A floating open-air museum, Venice is one of the world’s greatest cities and someplace that everyone wants to visit at least once. But that greatness also makes it crowded, and a whistle-stop tour of this fragile city’s sights only contributes to its overtourism.
Solution: stay longer. A week is a decent amount of time to get a feel for Venice beyond the crowds, and then you can work in a couple of day trips outside of the canals. The Italian railway system is excellent, and in this part of the country, regular high-speed trains can whisk you away to a completely different environment in less than half an hour. Push on for about two hours and you can reach mountain heights or taste another region of Italy entirely.
When you are ready to go beyond the pleasures of La Serenissima, point yourself toward a few of these nearby destinations.
1. See world-changing art in Padua
Travel time: 26 minutes
If it wasn’t so close to Venice, Padua would be one of northern Italy’s most feted cities. As it is, not many tourists make it to the place that changed art history, yet it’s one of the easiest day trips from Venice by train. Here, just 10 minutes’ walk from the train station, the Florentine master Giotto spent two years, from 1303 to 1305, frescoing the Scrovegni Chapel from top to bottom. What he produced shattered medieval artistic conventions, introducing perspective and humanizing the figures, instead of rendering them as stiff and sculptural. If his Nativity and Flight to Egypt scenes are familiar, that’s because they make regular appearances on holiday cards worldwide.
Other sights include the colossal Basilica di Sant’Antonio – where the remains of Saint Anthony of Padua are kept – and Prato della Valle, a huge square (possibly Europe’s largest) where grand statues of local luminaries stand guard over a moated island. (Join the residents and buy a pizza at nearby Pizzeria Orsucci, going strong since 1922, and eat it in the square.) Looking for souvenirs? Don’t miss the busy food market at Piazza delle Erbe. Bottega del Pane is a pantry of exceptional local foods.
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How to get to Padua from Venice: The easiest way to get there is by train. Fast trains can take as little as 26 minutes, and slower (cheaper) regional trains need nearly double that time.
2. Pay homage to Romeo and Juliet in Verona
Travel time: 72 minutes
In fair Verona, where we set our scene, little has changed since the 16th century, when Shakespeare set Romeo and Juliet here. The Piazza delle Erbe still hosts a lively market beneath its frescoed palazzos; the Adige river still loops around the elegant center; and the impeccably laid out Giardino Giusti garden hasn’t undergone anything more radical than a trim in 500 years. Juliet may not have existed in real life, but her spirit lives at Casa di Giulietta – complete with balcony, of course – and her bronze statue is said to bring love to those who rub its breast (nobody could accuse Italy of being politically correct).
Verona may be considered a getaway for romantics, but its real attraction is the Roman Arena. Back in the day, the amphitheater, constructed from rosy pink stone from a local quarry, held gladiator battles. Today, it’s rather more sophisticated – its annual opera festival is one of Italy’s iconic summer events.
How to get to Verona from Venice: The train is the fastest and easiest way to get there. Depending on whether you choose a fast train (Verona is on the Milan-Venice route) or a slower, cheaper regional one, the journey ranges between 72 minutes and nearly two and a half hours.
3. See bombastic Renaissance architecture in Vicenza
Travel time: 44 minutes
Just as Padua is overshadowed by Venice, Vicenza is the overlooked sibling of Verona. It wasn’t like this 500 years ago, when dignitaries were building palazzos, each grander than the last, along what was the Roman decumanus (main drag) and is now called Corso Palladio, after Renaissance starchitect and adopted vicentino Andrea Palladio. You can still walk along the street like the Romans did – the only thing that’s changed is that it’s pedestrianized and the “most elegant street in Europe,” according to 19th-century historian Cesare Cantù.
The jewel in Vicenza’s crown, though, is the Teatro Olimpico, designed by Palladio. The theater’s interior is crafted entirely from wood, stucco and plaster to aid the acoustics, and its trompe l’oeil stage set is the oldest in the world.
If you have a car, it’s worth driving around the countryside, which is littered with sumptuous villas also designed by Palladio – La Rotonda is one of the finest.
