Venice "add on" Suggestions

I would rule out Switzerland, since it is very expensive. If you want a mountain experience, you could go to Slovenia. Ljubljana is a beautiful city about 2.5 hours away if you will have a car. There are so many beautiful areas nearby, including Lake Bled. You could also continue to Salzburg.

Spain could be pretty hot by that time, so keep that in mind.

Venice is so unique that anywhere else will be unique in comparison. By entirely different do you mean nowhere else in Italy? Because Venice to Rome to Naples would be 3 surprisingly different experiences.

I would visit Slovenia. You're nearby so you're not spending an inordinate time traveling.

Perhaps a short stop at Trieste, Italy before Slovenia; which gets overlooked on the Italian tourism scene...if you're a coffee aficionado, Trieste is the coffee capitol of Italy.

Slovenia is the joining of the Latin, Germanic and Slavic worlds. When you get there you'll see/taste the merging of the different cultures.
Ljubliana (capitol) is a great small city to visit and spend some time.

For some alpine scenery and Alps culture, Lake Bled & Lake Bohinj are both lakeside resorts, Bled being more upscale versus Bohinj being more adventurous.

Rent a car and drive through Triglav Nat'l Park and spend a night in Kobrid nestled in the Soca Valley. Kobarid is home to Ana Ros who's arguable one of the top chefs in the entire world, not to mention the region is home to tasty Tolmin cheese. ;-)

Thanks for the initial feedback. Prefer train for travel. Strongly considering a start in Barcelona with train to destinations between Barcelona and Venice. Think we've ruled out Switzerland and Palermo due to cost and travel considerations. As for Italy, we've been to Rome, Florence, Pisa, Umbria - prefer not to repeat. Input on Monaco or Marseille? Milan? More on Slovenia? Our 22 year old daughter will be with us and I'm sure she's not interested in too much time in sleepy towns nor hiking in the mountains...

...due to cost and travel considerations...

With those thoughts in mind, have you considered Padua, Vicenza, and Verona? They are all close to Venice, and are in a straight line so no backtracking. Of course you could stay in Venice and do day trips to those places. Also, a day trip to Murano and Burano can consume almost a full day. See if the daughter has any interest in those places. Just food for thought.

Google direct flights from Venice. See what pops up that might interest you.

For instance, I looked at a Venice to Munich connection a while ago (didn't do it in the end). I don't know if that is still an option, but the low cost carriers in Europe do have a lot of direct connections that we might not think of coming from the US.

If you plan an open-jaw return, your second (or third) add-on to Venice might fit the bill for your return to the US.

What are your daughters’ thoughts on another place to visit? As suggested by others, I would look at Slovenia or Croatia as they would provide a different atmosphere to Italy and travel to and from is fairly easy, albeit a bit of time on a train. Or you might look at ferry service from Venice to Croatia. Not sure if there is ferry service to Slovenia, but may be something to Piran.

So you wish to fly into someplace else, and then travel to Venice by train? If so, that is great, because arriving in Venice by train is way the best. Instead of the sometimes complicated logistics of getting from the airport to your hotel, you walk out of the train station and you’re there, with a great view of the Grand Canal spread out in front of you.

Then, if that is the case, I would not rule out Switzerland entirely. British Airways has a sale right now and is offering bargain-basement fares to Milan—-like $900 round trip in mid-July. The options included flights on American Airlines, which I believe is an option from Cleveland. If those fares still exist (I saw them last night), you could save enough on airfare to fund a few days in Switzerland. There are several options:

From Milan, take the train from Milano Centrale to Lugano, and spend one night there. Next day, take the direct train to Luzern on the scenic Gotthard Pass route (lucky you, the deep tunnel under the Alps is closed, so all trains, even the “fast” ones are using the scenic route. Spend 2 nights in Luzern or nearby. This is a good choice in late May because the elevation is low and snow-free.

From Luzern, you have several options for returning to Italy and heading toward Venice. I will suggest one that mostly stays at lower elevations and gives you more lakeside time and scenic train trips. Here is a Swiss rail map so you can see the route:

https://www.sbb.ch/content/dam/internet/sbb/en/freizeit-ferien/inspiration/internationale-gaeste/Geltungsbereich-Swiss-Travel-Pass.pdf.sbbdownload.pdf

From Luzern, you take the scenic Golden Pass route ( one of the highlighted Scenic Train routes on the map) west, aiming for Spiez, but you have various options for a stop for an overnight or two.

If you want to see the classic alpine villages of the Berner Oberland that are so popular here, leave the train at Interlaken Ost and change to a train heading to Lauterbrunnen, in a valley that looks a lot like Yosemite. The villages of Wengen and Mürren are perched on cliffs above the valley. You could easily stay 2 nights in Lauterbrunnen and visit one or both villages, and explore the waterfalls in the valley. The high mountain hiking trails will likely not be open, but there is plenty to see and do without those. Including riding up then Schilthorn if that is on your wishlist.

