In and around the Euganean Hills: Organic farmstays

An hours' bicycle ride from Padua (optional with an ice-cream or coffee break in Selvazzano Dentro) or one and a half hours from Vicenza gets you to La Buona Terra near the village of Cervarese Santa Croce, an organic farmstay, popular party location with families, educational farm for kindergardens and farm restaurant. You can stay either in one of the clean, rustic guest rooms and holiday homes located inside various farm buildings (advanced booking required), or on the camping site on the farm. A popular place with children -- there are not only cows, chicken, horses, donkeys, dogs (no cats), and frogs here, but also a spacious swimming pool. (Less popular among the kids: to ask the farmers, Luisa and Domenico, to remove the cleaning robot in the mornings.)

After breakfast (organic with a few exceptions, and usually with freshly home-made cakes made with the farm's own organic flour) you may pre-order lunch and/or dinner (around 8 pm), except on Mondays. Expect hearty home-made farmer's kitchen, home-made pasta, left-over soups, a grilled chunk of home-made bread topped with olive oil and an equally thick slice of sopressa salami from the farm's own pigs, freshly grilled vegetables, rustic meat courses from the farm (you may even be served a hearty stew of chicken necks) and (often) organic wines from nearby wineries. On weekends the farm restaurant is open to the public, but you are asked to phone in in advance (+39 328 077 0977). Vegetarians are gladly catered for with the four-courses "menu verde" while the omnivore one is dubbed "menu rosso", and as the farmers' daughter is a vegan, do not hesitate to mention if you are, too. Children are equally welcome and pay less. On summer weekends dinner is often served in an informal garden party style with antipasti plates and pizza-style foccachia bread, often accompagnied by life music.

There's also a farmshop selling the farm's home-made products: eggs, sopressa, preserves and liquors. Officially it keeps open on weekends between 15:30 and 19:30, but unless there's a bigger party of visitors around take this with a grain of salt and ask Luisa or an employee if you want to buy something.

One of the bicycle tours may lead you to the South-Western slopes of the Euganean Hills, to Ca' Orologio in Baone. Among vineyards and olive groves you will find Maria Gioia Rosellini's dedicated organic winery, producing natural wines of exclusive taste. You may enter the 16th century Venetian villa to taste and buy, or decide to rather stay in these magical surrondings and make use of the bed-and-breakfast offer (better book in advance, though). The breakfast itself is only partially organic, depending on the availability of organic products in the village supermarket (which is rather limited). You have the opportunity to cook lunch and dinner yourself, and serve it with a glass of Ca'Orologio wines.

• Agriturismo La Buona Terra, Via Repoise, 73, Cervarese S. Croce
• Ca' Orologio, Via Ca' Orologio, 7a, Baone

Venice (Venezia)

The best and most comfortable way to reach Venice is by train to Venezia Santa Lucia railway station. Trains from Germany or Austria run by the Austrian railway, ÖBB, have sufficient dedicated space to take a bicycle with you. If you really must fly into Mestre make sure to compensate your climate gas emissions using services like Atmosfair. At any cost: Do not come by cruise ship! "Le grande navi", much hated by the local population, destroy the very foundations of this beautiful city and are a criminal danger to all other passengers in the narrow waterstreets – a price you hopefully are not willing to pay for a tremendous view at San Marco.

Moving around in the very town of Venice is done in an eco-conscious way – by public transport or walking. For the reliable ACTV waterbusses and ferries you can buy two-days and three-days passes which also cover the greater area including Chioggia. There's a discount for children and youth older than 4 years for which you will be handed an additional form to carry with you.

Bicycles aren't allowed in the narrow streets, so if you come by bike you'd better stay on the Lido of Venezia. To get there from Venezia Santa Lucia train station take the ferry no. 17 from Tronchetto to Lido San Nicolo (from the train station you must carry your bike over the steps of the Ponte della Costituzione bridge). ACTV bicyle tickets come at one EUR per bike and ferry ride.

• Supermarkets, delicatessen and groceries
• Ice-cream parlours
• Pizzerias and restaurants

Padua (Padova)

• Ice-cream parlours
• Eateries and restaurants
• Supermarkets and groceries

Italy: The Veneto

• Abano Terme
• Baone
• Cervarese S. Croce
• Chioggia and Sottomarina
• Euganean Hills (Colli Euganei) Regional Park
• Montegalda
• Padua (Padova)
• Rovigo
• Selvazzano Dentro
• Venice (Venezia)
• Verona
• Vicenza

Italy: Verona

Verona is called by many Italian long and regional trains. Coming from the north, the city can easily be reached with the frequent EC trains operated by Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB) in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn (DB), These trains come with a separate bicycle car. Some of them run to and from Venice, with a longer stop in Verona, some start here. If you want to take a bike with you it's advisable to book in advance, and when Deutsche Bahn tells you that bike space was no longer available try ÖBB directly.

You can also set out on several bicycle routes running through Verona.

• Ice-cream
• Supermarkets and groceries with focus on zero-waste
• Cafes, restaurants and eateries