Our Milan and Venice Itinerary – 7 Day Journey

Just a few weeks in the past, I returned residence from a visit to Italy. My go to didn’t go fairly as I deliberate and I needed to head residence early. (Extra about that right here.) Nevertheless, I believed it could be useful to share our Milan and Venice itinerary right here on the weblog in case you’ve got your individual journey to Italy deliberate.

Our Milan and Venice Itinerary

I deliberate this group trip with the assistance of Trova Journey, so all the pieces we did was organized by them. We had a bunch of 14 ladies and it was good understanding that all the pieces was already deliberate for us. Not solely was our itinerary deliberate, however we had a information, Vincenzo, to steer us each step of the way in which. We might simply present up and have enjoyable!

In the event you’re planning your individual journey, the DIY manner, I’m hopeful that as we speak’s weblog submit will provide you with some concepts on what to do throughout your go to so you possibly can fill your days with actions that curiosity you!

2 Days in Milan

Lodging: We stayed on the DoubleTree by Hilton, on the outskirts of Milan. It was a really good lodge with spacious (for Europe) rooms. Nevertheless, it was a bit too removed from city and we needed to take cabs to get to the entire motion. I’d advocate discovering a lodge nearer to the middle of the town.

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• I’m positive seeing the Duomo di Milano will likely be on the high of your record. It’s ginormous, stunning, and over 600 years previous! We didn’t tour it as a bunch, however one among our vacationers braved the lengthy line and cherished her expertise touring this magnificent icon, particularly the rooftop.
• Subsequent to the Duomo, you’ll discover numerous luxurious buying together with the attractive Galleria Vittorio Emanuel II. We additionally visited the Rinascente which was a number of flooring of buying. We even had lunch right here one afternoon and we might see the Duomo from our desk.

• We did numerous strolling round Milan (it’s a giant metropolis!) and walked by way of the Castello Sforzesco di Milano, a medieval citadel, and thru Sempione Park. It jogged my memory of Central Park – a big attractive park proper in the course of the town.

• On our second day, we explored your entire metropolis by bike. I extremely advocate doing a motorcycle tour! The town is so giant and it may be onerous to discover all of it by foot. We had a tremendous information who took us by way of so many neighborhoods across the metropolis. This was my favourite a part of our Milan journey.

Eating

• Breakfast every morning was a giant buffet, with European and American favorites on the menu, supplied by the lodge.

• Il Tavolino: We had a beautiful group dinner right here, with scrumptious pizza and wine.
• Cantina della Vetta: Right here, we not solely had a scrumptious Italian meal, with numerous programs and many wine, however the chef gave us a cooking demonstration. We realized make risotto and veal cutlets.

• The Brera neighborhood ended up being the group’s favourite space to dine, with numerous non-touristy eating places and outside eating choices. Think about cobblestone streets, bistro tables, and people-watching…sure, please!

1 Day at Lake Como

Lake Como is just about 45 minutes from Milan and we journeyed by bus to this magical vacation spot.

Whoa, I can’t even describe the sweetness! Simply think about a glistening lake with picturesque little cities surrounding it.

We had a strolling tour of the city of Como after which we traveled to Bellagio by boat. This was simply concerning the cutest city you ever did see, with numerous buying, eating places, and breathtaking views of the lake. Most of our group loved buying and consuming, however one of many girls took the time to stroll to an attractive park above the town, the place she was surrounded by stunning crops, walkways and panoramic views.

I want we had extra time in Lake Como as a result of it was such a magical place! Sometime, I’d like to return.

As you learn just a few weeks in the past, at this level of the journey, I needed to head residence. My mother and the remainder of the group continued on and had probably the most superb time in Venice.

I’ll let my mother, Jan, take it from right here!

Journey to Venice

We boarded a giant, luxurious bus early within the morning and headed to Tenute la Montina, within the wine area of Franciacorta, the place an area household has made probably the most scrumptious glowing wines for generations. One of many house owners gave us a tour of their operation, explaining every step in nice element. We noticed the whole means of winemaking, from the crushing of the grapes, to the bottling of the glowing wine.

After we explored the attractive grounds and accomplished our tour, we had been handled to a wine tasting, which included a stunning snack of bread, prosciutto, and cheese. We in contrast two of the La Montina glowing wines and the proprietor stored pouring and pouring. Evidently, it was a enjoyable afternoon!

We piled again within the bus and most of us took the chance to get pleasure from a little bit snooze on our two-hour journey to Venice.

2 Days in Venice

Our bus took us to the outskirts of Venice, the place we met two water taxis that took our group and our baggage throughout the lagoon and into the canals of Venice. None of our group had ever been to Venice, so we had been all shocked that journey by boat isn’t just an choice for journey, however the solely choice for journey in Venice. There are completely no vehicles within the metropolis.

