Revised itinerary for N. Italy - feedback appreciated

I keep looking at the two back-to-back lake stops and going, "Hmmmm..." I wouldn't do that myself. Staying put at a lake is relaxing as long as you give yourself permission not to set an early alarm every morning and don't run around like mad. But you're planning to day-trip (I think?) from Lake Como to Lake Maggiore--or the reverse--then after just 2 full days and a few hours there, you're going to hop over to Lake Garda for just 1 full day. I really enjoyed the Borromean Isles in Lake Maggiore. They take much of the day to see even if you're staying in Stresa. I think 2 days and change isn't a lot of time to see them, perhaps another place or two on Lake Maggiore, and also enjoy Lake Como.

The other thing I noticed is that you have three rural stops back to back--at least I think of places on lakes and places up in mountains as rural--and then hit four cities in a row. I know that's driven by geography, but I'd be inclined to split them up. I'd give serious consideration to hitting the Dolomites between Padua and Bologna. With careful selection of train departure times, it wouldn't mean a great deal of extra time on trains, though there would be some modest doubling-back.

I also wonder whether you really need 2 nights in Milan. (I think someone else mentioned that.)

I would steal a night from Milan and another from Verona/Vicenza and add them to Padova. Avoid losing time by changing hotels because Verona and Vicenza are easy rail trips from Padova. It might also give you the time to visit the picturesque city of Treviso. Otherwise, I like your plan.

This interests me as our next trip (April 2021) may make a stop along Lake Maggiore, possibly to Stresa, after coming down from Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland. I know Como is beautiful but if we were taking a different route--like from Munich--we were considering stopping at Verona or Sirmione on Lake Garda.

Any intel on Stresa or other towns along the southern side of Maggiore, along the train line?

Thank you for the great input. Since my post last night we have added an event which will significantly change the order of our trip: opening night opera at Arena di Verona on June 13. Our need to be in Verona right before heading to Venice means we're having to move our time in Bologna/Ferrara/Ravenna to the middle of the trip, which increases our travel time but has the side benefit of moving our time in the Dolomiti to a week later than originally planned. This is how things are tentatively looking now:

May 27 Flights ORD-LHR/LHR-MXP, arriving late afternoon or evening (Milan)

May 28 Half-day tour of Milan, mid-afternoon train to Stresa (Stresa)

May 29 Sight-see Lk Maggiore (Stresa)

May 30 Local bus to Bellagio via Como, sight-seeing (Bellagio)

May 31 Sight-seeing (Bellagio)

Jun 01 Early train to Bologna via Como (Bologna)

Jun 02 Sight-see Bologna (Bologna)

Jun 03 Half-day to Ferrara, sight-see Bologna (Bologna)

Jun 04 Train to Ravenna, sight-see Ravenna (Ravenna)

Jun 05 Sight-see Ravenna (Ravenna)

Jun 06 Train to Padua, sight-see Padua (Padua)

Jun 07 Sight-see Padua

Jun 08 Afternoon pick up of rental car, drive to Dolomiti (Ortisei)

Jun 09 Sight-see & trek (Ortisei)

Jun 10 Sight-see & trek (Ortisei)

Jun 11 Sight-see & trek (Ortisei)

Jun 12 Drive to Verona via Vicenza (Verona)

Jun 13 Sight-see Verona, evening opera (Verona)

Jun 14 Sight-see Verona, drop off car in Padua, train to Venice (Venice)

Jun 15 Sight-see Venice (Venice)

Jun 16 Sight-see Venice (Venice)

Jun 17 Sight-see Venice (Venice)

Jun 18 Early afternoon flight VCE-ORD

I'm a bit concerned about how many 2-night stays there are (not our preference), but I'm not entirely sure how to avoid them unless I cut out the Bologna/Ferrara/Ravenna segment completely. Suggestions?

I have a suggestion for you: Make Ravenna a day-trip from Bologna. Make a point of getting an early start so you can see all the mosaic sites at your leisure and still have time to walk around the town and have lunch. I know that is doable, because I am a slow starter in the morning and didn't get to Ravenna as early as I should have, and I did it. Yes, it would be nice to spend the night there, but sometimes avoiding a short stay is important enough to make the sacrifice.

There will be little, if any, extra total travel time, because there are faster trains between Bologna and Padua than between Ravenna and Padua.

One of the Ravenna nights would need to be shifted to Bologna, of course. The second one could go to either Bologna (see Modena or Parma?) or Padua (see Vicenza?)--or perhaps to one of your others stops that feels pinched.

Thanks, acraven. We were looking to spend the night in Ravenna due to a comment made on an earlier version of the itinerary. I suppose we could go straight to Ravenna first (2 nights) and then spend the next 3 in Bologna (doing the half-day for Ferrara during that stay). Not sure if it's not six of one, half dozen of the other as to which one to do first.

In my opinion, the best thing to do in Stresa is to take the ferry (10 minutes?) to the Borromean Islands and tour the palace and gardens on Isola Bella. At the time of year you are traveling, the gardens should be splendid.

We were in Stresa in september. Stayed at a hotel that was a converted palace, gorgeous. It was the most relaxing part of my trip between Swiss alps and Venice.

Heres their website. Quite affordable. live piano every night and live singing too during some of the day. Gorgeous in every way http://www.reginapalace.it/it/gallery

Thanks for the recommendation for Stresa. First-hand knowledge is a huge help.

Do you need a car in Verona? I would investigate dropping the car off in Verona and taking the train back to Venice.

We loved Ravenna. We could not have done it as a day trip. There is a lot to see. It’s all walkable except one church that is out of town, but reachable by bus.

No, we really don't need a car in Verona, it's just we were trying to do a RT car rental instead of renting in Padua and returning in Verona or backtracking to Padua to drop it off. I'll look into a one-way rental Padua-Verona and if there isn't a significant drop-off charge for the car, we may go ahead and drop it in Verona. Thanks.