Italy Trip Overview (May to June 2025)

This trip was built around four hotel bases rather than a new hotel every night: NH Collection Venezia Murano Villa for three nights, Il Tornabuoni Hotel, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt for four nights, Albergo Suite Hotel Nettuno for three nights, and Hilton Lake Como for two nights. That structure gave us variety without making the trip feel like a constant packing exercise.

The route moved in a clean line. We started with Murano, Venice, and Burano, then continued to Verona and Florence. Pisa worked as a short stop while heading toward Liguria, where Sestri Levante became the base for Cinque Terre, Genoa, and Santa Margherita Ligure. The final stretch was Lake Como, with time in Como, Bellagio, and Varenna before the trip ended.

What made the route work was that each section felt different from the one before it. Lagoon cities, Renaissance city days, coastal Liguria, and then the lake gave the trip enough contrast to stay exciting without ever feeling random.

The hotel choices shaped the trip more than the stop list did. NH Collection Venezia Murano Villa gave us a calmer home base after full sightseeing days in Venice, even if it required more planning around vaporetto timing. Il Tornabuoni Hotel, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt put Florence's main sights within an easy walk and made that section of the trip feel especially smooth.

In Liguria, Albergo Suite Hotel Nettuno was exactly the kind of base we wanted: relaxed, family-friendly, and easy to pair with day trips. Ending at Hilton Lake Como gave the final leg a more polished, restorative feel, which worked well after several city and train days in a row.

That mix of bases made the trip feel less like a checklist and more like a sequence of stays with different moods. Each hotel fit its section of the route rather than trying to force the same style of stay everywhere.

All travel between regions was booked point to point on Trenitalia. For this kind of route, that was the right call. The trains made it easy to connect major sections of the trip without renting a car, and it kept the logistics simpler in places where driving would have added more stress than flexibility.

The biggest advantage was that the route stayed linear. Venice to Florence, Florence toward Liguria, and then onward to Lake Como all felt natural by rail. It also made stopovers like Pisa easy to build in without turning the day into a major detour.

We did make one very avoidable mistake: after switching trains, we had saved our original tickets to Apple Wallet and assumed everything would update automatically. It did not. We got on the correct train, had the Apple Wallet tickets fail, were told to get off, then somehow managed to board the wrong train instead and had to buy new tickets on the spot from Venice to Florence. It was one of those travel moments where you know in real time that the cheap fare you originally booked is disappearing in front of your eyes.

The silver lining is that the Trenitalia conductor was genuinely kind and helped get us situated instead of making the situation worse. We later filed a claim with Trenitalia and were at least able to get the original cheaper fare refunded, but it still turned into an unnecessary $200 lesson. So if you make changes, double-check the live Trenitalia app or email confirmation and do not assume Apple Wallet is showing the final version of your booking.

The main lesson is to pack for the trains, not just the destinations. A multi-stop Italy trip gets much easier when luggage is manageable, station transfers are short, and everyone can move quickly once you get off the platform.

Venice and Burano delivered the postcard version of the trip, but Murano was an underrated part of that section because it gave the evenings a calmer rhythm. Florence was one of the easiest city bases of the whole trip, while Verona worked nicely as a smaller, more focused contrast.

Liguria was where the route loosened up in the best way. Sestri Levante was a strong base, Cinque Terre was beautiful but more demanding, and Genoa and Santa Margherita Ligure each added a different kind of day trip without making the section repetitive.

Lake Como was the right ending. Como itself worked well as the base, while Bellagio and Varenna gave the final days the kind of scenery and slower pace that makes a trip feel finished rather than abruptly over.

We would absolutely keep the four-base structure and the train-first approach. It gave the trip momentum without making it feel rushed, and it let each region breathe a little.

If you are planning a similar Italy route, the biggest takeaway is to think in clusters rather than individual stops. Use one smart base for the lagoon section, one for Florence and nearby rail days, one for Liguria, and one for Lake Como. That is what kept this itinerary both ambitious and enjoyable.