Northern Italy recommendations

sugar-walsh

Hello!
We (family of 4, 2 adults, 16, 15 yr olds) are planning on heading to Northern Italy in the laatv3 weeks of August. 

We will be driving from UK and have a rough plan to head via Milan to verona, Venice, the coast and back via bologna. 

Has anyone done this? I'm looking for recommendations on which bit of the coast to visit really, although all recommendations welcome.  We've travelled lots in France, but its a 1st for us to Italy, so all ahelp welcome.

Thanks!

[Deleted User]

Yes, we've made the journey several times.

Personally, we mostly avoid the coast. It's simply too busy for us and vast rows of loungers don't appeal at all.
You also have large extended families going away together. Groups of 20, 30 plus people in a tight family group can be 'interesting'.
We've done the coast around Rimini and probably wouldn't return, although it is an experience.

We would probably return to Lido di Jesolo (nr Venice), it's, lively, busy and not 'the best' beaches but you can get the boat straight to St Mark's Square, that is a memorable journey that we would repeat.

We prefer inland or lakes. Lake Garda is the obvious choice. Peschiera del Garda and south east side is busy but does have good rail links. (Verona, Venice, Brescia, Milan). West side of the lake (Salo) is far quieter.

If you're planning on visiting Bologna, Modena isn't far away, with Ferrari museums and all of the local car history.

We've ventures as far as Florence, we'd return in a heartbeat as it's one of our favourite cities. Pisa/Livorno only a couple of hour's drive away. From there, it's a straightforward journey back into France, although we really didn't enjoy driving through Genoa.
We haven't travelled further south, as simply too hot in August. We're saving that for retirement when we can visit at cooler times of year.

I would suggest using google streetview to check areas that you shortlist and decide what works for you...

sugar-walsh

Thank you @[Deleted User] 

Hmm, you've now got me wondering whether we should look at going to Florence and back along that coast rather than across to Venice, you're the 2nd person to say that the beaches on the east coast are way too busy.

I'm a massive researcher, so will definitely look around on street view. 

Thanks for your help.