Venice and day trip to Modena

Where are you going after Venice? Could you do it as a stopover to somewhere else? If you only have 3 days in Venice, why waste one of them going to Modena for some vinegar and cheese? They have that in Venice you know.

It's also about 2-1/2 hours by the fastest train routes. If you travel by train, you need to add the time to get to the train station from your hotel in Venice. If you travel by car, you have to add the time to get to a car-rental agency and deal with the administrative details. A car is worthless in Venice, so I assume you won't have one while you're staying there. If you're using a car both before and after Venice, you'll have to park it outside the historic area and will have to spend time getting to that parking lot from your Venice hotel. My point is that it won't be a 5-hour round-trip; it will take longer than that, possibly quite a lot longer.

Modena is a popular side trip for the reasons you mention, but folks are typically taking that trip from Florence or Bologna, which are much closer to Modena. You'd be giving up essentially a full day in Venice in order to have half a day at most in Modena. Only you can decide what is worth more to you.

2 hours and 12 minutes to be exact, by hourly morning trains (change in Bologna). The Enzo Ferrari Museum is walking distance of the train station, and Trenitalia does have same-day return tickets at a discount.

The largest Ferrari museum is at the Ferrari factory about 16 km outback of town, but the smaller Ferrari museum near the train station is very enjoyable.

Thanks so much for all your responses. It’s been very helpful. After Venice we are continuing on to Croatia. I think we’ll drop the side trip to Modena and spend the extra day in Venice. Thanks!

We stopped in Trieste between Croatia and Venice. It was a wonderful city to explore.