Two weeks in northern Italy

I stayed in Milan, Florence, Venice & Riomaggiore (CT) in October. It was a spur-of-moment trip and I had quite a bit of trouble making reservations, on a limited budget, 3-4 weeks ahead of time. I imagine that May/June will be as hard if not harder. In CT, I found that there were a lot of rooms available that were not listed on the internet. I doubt that is true for Milan or Venice. There was no availability in Verona for the night I wanted. OTOH, if you are planning to rent a car, you will have more options, by staying in the outskirts.

Mestre - there's nothing to see or do. You will have to commute back and forth to Venice and won't have the convenience of being able to drop by your hotel in the middle of the day to change and/or rest.

I love Bolzonz--the Ice Man is there. It is a really cool museume. Get the audio guide unless you speak Italian or Germany. Like the previous person said, Mestre is pretty dull. I would stay in Venice even if it is only for a couple of nights.
I would book at least your CT and Venice hotels before you leave the USA. Everything else I'm pretty sure you can play it by ear. I use www.ratestogo.com when I have last minute trips. They have pretty good rates.

All sounds good but definitely skip Maestre. What you save by staying there--a few bucks--will quickly be eaten up in commuter expenses into Venezia and lost time. Locanda al Leon in Venice is very reasonably priced and centrally located, near San Marco.

I recently stayed in Lake Orta in the northwestern area. I would really recommend it. A great little town - lots to see. There is a small island in the middle of the lake that has a monastery on it and a nice church. I stayed in San Guilio. It is wonderful to walk around parts of the lake.
There are dozens of small hotels and inns around the lake.

NanC,

First of all, regarding Hotel reservations - you could be fortunate with the "call ahead" approach, but in late May / June, I would prefer to have something pre-booked even at the expense of spontaneity. That's pretty much in the peak of the spring shoulder season, and if the economy recovers even a little, there could be LOTS of people travelling at that time of year.

As the others have said, using Mestre as a "home base" would not be my choice. I would much prefer to stay right in Venice. It's wonderful to walk around at night and "explore", after the cruise ship passengers and day-trippers have departed. Also as someone else mentioned, it's nice to be able to stop at the room during the day to regroup or have a short rest.

If I were in the same circumstances, I wouldn't bother hiring a Car for a day trip to Austria from Bolzano. If you plan carefully, using public transit will probably be a much more pleasant trip and possibly less expensive. If you do decide to hire a Car, be sure to verify with the rental agency that they allow trips to Austria (shouldn't be a problem unless you plan on dropping the Car there).

As you're going to be in the Domodossola area, you might also consider a trip on the wonderfully scenic CentoValli railway, which runs from Domodossola to Locarno (on Lago Maggiore). It's a beautiful city and you might enjoy a day trip there? There's a beautiful Franciscan Church, Santuario della Madonna del Sasso just above the town (hopefully the Funicular is repaired!) and a Gondola leading up to a ski area (the views are fantastic!) just above that.

Another location I'd definitely recommend is Lago di Como and the town of Varenna. It's only an hour out of Milan, and a beautiful spot to enjoy Italy! A day trip to Bellagio is always nice. If you're lucky, perhaps Clooney will invite you for lunch (he has a Villa on the lake).

Happy travels!

Let me second those who suggest that going to Venice and staying in Maestre is like kissing your sister....

For a great location at a reasonable price, check out Hotel Ca dei Dogi:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187870-d571526-Reviews-Ca_dei_Dogi-Venice_Veneto.html

Bill

Thanks all for the suggestions.

I like the idea of going from Domodossola to the Lake ... can't read the replies as I am answering !!! But tasking the train for those short trips might be a good idea.

Also I like the idea of the ski lift. I want to do what will appeal to my 20 yr old grdaughter, also.

Thanks.

(I had to re-register because the email addr I gave stopped working. aauugghh)

NanC,

I also find it a bit cumbersome to add a reply to this site, without being able to see the previous ones. My solution is to open another window to the side with the same Thread, so that I can refer to previous replies if necessary.

The ski area above Locarno is called Cardada. The Gondola is a large, fully enclosed type. It's a bit "pricey" but the view of the town and the lake is fantastic! Just after exiting the Gondola station on the top, there's a restaurant with an outdoor patio. It's great to sit there on a sunny afternoon with a "cool beverage" and watch the Hang Gliders float by. There are other restaurants in that area as well.

