The Best Day Trips from Venice

The 10 best day trips, ranked

Ordered by how well they repay a full day - factoring travel time, what you can actually see, and how easy they are without a car.

1. 
   1

   Padua

   The best payoff per hour

   40 km west · ~26–40 min by train

   The Scrovegni Chapel holds Giotto's fresco cycle, the work that begins Western painting's move toward realism, and it is the single greatest thing you can see within half an hour of Venice. Padua also has the oldest surviving university botanical garden in the world, the enormous Prato della Valle, and a genuine student city's prices, which after Venice is its own kind of relief.

   Getting there: Trains run from Venezia Santa Lucia to Padova constantly, with the fastest services at 26 minutes and regional trains taking closer to 40 for a much lower fare. Padova station is a 15-minute walk or a short tram ride from the Scrovegni Chapel, and the historic centre is compact and flat once you are in it.

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2. 
   2

   Murano, Burano and Torcello

   Families, and the trip that is its own reward

   In the northern lagoon · ~45 min to Burano by vaporetto

   Three islands that are nothing like each other: Murano for glass furnaces that still work, Burano for painted fishermen's houses and lace, and Torcello for a nearly empty island holding a Byzantine cathedral with an 11th-century mosaic of the Last Judgement. It is the day most families remember, and the only one where the travelling is itself the pleasure.

   Getting there: ACTV line 12 leaves from Fondamente Nove on the northern shore of Venice roughly every 30 minutes and reaches Burano in about 45 minutes, calling at Murano Faro and Mazzorbo on the way. Torcello is a short hop from Burano, but to board there you have to telephone at least 20 minutes ahead, which catches people out. A vaporetto pass pays for itself on this trip and rarely on any other.

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3. 
   3

   Vicenza

   Architecture, and empty streets

   70 km west · ~33–42 min by train

   Vicenza is Andrea Palladio's city, and Palladio is the architect whose ideas ended up in Washington, in London and in half the country houses of England. The Teatro Olimpico is the oldest surviving indoor theatre in the world and its permanent stage set of a receding street is a genuine surprise. The whole city is UNESCO-listed and it is astonishingly under-visited given how close it is.

   Getting there: Around 21 direct trains a day, fastest at 33 minutes and averaging about 42. The station sits at the southern end of the old town and everything is walkable from there.

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4. 
   4

   Verona

   Opera and a full second city

   120 km west · ~1 hr 26 min at best, often nearer 1 hr 50

   A working Roman amphitheatre that still stages opera through the summer, a beautiful compact centre on a bend in the Adige, and the Piazza delle Erbe. It is a proper city rather than a sight, which is why it also works as a base in its own right.

   Getting there: About 19 direct trains a day from Venezia Santa Lucia to Verona Porta Nuova. The fastest is 1h26 and the average is closer to 1h52, so this is a real commitment rather than the hour it is often described as. Porta Nuova to Piazza Bra is about 20 minutes on foot.

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5. 
   5

   Treviso

   A half day with no crowds

   30 km north · ~30 min by regional train

   Treviso has canals, water wheels, frescoed houses and medieval walls, and roughly none of the crowds, because most people who land at its airport get straight on a bus to Venice. It is where you go when you want the Veneto without queueing, and it is the home of radicchio and of tiramisu.

   Getting there: Frequent regional trains, up to 57 a day on the corridor. Watch the origin station on any time you are quoted: the very fast figures published for this route start at Venezia Mestre on the mainland, not at Santa Lucia on the island, so add the Mestre leg if you are starting in the historic centre.

6. 
   6

   Chioggia

   Seeing a lagoon town that still works

   50 km south, at the foot of the lagoon · ~1 hr 15 min by bus and boat

   A working fishing town laid out like a smaller, poorer, entirely unselfconscious Venice, with canals, bridges and a fish market that exists for the people who live there. It is the antidote to the feeling that Venice has become a museum, and the seafood is better and half the price.

   Getting there: The scenic way is the bus down the Lido and Pellestrina barrier islands with two short ferry hops, which is a genuine lagoon journey in itself. The quicker way is a bus from Piazzale Roma. Neither is fast, and that is rather the point.

7. 
   7

   Bologna

   Eating, and walking in the rain

   155 km southwest · ~1 hr 15 min – 1 hr 35 min by fast train

   Nearly 40 km of covered porticoes, UNESCO-listed since 2021, which means a whole city you can walk in any weather. It is also the best place to eat in Italy on most reckonings, and it has the oldest university in the Western world. A long day, but a rich one.

   Getting there: Around 33 trains a day, fastest at 1h15 and averaging about 1h35 on the high-speed line. Bologna Centrale is a 10-minute walk from Piazza Maggiore.

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8. 
   8

   Ferrara

   Renaissance planning without the queues

   110 km southwest · ~1 hr 15 min by train

   A Renaissance city built to a plan by the Este dukes, with a moated castle in the middle of it and city walls you can cycle the whole way round. UNESCO-listed and almost entirely overlooked by people doing Venice, Florence and Rome.

   Getting there: Direct regional and intercity trains on the Bologna line. The moated castle is a ten-minute walk from the station, and the city is flat and famously ridden rather than walked.

9. 
   9

   The Dolomites

   Mountains, and better as an overnight

   160 km north to Cortina d'Ampezzo · ~2 hr 30 min – 3 hr each way by bus or car

   The mountains are extraordinary and they are genuinely reachable from Venice, which surprises people looking at a map of Italy. Be clear-eyed about the arithmetic though: five to six hours on a coach for a few hours in the valley is a poor trade, and this is the one entry here we would rather you did as an overnight.

   Getting there: Cortina Express and ATVO run direct coaches from Piazzale Roma and from Marco Polo airport, taking roughly two and a half to three hours. There is no direct rail. Departures are limited and seasonal, so this is one to book rather than turn up for.

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10. 
    10

    Lake Garda

    Water, mountains and a slow day

    150 km west to Peschiera del Garda · ~1 hr 45 min – 2 hr by train

    Italy's largest lake, with a Roman villa and thermal water at Sirmione and ferries linking most of the shore towns. It is a long day from Venice and it earns the effort only if the lake itself is the point rather than a stop on a list.

    Getting there: Peschiera del Garda and Desenzano both sit on the Milan to Venice mainline, so you can reach the southern shore by train without a car and pick up a ferry at the harbour. Sirmione needs a short bus from Desenzano.

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Day trips from other cities