We are going to be crossing Northern Italy (from west to east) this summer. We have about 4 days and the lake region is a priority. Venice is not a must and we won't go as far south as Bologna. Any suggestions?
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Following. Northern Italy is pretty close to the top of our international to-do list.
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I have no real suggestions because you'll be too far North, but next time, you must go to Cinque Terra!
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We did lake como a few years ago. We staying in a small town further in to the lake (bellagio i think). Beautiful walks (i think we did almost 20km/day), amazing olives and sooo much wine! The biggest thing is to figure out the ferry/train schedules to get around, it's fairly seasonal but summer should be busy and more services. It is so pretty!
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A fun place to stop for a day is Trento. Beautiful piazzas, lots of gelato shops, gorgeous mountain views. Not much more than a day trip, but I bet there is great hiking nearby too!
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@lamariniere: That sounds AMAZING, I would love to get to this part of Italy. I've traveled a good portion of Italy, but not up north yet!
I would think Como would be a definite visit... And Arona looks really beautiful... and that's pretty far west... not really sure about further east! Verona would probably be fun to go through one day.
have fun!
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Murano and Burano?
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We flew into Milan which I thought was the most modern and least interesting city we visited but we only spent the night there. From Milan we hit Verona which was beautiful then onto Venice where we spent 3 amazing days. The last 2 days of our trip we took a speed train from Rome to Milan to lake como where we stayed in this tiny town outside of bellagio at a B&B on the lake..lake como was a serious highlight in our 3 week trip, let me know if you any other questions!
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Lake Orta is beautiful...smaller than the others but the swimming is divine especially after a long drive. Lake Como really is stunning and worthy of spending time and the surrounding villages are just so unbelievable - plus good food!
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@Truth Bombs: so much Italy, so little time!
@Banana330: @hellobeeboston: Como is definitely high on the list! I'm slightly worried about crazy summer crowds though.
@Mrs. Microscope: thanks! I don't know if we'll do a ton of hiking since we'll have our kiddos, but the town looks very cute, and who doesn't want lots of gelato?!
@MrsSRS: those places look super cute, but I think we're going to avoid that area since we will be in Italy at the peak of tourist season.
@Pinkberrry: we'll probably at least stop in Milan and Verona since they are on our way east. Any suggestions in either of those places? And tell me more about this b&b near Bellagio!
@Nutella: I'm really curious about the smaller lakes. A friend told me she really likes lake Iseo.
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@lamariniere: I lived in Milan for a few years (DH is from there) and naturally we spent a lot of time going here and there. So let me see...
Como area is great. Take your pick of little towns on the lake. There are ferries, funavia and funiculare to the different towns. Directly from Como, you can take the funiculare to Brunate. They have a great lighthouse with an amazing view. I concur that Bellagio is quite special.
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...Wasn't done obviously!!
At the less touristed side of Como is Lecco. Beautiful!
Iseo is a great place to spend the day. So is Lago Sirmione and
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Every time I move away from the page, my post is submitted. Annoying.
I meant Sirmione and Lago di Garda, another lake that is less universally travelled about but Italians love. Salo (I think is the name, but I dare check!) is also beautiful and on the lake.
Away from the lakes, Bergamo is fantastic. Old Bergamo is up on the hill and I think you can get there by funacular. No cars drive within Old Bergamo so it's more contained and streets are safer for kids, etc.
One of my favorite regions is above Trento in Trentino Alto Adige. Here if you know German it is as useful as Italian. The city is Bolzano but there are many different valleys that are just beautiful to spend time in. I've spent weeks here. Val di Non is the family favorite so we always go there. Eat all the speck and canederli. Mmmm. Above Bolzano is the Alpe dei Suisi which is a wonderful place to spend one day or several. It's a wide open meadow in this alps like in the movie Heidi or Sound of Music!
The nice thing is that there are easy hikes from hotel to restaurant to other destination, so very kid friendly. You can arrive by ski lift for the day and I think you can only drive up if you stay overnight. So many other great little towns and places in Alto Adige. The Alps here are incredible!Around Genova on the Med, some great little Ligurian beach towns are Santa Magherita, Varigotti, Bergeggi and so many others I can remember the names of. There are trails connecting many of these too just like in Cinque Terre.
Back on the west side, someone mentioned Verona and that is very loved by Italians as well.
Hope that helps! If anything else comes to mind, I'll let you know.
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We did that for our honeymoon! We did Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre (my favorite place in the world!), and Lake Como (bellagio). We stayed in airBnBs in all these places and it was amazing and so much cheaper than hotels!
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@Amorini: I knew there was someone around here who had lived in Italy, this is really great! Also, that's good to know about the beach towns along the way to Genoa since we will most likely be on that road as we are driving from France.
@MissLace: Sounds like an amazing tour! I wish we had time to go to all of those places. Good idea about airBnbs. Once we hammer out an itinerary, I'll start looking into lodgings.
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@lamariniere: sounds so fun!! You'll have to do Venice another time. It is really beautiful and has so much history. Plus it might be submerged at some point due to climate change.
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@sunny: DH and I have each gone separately so we don't feel the need to do it this time. I would love to go back, maybe without kids sometime.
The nice thing is that there are easy hikes from hotel to restaurant to other destination, so very kid friendly. You can arrive by ski lift for the day and I think you can only drive up if you stay overnight. So many other great little towns and places in Alto Adige. The Alps here are incredible!
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