We are traveling from Venice to Bologna and have an "extra" day to spend. Is there any place along the train routes either via verona or directly south that would be a cool place to stop and hang out for a day/night ? We could add an extra night in either Venice or Bologna, but I am thinking it might be nice to stop at some non touristy spot. It is myself, wife and 2 kids ages 7 and 17. Thanks
Posted by
Portlandia
3313 posts
Padua or Ferrara...
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32384 posts
Bob, I'd suggest adding a day to either Venice or Bologna, and using the extra day for a day trip. That will save the time spent checking-out and checking into Hotels and the annoyance of a one-night stop. Some places you could consider for day trips are Padua or Verona. Happy travels!
Posted by
Atlanta
3267 posts
I like Ken's idea! We were just in Bologna and took a day trip to Modena. We had a nice lunch there. Verona would be a great option but it's about 1.5 hour train trip from either Venice or Bologna.
Posted by
Carbondale, IL, USA
1201 posts
I'm going to suggest ading the extra night to Venice and not doing a daytrip. There are a lot of places even in Venice proper without getting out to the lagoon, that are rarely seen by tourists.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
How about using that day to hit the other lagoon islands? San Michele, Murano, Burano and Torcello? RS has a self-guided tour of them. I bet the kids would enjoy them. The only catch is that the boat ride back from Torcello is kind of long.
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15798 posts
I like Verona a lot. The islands did not impress me at all. Torcello is a l-o-o-n-g way to go, and not all that much there. Burano was much more kitschy than anywhere else I've been in Italy. You could take an early train from Venice, leave your bags at the station, spend the day, then take an evening train to Bologna, if you don't want to spend the night. While Verona is lovely in the evening, it probably isn't worth it to change hotels yet again.
Posted by
Shawnee, OK, USA
396 posts
I vote for Verona. Great city, lots to see, great food. Wonderful Roman colosseum, ampitheatre, great castle and museum. the Adige river runs through town...it's a magical place.
I would recommend the Hotel Aurora right on the Piazza Erbe.
Posted by
Ballwin
833 posts
I would add the time onto Venice, I really loved Venice and can't wait to get back. If you want you can do a day trip to Verona or Padua, as others have mentioned, or just stay on Venice. On the outer islands, I really enjoyed Murano, it was fun to walk around and explore. Although I loved Torcello for its simplicity and lack of pretty much anything, I don't think I would do it with a 7 year old. Not much exciting to see (I enjoyed the nature and the old church, etc), and the ride back to Venice proper is very long.