Or you could skip the alpine villages and stay on one of the lakes, in Brienz, Spiez, or Thun. (not Interlaken—-if you want to stop there you might as well go the extra 25 minutes to Lauterbrunnen—it is so much mor scenic.

Whichever you choose, your next train journey is back into Italy. Take the southbound train from Spiez to Brig, and change there to a train heading toward Milan. But make sure it is one that stops in Stresa, on Lago Maggiore so you can spent the night (or 2) there.

https://www.stresaturismo.it/en/

From Stresa, if you are out of time and want to head straight to Venice, it is 4-4.5 hours, with a single change at Milano Centrale.

But if you have wanted to see Milan, now is your chance. Or you could go past Milan and stop in the lovely hill town of Bergamo, a short detour from the main train line.

https://www.visitbergamo.net/en/

Another option would be the lakeside town of Desenzano del Garda, right on the main train line. With a night or two here, you can take the ferry over to Sirmione (40 minutes) a see the famed town and the Grottoes of Catullus.

https://www.bresciatourism.it/en/things-to-do/catullus-grottoes-sirmione/

If you are interested in this option I can suggest a very nice hotel.

I know this looks like a lot of train time and a lot of stops, but it seems you are contemplating travel from Barcelona to Venice by train, which would require at least 22-24 hours on trains and lots of stops. This would be as many stops but less train time—-each journey is 3-4 hours at most, and so scenic.

Input on Monaco or Marseille? Milan? More on Slovenia? Our 22 year old daughter will be with us and I'm sure she's not interested in too much time in sleepy towns nor hiking in the mountains...

Monaco will be fabulously expensive, if you ruled-out Switzerland due to cost considerations then Monaco shouldn't even be in the conversation. Marseille is a major port city that has its charms but, if you're looking to experience the Cote d'Azur, there's twenty other places along the Mediterranean you can visit before Marseille itself.

Milan is a major city, some find it charmless as it's focused around fashion, finance and design. There's a number of notable destinations like the Cathedral, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, Da Vinci's Last Supper painting, and LaScala (Milan opera house). While Milan does have older buildings, you're not going to find a Centro Storico like Rome, Barcelona or, smaller towns with ancient ruins, what you are going to see if lots of modern buildings with unique designs along with a lot of bland office buildings along with no shortage of fashion boutiques. Lake Como is a short nearby day trip, the attraction of Bellagio and other lake side destinations is an attraction for many, you can kill 2-3 days exploring around the Lake and its many communities. Turin is halfway to the French border, a modern university town with a broad variety of architecture, many prefer visiting Turin over big-city Milan. You can also spend time around Emlia-Romagna, visit Bologna, Modena, Parma, Ravenna and its excellent mosaics and Ferrara.

If you're not going to explore the surrounding Veneto-area (Padua, Verona, etc.) then Slovenia checks a lot of the boxes you're seeking for cultural variety, inexpensive and quick. The entire country isn't mountainous, the coastal city of Piran provides a nice slice of Adriatic seaside culture, Škocjan Caves are also nearby inland, mix-in a visit with Trieste and Croatia's Istria and finish in Ljubliana will make for a nice trip.

I ran out of room, but I will just add that I compared prices for Luzern hotels and Barcelona hotels in late May on booking.com and they were prett;y much the same—-$250 -$350 a night for nice (rated 8.5 or better on booking.com) but not luxurious hotels, including the popular Hotel des Alpes and Hotel Anker.

Lugano the same or a bit less, for mid-week dates. There isd a nice one-bedroom apartment for $225 for 4 people (how many are you, by the way?)

Lauterbrunnen hotels are almost booked up for the nights I checked, but there are some good apartment options. Or you could try Wengen—-they should still be on low-season pricing.

Since you originally listed Switzerland as a possible option, just didn’t want you to dismiss it as “too expensive” without actually checking the prices.

Also compare the cost of the train journeys. Cross-border tickets between Italy and Switzerland (you would have two of these) are deeply discounted if you buy them 2-3 months in advance. I once saved $500 on tickets for 4 of us from Zurich to Milan and Milan back to Zurich by buying them well in advance.

I have seen Barcelona on a number of travel sites’ “don’t go”. lists because of overtourism, along with Amsterdam, Dubrovnik snd yes, Venice.

Just Google “ overtourism Barcelona” and you will find articles like this one in the Guardian.

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/25/overtourism-in-europe-historic-cities-sparks-backlash

ok. trip is starting to take shape. start may 26 in barcelona. depart may 29 to nice. depart may 31 to milan. depart jun 1 to either bologna OR stay north and experience dolomites (aware we can't hike this time of year). depart evening jun 3 to venice for final 3 days. travel by train. thoughts?

we were really hoping to do hot air balloon. also something active in dolomite region.

any and all input is appreciated! places to stay, dine, things to do...