When we originally started planning our 2026 summer vacation, we had planned out two full weeks in Italy. Our journey would take us from Rome to Florence to Pisa to Cinque Terre to Lake Garda, while finishing the last of our days up in Venice. About a week into our planning, the trip was completely flipped on its head when Austen brought up potentially playing in a water polo tournament in Barcelona five days into our scheduled trip.

This potential quickly became a definite. He teamed up with an east coast team, while I emailed the tournament director and was placed on a Catalan team. This led to a complete, and I mean, complete overhaul of our trip. When it was all said and done, our trip was revised to include Venice, a day trip to Lake Garda, a day trip to the Dolomites, Barcelona, Paris, and Rome. In this post, I will be breaking down our time in the beautiful city of Venice with day trips out to Lake Garda and through the Dolomites.

Day 1

Day 1 was a beast. We hopped on a direct flight from Houston to Rome (thanks to the new direct route by ITA Airways that started at the beginning of May 2026), then caught another flight from Rome to Venice. After about 18 hours of travel between the flights, layover, a water taxi, and walking to our AirBnB in Venice, we were finally able to settle in…just in time to eat dinner and go to sleep.

After we dropped our things off at the apartment, we walked until we came across a restaurant that looked like it would meet our 5-year old’s very strict food pyramid which consists of carbs, carbs, and more carbs. Good thing we were in Italy! Fortunately for us, the restaurant we found less than a 5-minute walk away from our apartment ended up being our favorite restaurant in the city: Ristorante Due Fratelli.

After dinner, we walked around the city before heading back to our AirBnB. After a long day of travel, walking the channels of this beautiful city was exactly what we needed. We started the day off wrapping up the end of the school year for the kiddos (bye bye kindergarten and first grade) and ended the day celebrating the start of summer with a pizza party in Italy.

Day 2

The following morning, we went to SirBaf Caffe Bistrot for brunch. The food was delicious and exactly what we needed after the long day of travel the day before. If you are able to make a stop, we highly recommend trying the fresh squeezed orange juice. It was so good!

After brunch, we just explored. From canal to canal, we wandered around Venice with St. Mark’s Basilica as the destination in mind. This was the first trip that we had taken that we had decided not to bring a wagon or a carrier, so we were a little worried that the stairs to get over the bridges of the canals, and the continuous exploring would lead to some meltdowns. However, the girls loved racing up the stairs, seeing the gondolas traversing down the canals, and admittedly, the stop for gelato along the way.

After about an hour walk (honestly, it only took that long because we were taking in the sights), we finally arrived at St. Mark’s Basilica and wow, was it absolutely stunning. Unfortunately, we weren’t wearing the appropriate clothing to go inside (to be experienced the following day), so we initially only got to take it in from the outside. Although the girls were a little bummed there weren’t many pigeons to chase in the square in front of it, they were able to just sit down and take in the beauty of the church as well.

After viewing the church and surrounding square, we walked to the Grand Canal in search of someone to take us out on a gondola. Trust us when we say there is absolutely zero shortage of gondolas or gondola operators in Venice. We walked to the first one we saw, which was located immediately next to the church, and paid for a 45-minute ride. Our gondola operator gave us a wonderful tour of the canals, and even gave us a history of landmarks, like the Bridge of Sighs and of Venetian people like Marco Polo.

After the gondola, we started navigating our way back to the AirBnB. We stopped at Bacaro Jazz for a drink and a snack, but really, we stopped so we could break up the walk back a little. After deferring the hangry meltdowns, we continued on and stopped at the Rialto Bridge, or Ponte Di Rialto. At the time of our visit, there was a rowing competition occurring, so we were able to watch and cheer on some of the participants.

After a long, tourist-filled day, we finally made our way to dinner at Ristorante Casa Bonita. We sat right on the canal and got to enjoy the breeze while we ate dinner. The food was okay; the views are really what was attractive about this place. Unfortunately for this restaurant, we had gone to an exceptional restaurant the night before that we just could not stop thinking about. I (Kristen) did stray from my typical pasta preference and tried the squid ink pasta. It was…not my favorite.

After dinner, we decided to swing by a children’s playground to allow the girls to run off some of their pent up energy. Fortunately, there was a park within a 5-minute walk from our dinner spot. Most of the playground equipment at Parco Savorgnan that catered to our girls’ ages were closed, but they still made the most of it. They really enjoyed playing on the seesaw, and our youngest learned first hand what an intense seesaw ride was when her older sister dropped quickly and flung her off. Minor cut and a bruise, no tears. We took it as a win.

Day 3

The following day, we slept in and then stopped at Ristorante Due Fratelli (again) for lunch. The second stop at this restaurant further solidified our love for the food, service, and atmosphere. This restaurant actually ended up becoming one of our favorite restaurants the entire trip.

After lunch, we stopped at the playground and then started to make our way back over to St. Mark’s Basilica with the goal of actually entering the church since we were wearing the appropriate clothing (covered shoulders, covered knees). However, we just couldn’t miss a stop to get gelato…because, why not?… so we stopped at Gelateria Artigiana.

We diverted a little from our previous route to see the basilica so we could see different areas of the city. As with the previous day, we enjoyed the historical buildings and the different boats filling the canals.

After the 45-minute walk to the basilica, we finally got the opportunity to visit. As with many of the European churches, the interior of St. Mark’s Basilica did not disappoint. We only paid the standard entry fee so just got to do the general loop around the church which took less than 10 minutes. However, we still took plenty of time to really take in the intricacies of the tile work. I even took a picture for our kids and had to zoom in to show them how tiny the actual tiles were. They couldn’t believe it.

