Northern Italy recommendations

Venice is wounderful. 95% of the tourists are around piazza san marco and the rialto bridge.
As soon as you walk 300 feet from those 2 spots, this place becomes totally unique. Since you wouldn't go long, I'd stay on the main island. If you have time to see burano or murano, just take the boat(the bus in fact). This also is a unique experience. To see that all activities are based around boats(police, taxi, bus, delivery) makes it different from any other place I've been. Yes it's expensive, but so is lake como.
I preferred CT over lake como, not even close for me. I didn't feel it as similar place at all.

Cinque Terre is one of the best places I have been in Italy. Although Venice can be crowded in the plaza, it didnt seem that bad in the rest of Venice.

You might consider two nights in Milano and two nights on Lake Como; visit Venezia instead of Cinque Terre.

Burano is more laid-back than the major areas of Venezia; I like the Canarregio area better, more convenient to major sights but not on the main tourist path.

GO ! Venice is magical ! When you hit a great number of people in Venice, turn left or right down an alley and explore ! And read Rick's book - he has wonderful walks around the lovely island - just follow them - you don't have to do any planning !

I loved the cathedral in Milan, but one night there was fine. Go to Venice or Cinque Terre.

If you are headed to Switzerland, map out the train routes on a calendar and see if the routes and times work better to hit Cinque Terre or Venice.

Venezia is less expensive than Switzerland.

TMerry, we stayed on the industrial main land, free parking, airport shuttle , we walked to the train station and called for the hotel car to pick us up in the evening . freaking amazing breakfast, even by "German" standards. PM me if you want me to look up the name.
We also stayed at an apt in varenna

You guys are so amazing! I have decided to visit Venice because of all of your helpful responses. I will be staying 3 nights in Milan and 3 nights in Venice instead.

While in Venice, i'm considering taking a day tour to the Dolomites as well. Has any of you done that?

Hello,
Yes I did and going back this summer:-)
If you like walks in high mountains, it's a magical place.
Having said that you will be 3 nights in Venice, which is probably 2 1/2 days.
I would stay in Venice personally. burano and Marano takes a day let's say.
Eventhough St-Marc square is too crowdy, you have to visit the cathedral and palazzo.
And just walk between little piazzas, churches of the different corners of that magnificent city will take you a day
If you like museums, Accademia is a wonderful one to visit.
Venice makes you walk slower, take more pictures, more coffees or gelatos just because you want to stop and look around at how artistic this city is.

While in Venice, i'm considering taking a day tour to the Dolomites as well. Has any of you done that?

It is possible but perhaps not advisable. Venice itself has so much to offer and with only 2+ days there, you will be hard pressed to even experience a fraction of what Venice has to offer.

It will take all day to come and go to the mountains by public transportation. Not sure you'd have time to actually do much. If you want to go to the bother of renting a car, it may be faster (I am thinking you'd go somewhere like Belluno?) but roads can get mighty slow, too. I've been in horrific traffic jams in that area. Not fun.

Great info so far from all of you! I appreciate it.

As for Venice and whether I should do Dolomites, I was thinking of this tour:
https://m.viator.com/tour/venice/dolomite-mountains-and-cortina-small-group-day-trip-from-venice/0-2635PDOLOMITE/info.htm

Then for staying in Venice, we are thinking of hitting some of the touristy spots, and take a half day Lagoon tour to Murano and Burano. And we will have half a day on the first day and half a day on the last day to explore Venice.

Does it still sound too much and I should just completely ignore the Dolomites?

Getting to and back from murano and burano takes time. Boats go slow so you loose probably 1 1/2 hours just there. You will want to stop in a few shops maybe, see how they make their arts, this all take time.
As much as I LOVE the Dolomites, I would skip it personnally.

With such a limited time in Venice, do not go to the Dolomites. How much time have you planned for Switzerland? If you really want to visit the Dolomites, do that area as a separate stop on your way to Switzerland and take the time from your Switzerland visit.
As others have said, stay on the island of Venice itself but get very good directions to your hotel.

Even though it might be more expensive, stay in Venice (not on the mainland in Mestre) and you will experience a magical, peaceful, totally different atmosphere in the evening when many daytrippers have left. If you get up early enough to see the sunrise over the Grand Canal near piazza San Marco, you will have it virtually to yourself and a handful of others. Stay away from S. Marco during the rest of the day to avoid crowds. As mentioned in a previous reply, Venice is less expensive than Switzerland. I also agree with the previous suggestion to leave out the Dolomites this time.

And I agree with absolutly everything that my canadian friend Susan says. :-)

You don't need to take an organized tour to go to Murano and Burano, just take the vaporetto to the island and walk around. Torcello is just about 10 minutes further from Burano and has some really old mosaics if that would interest you. Definitely stay in the main part of Venice, Burano is much farther out and would not give you the same experience.

Thank you all for your helpful info! You guys are wonderful!

I have followed your advice and booked a hotel in Venice for 3 nights. I'm going to ignore the Dolomites (though it broke my heart a little!) ;-)

Paln a trip that would include the Dolomites, Austria, Slovenia... :-)