Visit Italy’s Prosecco Region – 1 Hour from Venice

I conducted an entirely unscientific survey over the festive fizz period of December – I asked everybody with a glass of Prosecco in their hand if they knew that the Prosecco region was just one hour from Venice in Italy.

Results: 100/100 people didn’t know (or some number like that).

The ensuing conversations went a little something like this:

Prosecco drinker: You can take a Prosecco tour from Venice?

Me: Yep

Prosecco drinker: It’s only an hour away?

Me: Yep

Prosecco drinker: So, I didn’t need to go on that bl%$dy day trip from Venice to Murano to look at glass?

Me: Nope

Prosecco drinker: I could have drank Prosecco with vineyard views instead?

Me: You mean these views (I pull out my phone and pull up a picture from my last trip to the Prosecco region)

Prosecco drinker: Why didn’t I know this?

Me: Good question.

Taking a Prosecco tour from Venice is easy

and it’s about time people knew about it

In 2015 I took my first trip to the Prosecco region and a few things struck me:

• Why, when I’d been drinking Prosecco for close to a decade, did I not know where the Prosecco region was?
• How could the Prosecco there taste so much better than what we get in the supermarkets back home?
• And cost so much less.
• Why were the tours from Venice so expensive?
• And, could I do it myself at a lower cost?

It remains a mystery why most people don’t know that the Prosecco region is perfectly doable from Venice. But I can try to fill that knowledge gap. Cue: my new website is dedicated to visiting the Prosecco region from Venice. It’s called Visit Prosecco Italy and you can find it here:

I’m making no apologies for the fact that it’s pink.

Visit Prosecco Italy – wine tours from Venice

Below I’ll give you the what, where, when, how and visiting from Venice. If you’re already in the ‘yes, I need to do that’ camp, head over to my Visit Prosecco Italy site.

There, you’ll find everything you need to know about planning your trip to the Prosecco region.

It includes how to get there, where to stay, my favourite foodie spots in the Prosecco region and, most importantly you can book a tour with a local driver without paying for an over-priced, under-flexible group tour.

I’ve written more than once about the downsides of taking a package Prosecco tour from Venice (here and here). Tours can be inflexible. You can end up with a group of people you don’t like. Lunch is usually decided for you and, worst case, you’re forced to chew through a thrown-together buffet.

But that wasn’t my big problem with the major tour operators.

It was the cost.

In many cases prices were ‘on application’ – a sure sign that they’re going to hit you harder in the pocket than you want to be hit. And those that did have clear prices were coming in at hundreds of Euros per person. If you’re in a couple or group, those cost adds up PDQ. (The most frustrating part was seeing lots of ‘from’ prices of around €150 only to find that I had to be in a group of 8 to get that rate. For 2 people, the price was over €700.)

And none of this mentions the fact that you’re paying quite a lot of money to spend a couple of hours in a car battling to get off the island of canals, Venice.

Book with Visit Prosecco Italy for a fraction of the cost

At visit Prosecco Italy, I’ve designed tours with a fixed rate that covers the driver’s time: €250 for a half-day tour and €400 for a full-day tour. That’s for your entire group, up to 8 people.

Yes, we do offer a transfer from Venice but to keep our costs low, all you have to do is hop on a train from Venice, which is very easy to do – we even give you the train times and pick you up at the station at the other end.

You speak to your driver and decide with them what you want to do. You can design your own Prosecco tour on your terms. Or just do what most of our customers do – ask them to plan it all for you.

Of course, it’s not all about budget. Want a Michelin-star restaurant – there is one in the Prosecco region. Want to add in a gelateria – done. Want to taste excellent cappuccino – absolutely. Want to be picked up at the train station and dropped off at a hotel in the Prosecco region hotel – all included. You can also pay more to get picked up from Venice or, more usefully, have extra Prosecco drinking time…because you’re only in the area once and…well, Prosecco.

In fact, I’d recommend spending the night in the Prosecco region where accommodation options are plentiful, rates are cheaper than in Venice and the quality is much higher. Plus: you get to spend the night surrounded by the beautiful Prosecco hills.