Lodging: We stayed on the Lodge Carlton on the Grand Canal which is a really previous, however elegant lodge on the primary canal. The rooms had been smaller than the DoubleTree in Milan, however that they had an old-world magnificence to them. The lodge has a rooftop bar that overlooks the canal and all of us loved hanging on the market. The one grievance concerning the lodge is that the situation is on the far finish of the Grand Canal, as removed from the middle of Venice, St. Mark’s Sq., as attainable. What that meant is that we both had an extended, meandering stroll over numerous bridges or a water taxi journey to take us from our lodge to St. Mark’s Sq.. If I had been to have the chance to go to Venice once more, I’d most likely discover lodging which might be nearer to the sq..

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• Guided tour of Venice: We spent a few hours with our educated tour information, Michael. He took us throughout St. Mark’s Sq., explaining the historical past of the town and stating the assorted church buildings, buildings, and historic websites. We realized a lot from Michael, like the truth that Venice is definitely constructed on 118 small, man-made islands, with greater than 400 bridges connecting them. I extremely counsel discovering a reliable information in case you determine to go to Venice. There may be a lot historical past right here and it’s useful to faucet into the data of an skilled.

• Gondola journey – No journey to Venice can be full with out a gondola journey by way of the canals. The gondoliers, with their striped shirts, straw hats, and lengthy oars, expertly information the normal boats by way of the slender canals for an up-close view of the town.

• Islands of Venice boat tour – Our group launched into a half-day tour of two of the three main islands of Venice. We stopped in Murano first and watched an indication of glass blowing, an artwork that has been handed down from era to era. After the demonstration, we had the chance to meander by way of rooms full of lovely glass items on the market. Our second cease on this tour was on the island of Burano. This island is understood for its colourful buildings and cute retailers that includes regionally made lace. All of us wished we had had a little bit extra time to discover this beautiful place.
• Guided nighttime tour of St. Mark’s Basilica – A few girls in our group determined to do that tour on their very own they usually cherished it, describing it as “spectacular”.
• Harry’s Bar – Just a few of us made our strategy to this native bar, which is known for inventing the drink, the Bellini. The bar, itself, is a really small cramped house, full of individuals who all have the identical thought. The Bellini was fairly scrumptious, however a tad overpriced in case you ask me. 22 Euro for one small drink appeared a little bit steep, however when in Venice…

Eating

• As soon as once more, breakfast was included in our keep and supplied by the lodge.

• Trattoria alla Rivetta: After we had been in Bellagio, we met an American who gave us a advice for this restaurant, his favourite. Our entire group went to dinner there the primary night time in Venice and it was great. Nice pasta and scrumptious wines, together with nice service!

• Osteria Ae Scoste: We selected this restaurant for lunch on the spur of the second and all of us cherished it. We had been handled to great pasta, superb calamari, and once more, numerous nice wine.

• Da Bruno: That is the place we had our farewell dinner, the final night time earlier than our departure. We had been handled to scrumptious lasagna, rooster, spinach, and tiramisu. And naturally, extra wine!

Probably the greatest components of this journey was the truth that we had numerous scheduled actions that all of us did collectively, however we additionally had loads of free time, as effectively. That meant that the individuals who had been curious about historical past might take additional excursions and discover on their very own. It additionally meant that others might spend time buying, wine tasting, meandering down small walkways to take images, and observing native individuals of their residence metropolis.

And at last… Who would think about {that a} journey to the airport to move again to the US can be worthy of mentioning? Nicely, when in Venice, a visit to the airport means a journey in a water taxi, which made our send-off appear additional particular. It was our final alternative to take footage and admire this superb metropolis and we made probably the most of it. I ponder what number of different airports have a dock for his or her passengers’ arrival?

Our Particular Group

Casey right here. I can’t end this submit with out a shout-out to our superb group of vacationers. You could be on the coolest place on this planet, however in case you’re with the incorrect individuals, your journey isn’t fairly the identical. All of those ladies signed up for this journey with out actually understanding me in individual and I now contemplate each one among them a pal. We had an outstanding group of easygoing ladies who had been down for something!

One of many ladies has two youngsters at residence and stated she is all the time speaking to them about being secure and never speaking to strangers on the web. She stated she couldn’t presumably inform them that she was heading to Italy with individuals she met on the Web. Ha! All of us bought a kick out of that one! However, in all seriousness, I’m so grateful for this group and particularly their assist once I needed to go away our trip just a few days early. I’m not fairly prepared to go away our time zone proper now, however once I do, I’d like to do it with this group once more!

Extra to Come

I’ve another Italy submit for you. This one will dive deep into what to pack for a visit to Italy within the springtime. I even polled our complete group to get their #1 objects that they introduced and I bought some actually nice solutions. Keep tuned for that…

Verify Out Extra Italy Posts

Within the meantime, listed here are some posts from my earlier journey to Italy…