Barcelona, Rome or Venice and their areas.

[RoadRunner123]

I can't think of a good subject heading to explain my question!

Next summer (I love planning holidays so am thinking ahead), I'm wondering about visiting a city...I'm thinking Barcelona, Rome or Venice for a few days and then head off someone quieter but within 2-3 hrs drive for a relaxing pool or beach holiday.

Has anyone done anything like that and could recommend a nice location near any of those cities?

Some while back we visited Venice then followed up by a week in Sirmione on Lake Garda via Verona. Lots of places to visit and you can take a boat trip to them so you're not restricted to a hire car. It was a nice combo of destinations.

(I wonder if you would get quicker replies copying this in the Chat section too?).

The above sounds lovely. If you're going to Venice - don't be tempted to go on to the Lido de Jesolo, the nearest beach resort as it's very unlovely ( a flat strip of land built by Mussolini with modern hotel after hotel and a beach). How about taking a train from Rome down to Naples (tickets booked in advance are 9 Euro's and its an hour 10 minutes) as an alternative and spending a couple of days on the Amalfi coast?

The Amalfi coast looks gorgeous. Didn't they shoot "The Talented Mr Ripley" there? And Pompeii is just an hour from Positano.

Ischia apparently according to Google (island in the bay of Naples). The Amalfi coast is beautiful - there is a bus from Sorrento that runs through most of the the towns on the coast. You catch it from outside the train station in Sorrento (its a short journey onwards from Naples). The bus can get a bit packed but passes through some beautiful scenery. We stayed in Atrani (small village next to Amalfi) which was pretty and cheaper than Amalfi!

Thanks for your responses, it all sounds lovely. I'm also enjoying reading the 'Barcelona' thread at the moment, so I'm not doing very well narrowing down!

Rome than train to Naples then to sorrento. Stay at antiche mura. Go to Capri for the day.

we stayed in Ostia - short train ride from Rome (30mins I think). We could either go into Rome for the day/evening, or head to the beach. Best of both world.