Hello,
Looking for some recommendations regarding spring 2025 trip to Northern Italy and I was totally counting on using the Rick Steves Consultation service, as they have been spot on in the past. So, without that service, I will try to reach out here for some help.
We will have 4 weeks and break it up into 2-2week stays in a different place. Our ideal trips tend to be different than most: we park ourselves in an Airbnb apartment, preferably in 'centro' the center of a small, walkable town where we can walk to get all we need- ( shopping, food, restaurants etc) and /or take train or bus to surrounding sites to see. We don't want to rent a car. From our reading it seems like Varenna would be a good first stop. ( We prefer to be near water.). We don't want a big, tourist city like Bellagio, but prefer a smaller town. Varenna seems to fit that bill. From there, we'l like to train to another area in Northern Italy for the remaining 2 weeks, but can't decide where to go. We loved Santa Margarita Ligue for size and location. Trying to replicate that somewhere else in Northern Italy.