Verona or Venice

Take your mom to Venice.

Venice is the obvious choice.

The last thing you want in Venice is a rental car. There is a fast efficient train directly from Munich to Venice San Lucia station which drops you right at the Grand Canal in only 6.5 hours without the need to fight traffic, pay tolls, purchase driving vignette in Switzerland, pay to park, etc.

Or an Austrian or Slovenian vignette in this case. Don't forget to get them or it will get real expensive real fast.

Don't bother driving from Munich to Venice as it is too much of a hassle. Train is much better.

Spend all 4 nights in Venice and do a day trip to Verona. Get an early start, return late, and you will have plenty of time for Verona.

All above correct in my opinion. Train is easy. You can train from Venice to Verona as well. A day trip to Verona, to include one meal (lunch) would be just right. Visit the amphitheater from sure.

Venice is the answer.

Verona is a little over an hour by train from Venice and a non-discounted ticket is only around €25. I would day-trip to Verona from Venice... Piazza Bra is wonderful and Verona's old center is very walkable. They also have a hop-on/hop-off bus and a little tram that makes a circuit. I personally think Verona is well worth at least a day visit.

Vicenza and Padua are also worthy day trip destinations in the Veneto.

My hotel host in Vicenza swore up and down that the city of Verona "stole" the Romeo and Juliet story and that the events in the play actually occurred in Vicenza. Funny...

We made a choice between these two as well and we went with Venice. We did a day trip to Verona and had a lovely time. With four days your pace in Venice is a better pace for all there is to see. I enjoyed the lace store next to St Marks too and brought Venice lace home as gifts. It's beautiful lace. The area around Friari Church is very nice as was the Arsenal. A day trip to Verona was enough for us and included an opera in the afternoon that turned out better than expected. We were just there April 27- May 2, Five nights. One thing we loved was taking the boat up the grand canal at night after getting back from Verona, sat in the back outside seating of the boat so I got great pictures.
We did.not go to other islands and don't regret that. Verona as a day trip was enough. The lace was at Il Merletto Lace School Piazza San Marco, 95/96. They were tucked back off a walkway.

Nobody has addressed what you'll do after Venice if use train instead of car to get there. From Venice to Ljubljana, a direct DRD Bus or GoOpti shuttle is faster than regular train connections. There's also a fine direct train from Ljubljana to Munich (6.5 hours). But were you planning other, rural stops with the car and in which country? Would it work for you to get a car just for a few days within Slovenia?

It would also be possible to split the Verona/Venice nights 1/3 instead of 2/2 or 0/4. You could depart Verona any time of day.

VENICE!
Do Verona as a day trip

Agree with everyone else.

Venice and do Verona with a day trip.

I only saw Verona as a day trip and thought it was great and was able to see everything we wanted in that time with a nice loop walk. I sure a couple of night stay would also be nice but not if it comes at the expense of making 2 short trips, checking in/out twice ; especially given your party.

Wow, sounds like an overwhelming vote for Venice! Thank you all, you have helped to settle my mind. Thanks to Laura for a few different perspectives - I'll think on the idea of one night in Verona on the way.

I appreciate the advice that driving is not the ideal option for Munich to Venice, however we need the car for our onward destinations. We will use it for our time in Slovenia, then through the Austrian lakes district. It saves some awkward transfers and avoids the dreaded cross-border drop off fee as we will return it in Freilassing when we arrive in Salzburg. To be honest when I booked and prepaid the car, we weren't planning on visiting Italy at all so it made more sense!

Many thanks
Sarah

Venice.
Verona is not that interesting unless you are a history/literary buff. And Chis Marlowe did write R and J. :) Not that W.S. guy, fraud and plagiarist. :)

I loved both Venice and Verona, but I would definitly do Verona as a day trip (well worth it, the arena there is fascinating) and stay longer to enjoy and explore Venice...just soak up that amazing experience.

We did take a side trip to Verona (and stayed there one night) on our first trip to Venice, and the reason we did it was to see the opera. They perform it in the Roman Amphitheater. We saw Aida, which by itself normally has a lot of spectacle, but this was without a doubt the most spectacular and theatrical performance of anything I have ever witnessed, complete with a double sized orchestra, dancers, acrobats, elephants, and much more. And seeing it in an ancient Roman amphitheater was the icing on the cake. We didn't end up seeing much else in Verona because I had caught a cold and needed some down time. But I will never forget that one night. If the opera holds any interest for you, it is worth considering.

There is a wonderful app that I have installed on my iPhone and my iPad, called "Rome 2 Rio." You type in your start point and your destination and it show all the wonderful ways you can move from city to city. Great for planning!

There is a wonderful app that I have installed on my iPhone and my iPad, called "Rome 2 Rio." You type in your start point and your destination and it show all the wonderful ways you can move from city to city. Great for planning!

There is a wonderful app that I have installed on my iPhone and my iPad, called "Rome 2 Rio." You type in your start point and your destination and it shows all the wonderful ways you can move from city to city. Great for planning!

Wow! Triple post. Disregard whichever one you don't like.

Have been to Venice a number of times. One visit, with our 2 young kids, we drove from Munich spending the night in Innsbruck. We needed the car for Tuscany after leaving Venice so parked in the Tronchetto for 3 nights & took small carryons into Venice. Worked out fine. As other posters stated, Verona is very nice but I wld do as a day trip from Venice. Padova & the Scrovegni Chapel (make reservations) is a nice daytrip too. Who knows maybe you will decide to spend all your time in Venice. Have been 6x and still lots to see! Enjoy Slovenia! We loved Llbjiliana (sp?), Lake Bled & Julian Alps.

Thanks all. Janet, it's great to hear from someone who has done something similar. I have decided that we will stay one night just outside Verona to break up the long drive. We'll visit Verona the following morning before continuing to Venice for 3 nights.

Thanks for all of your input!