Pre Village Italy in 14 days question

Given a choice and your time constraints, I would choose Venice and that's actually what my family and I did before joining the Villages Italy tour in Padua. It's a very easy and quick (30 minute+/-) train ride to Venice. In my opinion, Florence is too far and I agree with your thinking. I think you are also correct in referring to Venice when you say: "there is no other city in the world like it"! Of course, you could always spend that extra time in Padua. There is a lot to see and do there, too. Enjoy your brief time in Venice, if that's what you decide to do and the tour.

We are taking the RS Village Italy tour that starts on Monday 4/22. On 4/17, we are flying from Boston to Paris, then catching a separate flight from Paris to Venice on 4/18. We will take the bus from the Venice airport to Padua, and will stay at the first tour hotel for four nights. We will not have to move from our room at the Padua hotel when the tour starts. I also expect that other tour members will also be arriving early at the Padua tour hotel. In addition, there is another VI tour starting on 4/20, with participants presumably staying at the same hotel. Our plan is to spend at least one day in Venice as a day trip from Padua. Since Padua is so close to Venice, we will probably stay in Venice until evening. Verona is another possibility for a day trip from Padua.

I would recommend either Venice or Padua, rather than Florence, for the reasons others have stated. My personal preference would be Padua; when we took this tour 2 years ago, we spent about 3 days pre-tour there, and had a wonderful time. Venice is amazing; and it would be fun for you to introduce your husband to it.

Bob, check into the Padova Pass; it gets you into almost every museum and point of interest in town, including the Scrovegni Chapel. Yes, the tour goes there as well, but believe me, once is not enough! And it covers streetcar fares, as well. We got the three-day pass (I think), and it paid for itself by the second day.

Well, my posts about VI always sound like I am sharing Jane's brain, lol!

I feel like the mistake I made when I did VI with my brother and SIL was I had us meet in Venice, spend 2 nights there and go out to Padua on the day the tour started. I really regretted not having more time in Padua as there was so much to see and do.

I had been in Europe for a couple of weeks so had no jet lag but they were coming from the Western US and I realized afterward that Venice was not a good location for them to get over jet lag in. We live in a very small town and Venice is a big, crowded place that can feel a bit claustrophobic and "corn-fusing".

I'd definitely fly in to Venice, but I'd head directly for Padua for your 2 nights.

BTW, this tour is so much fun!

I can’t imagine skipping Venice bur perhaps you’ll need a return trip to Italy to visit it’s cities including Venice and Florence.

We flew into Milan, then immediately hopped on the train to Verona. That was a perfect city to get over jetlag and acclimate to Italy. We spent three days there and used their Veronacard to get around & see the sights. Stayed in a RS recommended hotel near the arena. Very walkable city and easy to get the train to Padua from there. We spent three extra days pretour in Padua - one of which we took the train to Venice for the day (we had been there previously so one day there was enough for us). I think we could have done with one less day in Padua, it was very nice but not as nice as Verona in our opinion.

This is an AMAZING tour and one of our top memories! Enjoy!

Barb Y.