This was my 5th JY holiday. The transfer from Venice airport to Bassano is about 1 hr 20 mins. Bassano del Grappa is a very pretty little town where our hotel Belvedere is situated. It was a matter of a few minutes walk into the main piazza and the lovely bridge.The rooms all seemed to offer different facilities ie. mine had a walk in shower cubicle, whereas some just had wet rooms with a curtain, others had a bath. None had a view or a balcony from what I gathered.
Breakfast at the hotel is good with plenty of choice. The evening meals were not quite as good but once some suggestions were made to the manager, these did improve a little.It was noticeable that although it was a large restaurant open to the public we were the only people dining there 3 evenings out of 4! Mind you we only had to eat at the hotel 4 times. The other times were at lovely local restaurants,one of which was up in the mountains above Bassano and where the food was of a much better standard. The highlights for me were the Prosecco wine route ( even though I don't like Prosecco!) which took us to a vineyard where the owner demonstrated how it's made. We were then treated to a most relaxing lunch under the trees high up in the hills. Luca our TM asked us if we would prefer to stay at the vineyard rather than continue on to another town....you can probably guess the consensus of opinion! Other trips included Treviso, Vicenza, Asolo and Venice. I've been to Venice before and it's still as crowded as ever but worth a visit if you've never been. The other memorable day for me was our last one which was free time. 4 of us decided to take a local bus and visit a town not far away called Marostica. This is a delightful place! We were lucky to arrive on market day. We then walked up to the top of the hill to the castle( not for the unfit or anyone with poor mobility) and for our efforts were rewarded with a very stylish restaurant/hotel which served us with tea/cappuccino! The town is famous for its human chess game which takes place every other year in the main square. It was there we had a tasty lunch in one of the many cafes. Other members of the group decided to spend their free day either staying in Bassano or some went with the TM to Levico but apparently this was a bit of a disappointment as there was little to do there. Nobody felt like the rather long trip to Padua so can't comment on that.
In summary I would say this is enjoyable but it lacked the "wow" factor for me that the Lake Como and Tuscany trips had......probably because apart from the Prosecco route, the coach journeys are rather boring as far as scenery is concerned and the hotel had a few dining issues to iron out.
