Varrena and venice

Five days in Varenna would be two long for me. Three would be about right. The daytrips you would likely want to do from Varenna would be ferry rides to the other villages on the lake, esp. Bellagio. Can I suggest adding Verona to your itinerary? It's right on the way from Varenna to Venice. Start in Varenna for three nights, then Verona for three, then Venice for four. Verona is an excellent base for daytrips, though you may just fall in love with it. (Photos from our recent trip to Verona in May are here. If you do decide to stay in Verona, consider doing a stopover in Padova when you travel from there to Venice. That's what we did and really enjoyed it. Photos from our time in Padova here, although the photos don't include the highlight - the Scrovegni chapel. No photos allowed there. Rick's Venice book includes an excellent day visit itinerary to Padova. Extra bonus with adding Verona - you keep with your "V"-named cities theme. :-) Happy travels.

Hi Terri, As beautiful and relaxing as Varenna is, I agree that 5 days is too long. It is a very picturesque village and we enjoyed it very much for 3 nights as it was our first destination in Italy, but there is not a lot to do. For relaxation, the ferry rides between the various lakeside towns work well. There are lovely walks and hikes (uphill) to enjoy and nice restaurants IMHO Verona has a lot to offer (especially culture) and would be a convenient location between Venice and Varenna. We are returning to Venice but not the other two as we want to see more of the south in our April/May 2012 trip. Buon viaggio, Sherry

We originally had planned on Verona and then thought maybe just do day trips out of Varenna. So now we are back to a couple of days to Verona!! How does this sound: We fly into Milan on Mon. 3 nights in Varenna. 2 nights in Verona and 4 or 5 nights in Venice, either leaving Venice the following Wed pm or Thur am. I wasn't sure how the jet lag would effect us, so I thought the extra days in Varenna would help.

I think your revised plan sounds good 5 days in Varenna would certainly be relaxing and if you took it really slow you could maybe fill 4 days
adding Verona is a good choice

I think it is good that you are staying less time in Varenna and adding Verona. As much as I enjoyed Varenna and Lake Como, I think 5 days is too long. If you are looking for something fun to do in Varenna, you might want to consider a cooking class. Chef Moreno at Il Caminetto puts on a good and very reasonably priced class. In Verona, you might want to look into getting a Verona Pass. I got mine at the train station. It includes admission to many sites and also public transportation. It not only saved us money, but we ended up going to really interesting places we may have passed on if we had to pay the admission fee. Have a great trip!!

Thank you for all the help. Do you think 5 nights is too much in Venice?

In my opinion, 5 nights is not too many in Venice.

We spent 6 nights in Venice on our second trip there and repeated very little from the first trip. Venice is a fabulous place to just walk. You don't need to go into every museum or church, but do pop into a few. In 10 total nights there over the course of 15 months, we haven't even made it to the Guggenheim or Accademia yet (next time!). If it's sunny we stay outside and walk all over this fascinating city. With a long stay you can take one day to go to Murano, Burano and Torcello, or even a day trip to Padova. Haven't done it yet, but I'd like to take the cruise up the Brent a Canal. Must sees are the Frari Church, Basilica di San Marco and the museum above it, the bell tower at San Giorgio Maggiore, the outer islands mentioned above, but also just walk and see the different sestieri. I really like the book "24 Great Walks in Venice" as a way to get off the beaten path.

This is such a helpful site! We have already confirmed a villa at Hotel Olivedo in Varenna and B & B in Verona, Residena Carducci at the recommendations of others on this site! Now looking for accomodations for Venice. We do plan on returning to Italy next year as well touring Tuscany. With that said, I think we will do 4 days in Varenna, 2 in Verona and 4 in Venice. When we return, we can start in Venice and head toward Florence and Tuscany!

sounds perfect

Five nights in Venice would not be too much for me, but Venice isn't to everyone's taste. FWIW, Venice isn't known for great food, although there are enough good restaurants for five days. I would do 3-3-4 for your ten days.

I have spent 5 nights in Venice, twice, and commuted in for a different 4 nights. I'd do it again in a New York minute. But that's me. YMMV. I get to Venice most years.

Terri, With only a 10-day time frame, I agree with the others that splitting your time between Varenna, Verona and Venice would be a good combination. However, I'd split the time a bit differently, with 4 days in Varenna, 2 days in Verona and the remainder in Venice. Due to the fact that you're not sure how much you might be affected by jet lag, IMO it would be better to allow some extra time at the start of the trip to "acclimatize". It will likely take a couple of days to get up to "touring speed". Varenna is an excellent place to recover from a long flight. You could spend one day exploring Varenna, perhaps a short hike up the hill and day trips to Bellagio, Mennagio or other spots on the lake. There are some very elegant Villas that can be visited. Verona has the magnificent Amphitheatre and although Opera season may be over by then, it's still interesting to see it. Of course, there's also the fictitious "Romeo & Juliet" garden and balcony (very touristy but interesting). Piazza Bra and Piazza Erbe are both very "scenic". Venice has LOTS to keep busy with, and it's a great city to wander about (difficult to get lost, as you're on an island). I felt that the Doge's Palace was a great site to visit. If you're interested in Art, you could also visit the Guggenheim Gallery. Is this your first trip to Italy? I'd highly recommend packing along a copy of the Italy 2012 Guidebook, as it's a fantastic resource to plan touring and transportation. The print copy is available now (I just bought a copy) and the E-book version should be available shortly. Buon Viaggio!

And when you go to Venice, be sure to wander away from the crowded parts. That's where a huge amount of the charm of Venice can be found. And it's very easy to do. Here are some pictures of uncrowded Venice from our trip there in May of 2011. Most were taken in the Cannaregio district of Venice. And if you like those, check out a bigger set of our photos from that same trip to Venice, our third time there. Happy travels.

suggestions for Venice: I agree that Frari and other churches mentioned are great destinations, and wandering the length of the island is great fun. We walked along the water toward the "tail of the fish" and had a lovely waterview dinner at sunset for much less than in the St. Mark's area. We stayed nr St. Marks and St. Zaccharias and went to the SZ church and visited crypt downstairs (www.louisamarionphotography.com, the ITALY postings on her blog, shows my daughter's photo of the crypt. BTW, she didn't bring her big "fancy" camera and got great results w a little Canon S95) If you do go to big sights like Doge's Palace (excellent) and St. Mark's, try going when they first open in the a.m. We did, and it was a good idea.
The area is packed from about 10 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m. Once you get away from that area, we found crowds not a problem and really enjoyed ourselves. We got the vaparetto pass partly through our second day and used it to go all around when we got tired. used it to go out to Murano (beautiful place) start early if you want to go to more islands on that one trip; we ran out of time. Last use of pass: to the station to leave Venice; then gave it to a young couple to use to go down the grand canal. We were in Venice 5 days in early October, not too long, IMO. Have a great time!

When I was in Venice last month I stayed 8 wonderful days!!!

Where is a good place to stay in Venice?

We've been to Venice three times and stayed at Pensione Guerrato the first two of those times. As for the third time, we ended up wishing we had stayed at PG. It's a big favorite on this board.