Like its northern neighbour, Friuli, Veneto is cradled by the Dolomites to the north, the Venetian planes to the south, and the Adriatic to the east, giving it an almost unsurpassed scenic, cultural and architectural variety. Unlike Friuli, however, Veneto is one of the most visited regions in Italy, with Venice the undoubted jewel in its preposterously beautiful crown. While most people race through Veneto in their rush to get to Venice, the region is a veritable treasure trove of beautiful towns, many of them blessedly devoid of tourist crowds, who are elsewhere on the Venetian lagoon. Of these, Padua is a gem of a cobbled university town littered with Giotoa frescoes, Verona, home to Romeo and Juliet, is one of the prettiest ancient cities in Italy, Vicenza is the stunning ‘laboratory’ of Andrea Palladio, one of the most influential architects in history, and in Treviso, Veneto has a wonderful, scaled down version of Venice, complete with beautiful canals. That said, with flights into Venice, you could happily spend every holiday for the rest of your life in Veneto’s celebrated capital. A staggeringly spectacular town, it does of course get busy in summer, but with no cars in the city centre, Byron’s ‘fair city of the heart’ has a peaceful, festive air even in high season, with a string of quieter, but equally enchanting, fascinating islands scattered around the lagoon, and an excellent network of ferries and vaporetti taking you there.
Local highlights
Venice carnival, an extravagant pageant making the city even more impossibly beautiful than normal; the islands of the lagoon, including Murano, famous for its glass-makers, whose workshops you can visit, and Burano, with its wonderfully colourful facades; Treviso, a scaled down Venice, great escaping the high-season crowds; Soave, a fairy-tale castle town famous for its wines; Albano, a classic 19th century thermal town; Lake Garda, flanked by lemon and olive groves, with the Dolomites reflected in its lakes, and 7,227ft Monte Baldo behind it, which you can reach by cable car; tiny village of Marostica, which stages a human chess game with ‘pieces’ dressed in Renaissance costumes; Valpollicella, a lush valley strewn with family wineries; Padua and its Giotto frescoes; the Romanesque abbey of San Pietro di Foletto in Follina; numerous Palladian villas, including Bararao, Villa Emo, La Rotonda, Villa Godi and Villa Valmarana; Cima’s masterpiece of an altarpiece in Conegliano cathedral; the August Palio in Feltre, with medieval games, horse racing and celebrations; Treviso’s festival of dance, poetry and music in August; birdwatching on the Venice lagoon and Po delta; local cuisine, including Spaghetti alle Vongole and Prosecco from Conegliano; the fishing port of Chioggia.
Getting out and about
Trains connect the major towns in the area, and there are also bus connections between towns and villages. A hire car would be useful if you're exploring smaller places, and is included with our Veneto hotels. Note, however, if you just stay in Venice, a car is of no use at all, and a superb network of public boats and vaporetti takes you around the city and lagoon.
Travel arrangements
By air to Verona with daily flights with British Airways from London Gatwick and Venice with daily flights with British Airways and Easyjet from Gatwick. Ryanair also flies into Treviso. Call us if you would like a quote for this. Most of the hotels in the Veneto and this region are no more than a couple of hours from one of the airports. We include a hire-car will all our holidays the Veneto as unless you plan to stay solely in Venice, you really do need a car to make the most of your holiday in this region. However, if you want to combine a stay in the countryside here with perhaps a few days in Venice then we can arrange for you to pick up or drop off the car after or before your stay in the city. With your own car the Veneto can be reached easily with two overnight stops from the UK, perhaps in Alsace and then the Italian Lakes. We can make the hotel reservations for you in France as well. In addition to holidays by air, you may also be interested in holidays by rail (including the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express and an overnight sleeper service from Paris to Italy), rail travel whilst you are in Italy or taking your own car all the way to Italy. (self drive holidays)