains for all the big northern cities. There are two fast train companies in Italy - the state run Trenitalia https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html and the private .italo https://www.italotreno.it/en

The earlier you buy you fast tickets the cheaper they will be so avoid buying "day of" if you can. Because they have assigned seats it is possible for these trains to sell out but that would probably only be on the busiest days of the year. Check the details of the different tickets - the cheaper the tickets the more restrictions about changing them later so you're trading price for flexibility.

If you come into Milan late and are heading to the airport the next day look into business hotels right near the Milano Centrale train station so you can walk over in the morning.

Hope that helps - have a great trip,
=Tod

I would split the time 4 nights in Venice, 2 nights in Verona and 1 night in Milan. There is a lot to see and do in Venice and you could make day trips to Padua and Vicenza, both of which are worthwhile. I love Lake Como but with your limited time and considering when you are visiting, I would not visit the lake area.

For sure, three nights in Venice. Then, two nights in one of the following: Padua, Bologna (or Parma or Modena), or Verona. Read up on each and see what you think. I would pick Padua. Then, straight to Milano Centrale and on to the airport. I have a horror of boring airport hotels, so for a morning flight out of Milan, we like to stay at a nearby historical (but with rooms nicely updated) inn with a quick shuttle to the airport and a decent restaurant: https://osteriadellapista.com/ They will pick you up from the airport, too. This plan will maximize your time in Venice and the other place you choose. Middle of March is an excellent time to go to Italy.

Reviewing the other responses, I will also add an active itinerary for another option.

Venice -2 nights. Leave Venice on the 12:26 train to arrive in Florence at 2:39pm. This faster option doesn’t require a train connection.

Florence - 3 nights. Day trips possibilities: Siena - an hour by bus. Pisa - an hour by train. Lucca is only 30 minutes by train from Pisa so combine those two, and you can rent bikes to ride Lucca’s medieval wall. Take the 12:55 train to Milan to arrive at 2:50pm. See the Duomo and other main sites.

Milan -1 night & fly home.

When traveling by train, choose the options that don’t require train connections which will save you a lot of time. You can view them on www.trenitalia.com & get the app. Venice is Venezia, Florence is Firenze, Milan is Milano.

If it helps, this is what my daughter & I did during my last time in Florence. I recommend both the city bike tour and the cooking class! A 3-4 hour food tour would be another good option for you to be able to try multiple items.

Florence – 2 nights: I booked a fantastic location for us at Relais Piazza Signora. Our room had the view of the outdoor statue of David and beautiful sunrises over the piazza. It also was extremely handy to be at the Uffizi Gallery for our timed entry. I typically prefer to visit art galleries in smaller cities because they’re usually almost empty, and the art can be enjoyed as intended. I will admit I wasn’t looking forward to clambering with the crowd with their selfie shots at the Uffizi, but our daughter needed the chance to see it. Imagine the joy of discovering that we were so early that no one was in most of the rooms, and we really could gaze at these priceless works of art with no interruptions or noise! It wasn’t until we circled back as we finished to see the Venus we somehow missed that we met the wave of people coming down the hall. Two other activities that we definitely recommend were a city bike tour with “I Bike Florence – Original City Bike Tour” and a cooking class, “Pasta Class Florence, The Art of Pasta – Authentic Recipes”. I have been to Florence a couple of times. The bike tour took us to some of the places I hadn’t seen previously, and it was an overall fun experience for both of us. We saw so much during the three hours! Our guide, Martina, was excellent with lots of info, too. The pasta class was excellent! Our chef taught us how to make three different filled pastas and three widths of straight pasta. He offered me a job after seeing my rectangle of pasta dough & shapes. Hmmm! ; ) (Probably from my experience of making lots of croissants after a class in Paris.) His sauces were wonderful – some new excitement added to traditional recipes. We will definitely be making these recipes at home! Two places across the Ponte Vecchio bridge to recommend: I found my favorite Florence gelato shop again – Gelato Mancuso on Via Guicciardini, the main street up from the bridge. Also, we ate dinner at Trattoria Vasari – same street, closer to the bridge. The staff there were very nice, and we liked the meals and the desserts.