Stay in Venice or add second destination?

I would spend the entire time in Venice so as to eliminate the hassle and time lost relocating. With an early start you can do a day trip to Lake Garda. Verona / Vicenza can also be done as a day trip from Venice. A day trip to Murano and Burano is also possible. That will still give you four full days in Venice proper. Just food for thought.

I love Venice and would recommend many days there but unless you stay near the train station I think the daily logistics of getting into and out of Venice do not make it great for day trips.

I like Verona very much but it is nearly the opposite of Naples. You don't list what you're looking for in a city but Verona has a great old mostly pedestrian core built on the old Roman city plan in the bend in the river. It has an intact Roman Arena and Theater (still in use) and has a very arty, cafe culture vibe with shopping and a sense of elegant decay that the Veneto can have.
Nearby is Brescia - under rated day trip city with great Roman ruins and castle on top of hill to explore. Vicenza and Padua/Padova are also close by train.

Lake Garda easily accessible by train is a few minutes from Verona but that means it is as touristy as you can imagine. You can take a bus further up the eastern shore for less mobbed experience. Malcesine has a mid-lake ferry stop and a cable car up to Mount Baldo if that sounds appealing.

Keep in mind that getting into October weather in North can start to turn. I was in Verona last October and it was hot until about the third week before the weather snapped cooler. That is unusual but weather patterns everywhere are less dependable. The Lake areas have definite seasons and early October is still in season if getting towards end of it.

Also is you are into art and craftspeople Venice in September is hosting Homo Faber and then their art festival La Biennale di Venezia for October as well which are both worth checking out.

You're spoiled for choice but I would recommend days in Venice for Venice and then days somewhere else for something else.

Have a great trip!
=Tod

Thanks so much for the replies thus far. There are just so many factors to consider, as I learned very quickly on our previous Italy trip. My concern is that we won’t love Venice, and that I need to split it up with something else, because I know that some people do not care for it. Of course, that is also the case with Naples and we ended up loving it, even though it is objectively chaotic and grubby. I’m leaning towards maybe just staying in Venice the whole 5 - 6 days and then if we feel like we’ve seen everything we can go ahead and do a day trip even if it’s a little inconvenient. then I may just want to do a separate Lake Garda and Dolomites trip in the future. So many places, so little time.

I didn't expect the Venice topic to be so divisive but I am the opposite and I absolutely love Venice and have since my visit. I had the complete opposite reaction and feel in love at first sight even arriving and trying to find our hotel in the rain. I guess Venice is one of those cities that divides people because almost without fail I've had someone tell me not to go when I've said I'm going but it is like I can't be sad when I am there.

I admit Venice is a logistically difficult city with boats for buses and limited ways to get from here to there but if you find the chaos of Naples charming I can't imagine you'll be put off by Venice's inherent complexity.

Even loving Venice as much as I do I'd book 3 or 4 nights in Venice and the rest in Verona or some nearby city that is more convenient for exploring the rest of the Veneto. Apparently you will either love it or hate it but I guess there is no way to know except to go and find out for yourself which side of the divide you're on.

Have a great trip and let us know where you landed after you get back,
=Tod

Thanks for the assistance everyone. We have ended up deciding just to stay in Venice for the five days and we will narrow down a day trip when we get closer. It’s our second trip to Italy, and we really just want to have two “home bases” and not just have a couple of nights in each place.

After staying a week in Venice in 2022, I second the recommendation to book accommodations that are not near the primary tourist areas (but of course are still near a vaporetto stop for transportation). I really think this is the key to loving Venice vs. hating it.

We stayed way out to the east near the gardens, partly because we were attending the Biennale. Out there, it is not nearly as crowded or touristy, but the food was readily available and very good, we picked a couple of places to be neighborhood "regulars" for the week, and thoroughly enjoyed it, wishing we could stay longer. Later at night, we had entire streets to ourselves and felt perfectly safe.

One factor is we had already seen the major central sights on previous trips. If we had visited more of those on the last trip then it would be more time jammed in with the tourists in the center. But even if you do want to see some of those, having accommodations away from the center gives you a quiet refuge. Oh, and I love walking through St Mark's Square at around 10 or 11 at night…it's lit up, the tourists are gone, so it's beautiful and peaceful.

It's like Rick often says, a lot of these cities and towns only become themselves after the day trippers have left.