Northern Lakes or Dolomites

I would add the night to Dolomites. Getting there is a fair bit of trouble…

Dolomites will have national parks and hiking. Ortisei is the hub to stay in.

Nature lover= Dolomites
Brad

If I have a choice between three nights in one place versus a two-night stay and a one-night stay, the three-night stay is almost always going to win.

I never visited Iseo but spent a few weeks between Orta, Maggiore and Como. My limited time in the Dolomites area far exceeded the lake region in terms of scenery, hiking and general enjoyment.

My experience in the same as Gundersen's.

Thank you for all the suggestions.

We will start in Rome. I wanted to spend a night in Assisi but am reconsidering just going for the day. To go from Rome to Assisi to Brescia then Dolomites with exit from Venice is my tentative plan. Does that sound feasible in 10 days?

Does 10 days include your arrival and departure days? If so, then don't visit the Dolomites. As mentioned, it's not easy to reach there.

I love Lake Iseo and Monte Isola is a special and not very touristy place. It's only 40 minutes by train from Brescia so if you are already spending a night in Brescia easy to make it two and day trip to Iseo:
Train Brescia to Iseo, 5 minute stroll to the Imbarcadero where you can get a ferry to the island stroll and lunch (or walk around the circumference of the island - a couple of hours).
Ferry back to Iseo for a look around (it's small) then train to Brescia.

On the other hand I absolutely agree with the other comments - you are trying to do too much, too far apart and will spend too much time transferring and not enough enjoying??

What time of the year will you be travelling? - this can also make a difference.

With 10 days, you are spread very thin. Rome, Ortisei (or one of the other Val Gardena villages) in the Dolomites, and Venice are more than enough. Less than 3 nights in any of these locations is too fast. In fact 5 nights in Rome is just a good start and going to the mountains for less than 3 nights wastes a lot of time. One night stays anywhere are exhausting.

If you are going this year, you may be surprised how hard it is to get reservations at this point if you haven’t made up your mind on itinerary, so that may drive your final decision. Note that the summer season for the Dolomites is roughly mid-June to October 1.

That’s a lot of places/things to try and see in 10 days, if it doesn’t includes arrival and departure days. Skip Brescia and do three nights in the Dolomites. Skip the lakes, which are beautiful, also have tons of hiking and scenery, but if your husband is a nature lover then it’s hands down the Dolomites.

I would say to pick one section of Italy (north or south) and focus 10 days there. What about fly into Milan or Florence then Dolomites before Venice? Or, Rome and then Umbria.?

Next month we have 12 days between Verona - Cortina - Venice and even that is more transit traveling than I prefer.