Venice to Lake Como

Thank you for your responses! Reasonably priced means about 150 euros to me! Wish we had known about the Bardolino festival, but won't be there at that time. I'll check out your recommendations. We will probably have a car as we want to stay in one place for several nights and make day visits to other places. All ideas welcomed!

Have no clue what "reasonably priced" means to you. I live in LA. Have you seen what our housing prices are?!? Totally out of whack compared to the rest of the country. That said, VRBO and Airbnd are websites worth looking at for accommodations. I would suggest a stop in Milan. Lovely city and if you've made your reservations you can see The Last Supper. Enjoy your trip. Lovely part of Italy.

While in Venice last october, we took an overnighter to Bardolino on Lake Garda. They have their annual wine festival (festa dell uva) which was fabulous. Rented a car and drove from venice to bardolino, rented room at hotel nettuno with view of lake, parked car and didn't use it until next day when we left. walked the promenade to festival, bought souvenir glass and tasted as much of the bardolino wines at booths for a couple euros along with food. went on a sunday since that was fireworks night. the festival is end of sept to first of oct for 5 days. any one that has time to attend, you are in for a treat. just bring your euros (coins and small denominations). LakeGardaExclusively.com has lots of info Miss Pupule

Will you have a car? Travel by train? That will make a difference in recommendations. I really liked Verona. I think it is worth at least a 2 night stay.

It might be helpful to know what resources you've already consulted. For example, do you have the RS Italy 2011 book yet? It's loaded with this kind of info. Also helpful would be to know what you enjoy doing. Just as with "reasonably priced," that answer varies greatly from person to person. Verona was a highlight of our most recent trip. Verona 2011 Happy travels.

When thinking about what we like to do it is pretty all encompassing! We're looking into a cooking class and just 'melting' into the life of Italy: eating, seeing, and feeling! RS does not include any info on Lake Garda which is why I'm trying to discover the best and most convenient place to stay in that area for several days! I'm trying to have only 4 different hotels each with 3 night stays between Venice and Lake Como. Suggestions?

We took a cooking class in Varenna at Lake Como. It was one of the highlights of our trip. It was at Il CamInetto. They will pick you up in town and drive you up to the restaurant. They picked us up at 10:00 and dropped us off at about 5:00, so it is a very full day. But so much fun! Chef Moreno speaks excellent English and is very funny. As for Verona, which I mentioned before...it is so much more than Romeo and Juliet. There is a lot to see and do there. It is also near Lake Garda. We got a Verona Pass, which more than paid for itself. I can't suggest any lodging there, as we stayed in an apartment. It appears the owner is no longer renting it out. You might consider apartment stays. It can be more economical than hotels, etc. I use vrbo.com or homeaway.com to search for apartments. Have fun with your planning.