Italy Veneto October 2025

[AnneMarie]

Hello, a friend and I will be travelling from the west coast of Canada to participate in a one week walking holiday based in Bassano del Grappa. We’ll probably stay on in BdG for a few days since there seems to be much to explore in the town and nearby and we will have been walking in the hills most days.

Do you have suggestions for another town, accessible by train, where we could spend an additional week? Friends have suggested Trieste or Verona, but I’m sure there are other good possibilities. Advice on visiting Venice is welcome. We haven’t booked flights or made any others plans yet, so we are open to ideas.

Thank you for your help.
Anne

 

[GailS]

What are you interested in? More walking/hiking? Food, art, architecture, nature? Would you consider travel by bus in addition to train? Some more information will help with answers. For Venice, are you thinking of only doing a day trip there or staying a few days?

 

[JMichael]

We will be returning to Venice for a couple of weeks this fall and will be happy to make suggestions once we know your likes and dislikes. For Bassano del Grappa, I imagine you're looking at flights in and out of Venice (VCE). Be sure to also check flights to Milan (MXP). There have been times when we realized substantial savings flying from the west coast of the US to MXP and then taking the train on to Venice. You can also look for open-jaw fares, flying into VCE but departing from MXP. It works really well if you think you'd like to spend a day or two in Milan. Other towns of interest in the Veneto might be Vincenza and Padova.

 

[AnneMarie]

We won’t be walking after the Bassono del Grappa segment. That part is all organized for us. After that we’ll be focussed on coffee, restaurants, architecture, museums, markets and wandering the streets. We have a lot nature here, so it’s not a priority.

The last time we were in Italy we walked in Piedmont then spent a week in Turin. We found lots to interest us even though some friends suggested Turin wasn’t worth a week. What we don’t want to do is to pack up bags frequently. We’re open to buses but given the choice of a complicated bus or train journey or staying put somewhere to explore more deeply, we’d stay put.

Thanks for the airport advice. I’d definitely be open to staying for a day or two in Milan at the beginning or end of the trip. And I’ll take a look at Vincenzo and Padova.

I was originally thinking of a day trip to Venice but if we fly in to Venice we’d probably arrive a day or two early.

 

[Ian Sutton]

I'm told Trieste has a wonderful reputation for coffee / cafes, perhaps only rivalled by Torino.

We liked Trento, perhaps best described by some friends who said "like Verona but before the tourists descended on it". Easy routes up into the mountains and even a cable car behind the train station. Super markets, lovely wide pedestrianised streets, good food and wine (and one very good coffee roaster I recall).

Although we only stopped overnight, Vicenza felt appealing (we like less touristy cities and that passed our 'sniff test' in that respect)