One Week in Northern Italy: Lake Garda, the Dolomites and Venice
A six-day family road trip from Venice to Lake Garda, the Dolomites and the islands of the Venetian Lagoon.
Our route through northern Italy
We flew to Venice for a week in northern Italy with our teenage daughters. We rented a car and made a loop from Venice to Lake Garda, north into Trentino-Alto Adige, and back through Veneto to Venice. We changed simple roadside hotels every day or two; the route mattered more to us than the accommodation.
This is the route we actually followed. The descriptions below reflect our visit, while opening hours, prices and transport details can change and should be checked against the official links on this page.
Day 1: Sirmione and the Gardaland area
After landing in Venice, we drove for about an hour and a half to Sirmione. Cars cannot enter the historic centre, so we parked outside and walked in across the drawbridge by Castello Scaligero.
We wandered through the lanes around Piazza Carducci, stopped at the small shops and gelaterias, climbed the castle for the view, and continued along the panoramic path toward the end of the peninsula. A short boat trip from the harbour was another option. We stayed that night in the Sirmione or Gardaland area.
Day 2: Gardaland
The next day we drove to Gardaland and devoted most of the day to the theme park. We found it colourful, well kept and suitable for a wide range of ages. During our visit, the LEGOLAND Water Park area included pools, slides, water play and a lazy-river-style ride.
Tickets, opening days and access conditions change by season, so the current Gardaland calendar is included in the official-information section below.
Day 3: Limone sul Garda and Riva del Garda
Of the small towns around Lake Garda, Limone sul Garda was one of our favourites. We walked through the narrow lanes, passed shops filled with lemon products, continued via Piazza Garibaldi and followed Via Porto toward the marina.
From Limone we drove to Riva del Garda, visited the lakeside historic centre and continued to Cascate del Varone. The path there is wet and the spray reaches visitors inside the cave, so shoes with grip and a change of clothes were useful. We stayed in the Riva del Garda area.
Day 4: South Tyrol, Bolzano and Lake Santa Croce
We drove north into the Dolomites and stopped around Santa Maddalena for the alpine meadows, green hills, wooden huts and the small church in the landscape. We also visited the nearby rope park.
Later we continued to Bolzano and took the cable car toward San Genesio, where we followed a circular walk of roughly an hour to an hour and a half. We ended the day at Lago di Santa Croce and stayed in the lake area.
Day 5: Venice
We approached Venice by car from the mainland, crossed Ponte della Liberta and parked near the railway and transport terminals. From there we used the vaporetto, Venice's public water-bus service, to move through the city.
Our Venice route included Ca' d'Oro, Ca' Macana, Rialto Bridge and the market, Piazza San Marco, St Mark's Basilica, the Clock Tower, the Campanile, the Doge's Palace, the Bridge of Sighs and the Jewish Ghetto. This was a dense day, so we left anything we did not finish for the following morning. We stayed outside central Venice.
Day 6: Venice, Murano and Burano
On our final day we completed the parts of Venice we had missed, then went into the lagoon to visit Murano and Burano. Murano is closely associated with glassmaking, while Burano is known for lace and brightly coloured houses.
In Murano we noted the Basilica dei Santi Maria e Donato and the Glass Museum. In Burano we walked around the colourful streets, including the area around Via Baldassare Galuppi and Casa Bepi. We then returned to Venice for our flight back to Israel.