How to get to Vicenza from Venice: Fast trains from Venice are from 44 minutes, or it’s a 50-minute drive.
4. Hit the water at Lago di Garda
Travel time: 93 minutes
The trip from Venice to Lago di Garda, Italy’s largest lake, makes for a fun day on public transport. Disembark from the train at Desenzano and the waterside world is your oyster. Ferries zigzag across the lake – top stops include Lazise, a picture-perfect village on the crystal clear water; Gargnano, where you’ll find Limonaia La Malora, one of the few remaining lemon groves that Garda used to be famous for; and Limone sul Garda, where there’s a footpath cantilevered over the water on the outskirts of town.
At Sirmione, a peninsula thrusting into the lake from the southern shore, there are the remains of a Roman villa, the Grotte di Catullo, while on a hill above Gardone Riviera is Il Vittoriale degli Italiani, the former home of writer Gabriele D’Annunzio. The views from the rambling grounds (which include a warship dug into the hill) are spectacular. It’s a great family day trip, but you may want to extend it overnight – it’s a superb destination to combine with Venice.
How to get to Lago di Garda from Venice: To do it all by public transport, you can take the train to Desenzano, then catch a ferry to the towns and villages around the lake. Otherwise, you can drive from Venice or rent a car in Desenzano or, if you’re sticking to the east side of the lake, Verona.
5. See a mini Venice without crowds at Chioggia
Travel time: 75 minutes
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Perched at the southern end of the Venice lagoon, Chioggia is close to Venice on a map, but getting there by road is tortuous. That’s why you should visit during the summer, when one of Europe’s most beautiful public transport routes runs: the 11 line, which takes the form of a bus all the way along the Lido island, then transfers to a ferry across to Pellestrina and continues the length of this toothpick-thin island separating the lagoon from the Adriatic, before dropping you off for a final ferry crossing to Chioggia.
Chioggia shares a lot of characteristics with its superstar neighbor – both are settlements clumped over islands and linked by bridges. But where Venice has an elegant feel of decay, Chioggia is a living, working town. Instead of tourist gondolas, you’ll see fishing boats lined along the canals. There are even cars driving on the streets. Don’t miss the church of San Domenico, where a painting of Saint Paul by Renaissance artist Carpaccio sits in the dark alongside votive paintings by fishermen. It’s a brilliantly atmospheric yet cheap day trip from Venice.
How to get to Chioggia from Venice: Take a vaporetto from the city to the Lido, where the 11 brings you eastward, transfers to a ferry to Pellestrina, continues to the end of the island, then drops you off at the ferry for Chioggia. This route is only active in summer. Otherwise, it’s about an hour’s drive (but on frustratingly slow roads) south of Venice.
6. Travel back in time to mysterious Ferrara
Travel time: 49 minutes
Often mist-swirled and always mysterious, Ferrara is a time machine back to the Renaissance. The Castello Estense, the ominous brick castle of the Este dynasty, dominates the city. You can now go for a boat ride in the moat that once separated the family from the citizens and mooch through the castle, which was one of Italy’s cultural capitals 500 odd years ago. Fancy a taste of their lifestyle? Much of Ferrara’s traditional food comes from the Este family’s Renaissance cookbook. Pasticcio di maccheroni is a sweet pastry shell filled with macaroni, cheese, and meat ragù and béchamel sauces), and salama da sugo (a spicy sausage) served with mash is reputed to have been Lucrezia Borgia’s favorite food. The dishes are both an acquired taste and a fascinating glimpse into how they ate hundreds of years ago.
Ferrara’s Palazzo dei Diamanti, an exhibition space in a 15th-century palace whose facade is studded with diamond-shaped stones, reopened in 2023 after being closed for two years. It was originally damaged in a 2012 earthquake, along with much of the city. Its exhibitions are usually top-notch and well worth the trip.