In short: I’ve set up Visit Prosecco Italy to help you plan and book your trip to the Prosecco region without having to scratch together outdated details and pick through subjective reviews from dozens of sites online.

If you’re looking for a quick lowdown on the what, where, why, when and how of visiting the Prosecco region, here it is:

What is Prosecco?

Most of us know that Prosecco is an Italian sparkling wine. But did you know that it’s made from the Glera grape and that in order to be labelled Prosecco it must be made from at least 85% glera? Bet you also didn’t know that the other 15% is often made up of grapes you’ve probably already heard of (and drank) like Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay.

Prosecco comes in a range of sweetnesses from Brut (dry) to Dry (confusingly the sweetest). You can also get it Col Fondo – which is cloudy with some yeast in the bottle – a style you probably won’t get at home and once which I’m strangely attracted to.

But my absolute favourite? Brut zero. With no sugar added, this Prosecco is exceptionally dry (as I like it) and, if you’re saving your calories for Tiramisu (from the Treviso/Prosecco region, by the way), Prosecco zero can be as few as 60 calories per glass. You can cancel your gym membership now. You’re welcome.

You can learn more about Prosecco here. 

Where is Prosecco?

The short answer is one hour outside Venice in the Treviso region. There is a more complicated answer because there is a town called Prosecco, which is further east in Trieste, closer to the Slovenian border. Although the town of Prosecco is the official birthplace of Prosecco, it’s no longer where the best Prosecco (the ones with the premium DOCG and DOC labels) is found. The best Prosecco is found in the Prosecco hills of Treviso, an hour from Venice.

You can find out more about the location of the Prosecco region here. 

When to visit Prosecco

I’ve visited the Prosecco region both in Spring and in Autumn and I’d highly recommend both. The weather was perfectly warm on both occasions and availability (accommodation, restaurants, train seats, drivers) was great.

Winter is colder but with plenty of Italian carbohydrates for comfort food, winter could make for a beautiful pre or post-Christmas trip. Added advantaged: availability will be excellent and you’re more likely to get good travel deals.

Summer is going to be peak beauty – sitting on a terrace sipping Prosecco? I’m in. Just book everything early and be prepared to have a love-hate relationship with Venice.

I’ve got some tips for getting the most out of your time in Venice here.

As well as a list of the best restaurants in Venice.

How to take a Prosecco tour from Venice

Given the popularity of Prosecco, it’s a surprise to me that there aren’t more and better package tours from Venice to the Prosecco region.

To visit, you can either book one of the few tours your find through Google or you can take the train from Venice and hire a driver for a few hours instead. I have taken plenty of package tours on my travels but for Prosecco, it’s just as easy and usually much cheaper to book it yourself.

You can find out more about how to book your own Prosecco wine tour from Venice here.

Why visit from Venice?

Apart from the obvious – Prosecco – here are a few more reasons why you should visit from Venice:

• For some strange reason, the Prosecco region hasn’t made a blip on most tourist radars – it will happen, for sure. Visit now before everyone else does.
• Wouldn’t you rather watch corks popping than glass blowing on a day trip from Venice?
• Venice is best experienced in small bites – the crowds can be horrific and stepping away to the calm of the Prosecco hills for a day or night will help you enjoy the canal city all the more.
• Of all the vineyards in the world (and I’ve visited a lot), I’ve not seen any with the same steep, dramatic rolling hillsides as you’ll find in the Prosecco region.
• The region is so beautiful, it has recently gained UNESCO World Heritage Site recognition. Tourism numbers will surely rocket. I repeat: Go. Go now.
• You’re going to have a lot of fun (that picture above may have been taken after me and my travel companions had consumed an impressive amount of Prosecco at the vineyards and, continued to taste our purchases at the hotel).

So, that’s my guide and introduction to my new website. You can follow along with plenty of Prosecco-themed fun on my Visit Prosecco Italy Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram pages. And drop me an email here or over on Visit Prosecco Italy if you have any questions.

You can read all about my first trip to the Prosecco region here.

Have you visited the Prosecco region? Got any questions, comments or travel tips? Let me know in the comments below. 

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