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Trips Worth Stealing

Real trips, our own photos, and honest routes you can copy. Each guide ends with where the Chase Sapphire Reserve perks fit, so the planning and the paying come together.

Updated July 10, 2026

Start with: Santa Barbara Lake Como Venice Milan

5 trip guides · 14 practical guides · every photo ours

The Grand Canal from the Accademia Bridge, looking toward Santa Maria della Salute, Venice

Our trips

Where we went, what we booked with the Sapphire Reserve, and what we would do differently.

Newest: Santa Barbara

Newest Santa Barbara Kimpton Canary, Santa Barbara Two nights, both $250 Chase credits on one stay, a rooftop pool with mountain views, and the parking catch. Read the review

ItinerarySeven Days in Northern ItalyThe full route: three nights on Lake Como, two in Venice, one in Milan, built around trains and shoulder-season deals.

Lake ComoLake Como in AutumnBase in Como town, live on the ferries, and catch the lake in its best light. A three-day guide.

VeniceTwo Days in Venice, Done RightGetting lost, cicchetti crawls, the flooded bookshop, and the gondola that is worth it.

MilanOne Day in MilanThe Duomo, the most beautiful arcade on earth, a fortress, and the religion of aperitivo.

Use your Edit credit on these trips

Every destination above has Edit by Chase hotels. Book a prepaid stay of two nights or more in Chase Travel and the Sapphire Reserve takes $250 off, or $500 at a double-credit hotel.

5 Santa Barbara Edit hotels · from $671/night 1 takes $500 6 Lake Como Edit hotels · from $1,131/night 7 Venice Edit hotels · from $518/night 13 Milan Edit hotels · from $462/night

Practical guides from the Italy trip

The specific questions the itineraries do not have room for: ferry cancellations, station navigation, what things actually cost, and where we got it wrong.

The full itinerary

Lake Como

Como Funicular and LighthouseA cramped ride up, a lighthouse walk that underwhelms, and the hilltop restaurant that quietly justifies the whole trip. Lake Como Ferry CancellationsThe fast boats stop for wind and nobody posts it online. Backup routes, the C130 bus, and how to save the day. Lake Como One-Day ItineraryCancelled ferries, a rushed hour in Bellagio, and a villa we never reached. What one day on the lake should actually look like. Where to Eat in ComoThe lakefront restaurants to walk past, where the pizza is worth the wait, and why the service is slow on purpose. Where to Stay in ComoWhich part of Como to sleep in, what a modern apartment there is really like, and the suitcase problem nobody mentions.

Venice

The Ultimate Venice Walking Self-Guided TourA route built around getting lost on purpose, with the distances you will actually walk. Venice Gondola Complete GuideWhat a gondola really costs, why the gondoliers take only cash, and how to get the full thirty minutes you paid for. Where to Stay in VeniceWhy Dorsoduro beats the tourist core, what the walk to San Marco costs you, and why a canal view is overrated.

Milan

Is Milan Worth Visiting?Twenty-four hours in Milan, spent mostly on alert. An honest account of the one Italian city we would skip. Milano Centrale Station GuideA station big enough to lose a connection in. Where to eat, which exit to take, and how to move through it without panic.

Trains

Como to Milan Train GuideWhich Como station to leave from, how much buffer a Trenord connection really needs, and what the departure boards will not tell you. Italo Prima Business Class ReviewTen euros buys earlier boarding, a snack, and coffee at your seat. Whether that adds up on the run to Venice. When Your Trenord Train Gets CancelledYour train to Malpensa is cancelled and every announcement is in Italian. The bus that saves you 140 euros.

Getting There

Getting from Malpensa Airport to ComoCustoms, the Saronno transfer, and the platform scramble. The airport run to Lake Como, start to finish.

Last-minute Edit deals, by email

Edit stays in the next few weeks that Chase Travel prices well below the hotel’s usual rate, picked from our nightly rate check. Deal emails start soon; join now and you’ll get the first one.

Tools for your Sapphire Reserve credits

Edit MaximizerWhere your $250 credits cover the most Hotel mapAll 1,536 Edit hotels on one map Trip planner BetaHotels, flights and events for your dates Double-credit hotels177 hotels that take $500 on one stay Price-match stepsClaim the difference when Chase costs more