Until WWII, Ferrara had a renowned Jewish community; this was the setting for The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, by Giorgio Bassani, and you can still wander the narrow streets of what used to be the Jewish quarter. Learn the history of the community – both here and more widely in Italy – at the exceptional Museo Nazionale dell’Ebraismo Italiano e della Shoah (National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah).
How to get to Ferrara from Venice: It’s easiest to go by rail. High-speed trains take under an hour, while regional ones are about 90 minutes. Otherwise, it’s an easy 75-minute drive along the autostrada, but it’s a toll road and city center parking is expensive.
7. Soak up the cross-cultural history of Trieste
Travel time: 1 hour 50 minutes
It takes a while to get to Trieste – about two hours by train or a quicker (but stressful) drive – but it’s absolutely worth it. Reward an early start with a capo in b, a micro-sized cappuccino served in an espresso glass. This area used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, so the coffee scene is more Vienna than Venice. Instead of downing an espresso at the bar, people sit down with a newspaper to savor their break. Caffè degli Specchi is the place to go – it sits on Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia, with frothy Habsburg-era buildings on three sides and the sparkling Gulf of Trieste on the fourth.
Wander the old city – home to Roman ruins and the 15th-century Castello di San Giusto, which has spectacular views over the water – then head northwest from the center to Castello di Miramare, a fairy-tale castle of gleaming white stone, cantilevered over the water. On the way back into town, take a dip; the sidewalk doubles as a sun terrace, where the triestini lay out their towels, sunbathe and hop in the calm waters of the gulf to cool off.
How to get to Trieste from Venice: It’s quickest to drive, at around 1 hour 50 minutes, but the road is a busy autostrada with tolls. Better to take the slower but scenic train, which weaves around the lagoons at the very northern tip of the Adriatic Sea.
8. Eat some of Italy’s best food in Bologna
Travel time: 93 minutes
Where to go from Venice by train? Further than you think. By high-speed rail, it’s easy to turn Italy’s culinary capital into a day trip. Step off the Frecciarossa (“red arrow” train) into La Rossa (the Red, one of Bologna’s nicknames, along with the Learned and the Fat) for a day of shameless indulgence.
Wander the streets of the Quadrilatero (hosting food stalls since the medieval period), take a pasta-making class (we like the offerings at Salumeria da Bruno & Franco) and end with an aperitivo on Piazza Maggiore, Bologna’s main square, where the hulking Fontana del Nettuno dominates one side and the Basilica di San Petronio, a barnlike church, dominates the other. Any of the restaurants will do right by you – must-try dishes are tagliatelle al ragù, tortellini in brodo (tiny pasta pockets with a meaty, cheesy filling and swimming in broth) and cotoletta alla petroniana or alla bolognese (a veal cutlet swathed in prosciutto, layered with cheese, then baked to oozing perfection).
How to get to Bologna from Venice: It’s easiest by train – high-speed Frecciarossa trains can whisk you there in around an hour and a half. It’s roughly the same by car, though you should account for autostrada tolls, and the road is quite monotonous.
9. Wallow in volcanic mud in the Euganean Hills
Travel time: 24 minutes
The wider region around Venice, the Veneto, tends to be pretty flat. The Euganean Hills – a group of 81 conelike volcanic hills in the plains south of Padua – are an exception.
Their volcanic origin should give you a hint that Italy’s famed thermal spas are nearby. You can reach various springs and spas that have been going since Roman times in the neighboring small towns of Montegrotto and Abano Terme. Along with the other nearby towns Galzignano, Battaglia and Teolo, they’re said to form the oldest and largest thermal spa in Europe, with 240 thermal pools among them. One of our favorites is at the Abano Ritz Hotel Terme, family- and female-owned for three generations. The thermal mud used in the balneotherapy treatments comes from right beside the hotel, and the pools stay a constant 33°C (91.4°F), thanks to the thermal waters that spent 25 years and 100km (62 miles) underground before gushing out exactly here.