Again, at the top of the Gondola if you go to the left past the restaurant, there's a small trail that leads to a Platform that extends out over the valley. It also provides a great view! There's another small ski lift above Cardada that leads to a slightly higher level, which I believe is where the Hang Gliders launch from.

In the main Piazza of Locarno, there are lots of Restaurants with sidewalk tables, and some have live entertainment. I was fortunate to be there one night for an impromptu concert where one of the local singing talents in the audience joined the paid entertainer. It was quite spontaneous, and very enjoyable! I had a chance to speak with the performers after the show, and the story became even more interesting!

Cheers!

We have stayed in both Venice and Mestre. We stayed in Mestre because of car. It was just easier. It cost 1 euro to go from Mestre to Venice and was much cheaper and did not have to carry our luggage on vaparado (sp?) We stayed at hotel right across from train station Hotel Bologna was a very nice hotel. No mosquitoes like Venice same month of year.

You might also consider Brixen/Bressanone instead of Bolzano. It is on train route from Austria to Verona. Google it and see if you like it. I liked it better than Bolzano.

You don't have to stay in Mestre to save money on leaving a car. Both times we have visited Venice, we have parked our car in the large car park right across the street from the Mestre train station. It costs 6 euros on a week day and 10 euros on a week end. Then we rode the train into Venice for 1 euro per person. Contrast with 20-22 euros a day in Venice! The savings really add up. To find the car park just get off at the first Mestre exit and follow signs to the train station. The car park is a huge multi story parking garage right across the street and on the corner. Just be warned: All car parks in the Venice area use the same method of figuring your "days". If your car is sitting there anytime during that day, you will be charged for a full day. So we dropped a car off at 8 PM Wednesday and picked it up at 8 AM Saturday. We were charged for 4 full days (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday) even though we were actually parked there less than 36 hours. That is just the way the calculate it so be prepared and have enough money.

Don't stay in Mestre. You're spending a lot of money to get over there - don't cut corners in a way that will almost certainly make your trip much less enjoyable.

Almost without fail, the people that I've spoken with who stayed in Mestre to "save" a few bucks ended up not enjoying Venice anywhere near as much as those who stay in Venice proper. The charm of Venice is being able to wander around on your own schedule, going back to rest at your B&B/hotel mid-day if you want, and then venturing out in the evening without worrying about getting back to the train station.

You may hear from the occasional person who was glad they stayed in Mestre, but they're vastly outnumbered by those of us who have had the more genuine Venice experience by staying on the island proper. And there are indeed reasonably priced places on the island. See the RS book on Venice or the other comments on this site.

The mosquito problem varies. We've stayed in Venice in both May and September and never had a problem. Get a place with air conditioning so you can close your windows at night, just in case.

Thanks for the suggesting Hotel Ca' dei Dogi. BUT, I can't find out the prices. Where do I look?

Feel like a dummy here

Thanks

If you can afford Venice then stay there for sure. But I stayed in Mestre last time as I no longer can afford Venice and needed air cond as it was over 100 centigrade and wanted a safe carpark.
Definately stay in the Dolomites ie. Castelrotto but not Bolzano. You'll need a car, drop dead gorgeous scenic areas, reserve soon as lodging is limited. Stay in Varenna on Lake Como and Stresa on Lake Maggiore is a lovely walking promenade restful town.

Something I forgot. I will be driving from the Milan area. Can I drive over to Venice and park at Ca' dei Doge? Hope to stay there two nights. Either at the Ca' or someplace else.

Here's the website for Ca' Dei Dogi:

http://www.cadeidogi.it/en/index.htm

Click on Rooms and Rates for that info.

I had to laugh at your question about whether you can park your car in their parking lot. There are no cars in Venice with the exception of the cark park near the train station, way on the other side of the island from this hotel.

NanC-Stay at the hotel of you choice in Venice and park your car in Mestre. (See my above post) The car park is manned 24 hours day and is as safe as any other you will find.

I like that idea. If I take the train to Maestre can I rent a car there and drop it off in Milan?

Not too sure yet just how I am going to do this trip.
thanks