After the basilica, we visited went up the Bell Tower which is located in the same square. If you are visiting, we highly recommend a visit to the Bell Tower. Although it does get pretty breezy up there, the visit brings incredible, unique views of Venice.

After the Bell Tower, we slowly walked along the Grand Canal towards the area we had planned to have dinner. Did I mention it was my birthday? Austen scheduled an incredible 3-hour birthday cruise on a pirate ship. The girls loved the idea of riding on a pirate ship. I loved the idea of eating a 5-course meal while sailing around Venice. The day overall will go down as one of the best birthdays I’ve had in my life. Great food, great views, great company, and a great way to ring in year 38.

Day 4

Prior to the trip, we had set aside two day trips: one self-guided trip to Lake Garda, and one tour through the Dolomites. Our self-guided day trip to Lake Garda was scheduled for day four, so we woke up early and caught an 8:00 AM ItaliaRail train to Perschiera del Garda. Unfortunately, we had done absolutely zero research about the southern area of the lake prior to our arrival and took a “wing it” approach. Don’t do that.

When we arrived on the southern side of Lake Garda, we immediately started walking east toward Lido to Pioppi with really no destination in mind other than to find a restaurant as soon as possible. The only restaurant that was open nearby was called The Beach Bar. I won’t even be tagging the restaurant here; it was that bad. Do not mistake this as the little beach bar immediately by the beach. The beach bar I am referencing has a full covered seating area, with a bar and bathrooms inside. The food was horrific. We paid an exorbitant amount of money (12 euro) for avocado toast which ended up being a piece of bread, a single egg, and small, unripe pieces of avocado. The avocado was inedible so breakfast just consisted of an egg and a piece of bread. 0/5 recommend.

After “breakfast”, we walked back to Lido to Pioppi, paid for an umbrella and chairs, and let the girls play in the water. Fortunately, there were some really fun, reasonably priced waterslide pedal boats; we’re talking 15 euro per hour reasonable priced. Although a little bit of work, they were a lot of fun and a very unique, new experience than what we’re typically accustomed to during a beach visit.

Now, it is important we designate between The Beach Bar, and the actually snack bar next to the beach. The bar that was catty-corner, or diagonal to the beach we were at was actually pretty good. Throughout the day, we ordered beer, snacks, and hamburgers. If you find yourself at Lido to Pioppi like we did, we recommend just stopping here for any of your food and drink needs and not at The Beach Bar.

Around 5:00 PM that evening, we started to make our way back to the train station for the hour-and-a-half ride back to Venice. When we arrived back in Venice, we stopped at La Lista Venezia for dinner. La Lista had arguably some of the best pizza we had throughout our entire trip. It was so good, our five-year old ate almost the entire pizza by herself.

Day 5

The next day was our scheduled Dolomites Tour through GetYourGuide. Our tour took us through Pieve di Cadore, Auronzo Lake, Lake Misurina, and Cortina d’Ampezzo. The beauty of this region is truly beyond words. Even the photos below can’t capture how stunning the Dolomites are in person. If you ever have the chance to visit, we can’t recommend it enough. They’re absolutely breathtaking.

We do want to make sure we highlight two of the amazing food stops we made during our tour. The first was Malga Misurina. The food was delicious and the views were unbeatable. The girls also had a wonderful time meeting the restaurant’s goats with our tour guide.

At the end of our tour, we stopped for gelato at Lattebusche. The gelato was so creamy and easily topped the list of gelatos we had the entire European vacation.

When our tour concluded, we walked over to Al Canton dei Artisti for dinner and enjoyed our last evening meal in the beautiful city of Venice.

Overall opinion of Venice, Italy

The views. The food. The company.

Venice is often described as the city of romance, and it is. But what surprised us most was how much our girls loved it too.

The girls were completely captivated by life on the water – watching gondolas in the canals, spotting water taxis, and waving to the rowers as they passed by.

If you’re considering Venice as a family destination, it’s worth noting that it’s not the most stroller-friendly city. With countless bridges and steps, getting around with a stroller can be challenging. If you have little ones who aren’t walking yet, a child carrier is a much better option or consider waiting until they’re just a bit older to fully enjoy everything the city has to offer.

For us, Venice was more than a romantic getaway. It was a memorable family experience that our girls are still talking about (especially the food)!

Overall opinion of Lake Garda

Because our time at Lake Garda was so short, we don’t feel qualified to give a broad opinion of the lake or its surrounding towns. What we can say is that we had a wonderful day, especially cruising around on the pedal boats with built‑in water slides. One practical tip we can’t skip: bring water shoes. If you plan to visit any of the beaches, they’ll save your feet (and your sanity) from the rocky shoreline.

Overall opinion of the Dolomites

What can we say except this: don’t skip the Dolomites. They’re impossibly picturesque, yet no photo truly captures the scale or beauty of the landscapes. While a guided tour from Venice was perfect for our family this time, we’re already dreaming of a future trip with multiple days to explore the lakes, mountains, and hiking trails at a slower pace.

Views from a 5- and 7-year old

As you’ve seen throughout our travels, our 5- and 7-year old girls always have a camera around their necks and are itching to capture their next picture. Check out some of the pictures they captured throughout our visit to Venice and the Dolomites below. We hope you enjoy! Happy travels!