Don’t spend all your time wallowing, though. The whole area is designated as the Euganean Hills Regional Park, and there are trails for hiking, cycling and horse riding, as well as breathtaking views from behind the wheel if you prefer a road trip. Visit one of the sprawling Renaissance country villas (try Villa Barbarigo, known as the hills’ answer to Versailles, near Galzignano). Can’t go to Italy without seeing some Roman remains? You’ll find bits of 2000-year-old spas at Montegrotto and Abano.
How to get to the Euganean Hills from Venice: Trains take between 24 and 50 minutes to reach the Terme Euganee-Abano-Montegrotto station, which serves the spa towns. If you want to explore the park, though, you’ll need a car – it’s about an hour-long drive from Venice.
10. Climb into the Dolomites at Cortina d’Ampezzo
Travel time: 2 hours
Drive due north from Venice and within an hour you’ll be winding up through mountain passes toward the heart of the Dolomites. At Pieve di Cadore, the birthplace of Renaissance painter Titian (his home is now a museum), paintings by the artist’s family hang in the church. From there, fork west, hugging the mountainsides, to Cortina d’Ampezzo.
This is one of Italy’s most chichi ski resorts, but there’s plenty to do year-round, from hiking to eating (try the Michelin-starred SanBrite, whose owners source all their ingredients locally). This is part of the Ladin community, an ancient population of mountain dwellers with their own language and traditions. Learn about the Ladins and the Regole – essentially a collection of families who govern the town – at the Ethnographic Museum, housed in an old sawmill.
How to get to Cortina d’Ampezzo from Venice: This is definitely one to drive. The two hours by car (or 80 minutes from Venice Marco Polo Airport) grows to a minimum of four by public transport and you’ll have to change at least twice.
11. Wind back the centuries at Aquileia
Travel time: 80 minutes
Across the border in Friuli Venezia Giulia and en route to Trieste is this time capsule, where the history of the northern Adriatic is layered like a lasagna. One of the richest cities of the early Roman Empire before it was destroyed by the Huns in the fifth century CE, present-day Aquileia doesn’t reveal a lot from that era – most of it lies below fields and hasn’t been excavated – but the Roman Porto Fluviale is compelling in its detail.
What you’re really going for is the later history. The Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta, dating back to the fourth century CE, was rebuilt in the medieval period after an earthquake. The original mosaic floor, saved from damage, is an astonishing, colorful carpet of early Christian artwork, with vivid depictions of Bible stories like the Good Shepherd and Jonah and the whale, in between cameos by rich Romans and lagoon wildlife.
How to get to Aquileia from Venice: The easiest way to get there is by car; it’s about an hour and 20 minutes’ drive from Venice and about two-thirds of the way to Trieste. By public transport, you’ll need to take a train to Cervignano-Aquileia-Grado and then swap to a bus – that journey takes just over two hours.
12. Visit Venice’s inland empire at Treviso
Travel time: 31 minutes
These days, Treviso is best known for the budget airlines galore at its airport, but there’s nothing low end about the town itself. Elegant, petite and pretty, Treviso is still a place for residents rather than tourists, and a walk around its calm centro storico (historic center) is like one big exhale if you’ve come from crowded Venice. Once part of the Stato da Terra, Venice’s historic inland empire, it’s curiously similar to La Serenissima – all porticoes, art-filled churches and elegant palazzos – but without canals taking center stage, though there are a few (Canale dei Buranelli, sweeping through the center, is the prettiest).
Don’t miss the Fontana delle Tette, a fountain in the shape of a naked woman that used to spout wine from her breasts – white from one and red from the other – every time a new mayor was sworn in. The original was moved to the Palazzo dei Trecento, the 13th-century castlelike building at the Piazza dei Signori, but there’s a replica off Calmaggiore, the main street dating back to Roman times. The Chiesa di San Nicolò is a beautiful example of Gothic architecture, which you won’t find much in Venice.
How to get to Treviso from Venice: Trains run every half hour or so, and take 30 to 40 minutes to Treviso Centrale. Otherwise, it’s a simple, if not particularly scenic, 40-minute drive from Piazzale Roma.
