I recently spent 3 days in Venice, and it reminded me how much I love this idyllic, floating Italian city. Even my teenage daughters fell in love with Venice!
It was during my first trip to Venice over 3 years ago that the travel bug took hold of me. I’m happy to say that Venice has not lost an ounce of its luster!
If you have ever dreamed of a Venice vacation, I urge you not to put it off.
By sharing the experience of our Venice vacation and my trusted travel tips, I hope you are inspired to put Venice on your travel bucket list.
Will you or someone you know be traveling to Venice soon? Check out my Venice Scavenger Hunt in my Etsy shop!
About Venice
First, a little background on this one-of-a-kind Italian city. Venice is located in a lagoon at the Northern tip of the Adriatic Sea, near the top of this boot-shaped country.
While most people are aware that Venice is an island, they may be surprised to know it is actually made up of more than 100 tiny islands. And Venice is slowly sinking (hence my urgency to plan your Venice vacation). These islands are connected by over 400 charming bridges.
One of my favorite things about Venice is that it is a car-free zone. That means no car traffic and no monstrous parking garages to obstruct the amazing views.
The “roads” in Venice are waterways, called canals, with the main “thoroughfare” being the impressive Grand Canal. The primary mode of transportation in Venice is various forms of watercraft.
The other preferred method of getting around in Venice is on foot. Venice is divided into 6 districts, each with its own distinct character and charm. Over 2,000 alleyways wind through the islands and spill out into piazzas (town squares) and allow you to get blissfully lost.
Keep in mind that you are on an island, and you can’t truly get lost!
While you don’t have to contend with vehicle traffic as you do in other major cities, in Venice the real traffic comes in the form of people. Tourists…and lots of them! Who could blame all these humans for wanting to visit this incredible city?!
Be mentally prepared for hordes of tourists, and you will do just fine. Then count your blessings that you are one of those lucky tourists. Better yet, travel to Venice during the shoulder seasons (spring or fall) or the winter months for more manageable crowds. I’ve visited Venice in April and October and both were fabulous times to travel.
Now that you have the general lay of the land, let me tell you all about our Venice vacation!
Rialto Bridge
How We Got There
Venice was the first stop on our Italian adventure. As a budget-savvy traveler, I searched MANY flight options before selecting one. (We always use EuropeanDestinations.com for planning our trips to Europe.) The best flights (based on timing and cost) were to nearby Bologna.
After a direct flight from Indianapolis to Paris, we took a short flight to Bologna, Italy. A taxi quickly and efficiently transported us the short distance from the airport to Bologna Centrale Train Station. It was then time to experience our third form of transportation, a high-speed train.
The train system in Italy, and really of all Europe, is amazing! And it is fairly easy to use. I had researched train tickets ahead of time but declined to purchase them in advance just in case our flight was delayed.
A friendly train station representative helped us purchase tickets to Venice for the next train, leaving in 10 minutes. She assured us we had plenty of time. Unlike most of the other train stations we used in Italy, we found the Bologna train station to be quite large and confusing with several underground levels. After a mad dash and asking for directions a few times, we literally jumped onto the train (with all our luggage) with not more than a minute to spare!
After my heart rate resumed to normal I was able to relax and enjoy the 90-minute train ride as I gazed at the Italian countryside.
Forget jet lag…we were in Italy! And on our way to Venice.
How We Got Around
The train takes you across the water into the Santa Lucia train station on the western edge of Venice. Our next task was to get to our accommodations and deposit our luggage.
Of course, walking was an option. But with weary travelers AND suitcases to navigate through the maze that is Venice, I knew a vaporetto would be the better option.
A vaporetto is a waterbus, and it is the easiest, most affordable (relatively speaking) way to get around in Venice. Each trip costs 7,5 euros (a little over $8) per person. We opted for the 24 hour passes, with unlimited rides, at 20 euros per person. I purposely planned our visit to two nearby islands for the next morning to maximize our 24 hour passes.
While there are seats, the vaporettos are usually very crowded and many people stand. Keeping hold of our suitcases, we stood tightly packed on the water vessel and enjoyed our first breathtaking views of Venice from the Grand Canal.
Side Note: Gondolas are the elegant boats we all think of when we picture Venice, and there are plenty of them gliding through the canals with expert gondoliers in striped shirts at the helms. A 30-minute gondola ride costs upwards of 80 euros so that mode of transportation is generally reserved for tourists looking to create a romantic Venitian experience.
A lovely representative with our Airbnb met us at our vaporetto stop and guided us along the short but winding route to our accommodations in Venice. She also gave us a great overview of the area along with several restaurant recommendations. Our first experience with a Venetian local was an excellent one!
We spent 3 nights at Casa Merca, located in the San Polo district, very close to the famed Rialto Bridge. An inconspicuous door between a restaurant and a fruit stand led back to a hidden courtyard with 3 apartments nestled around it.
Casa Merca has a good-sized living room, standard European kitchen, 1 bathroom, 2 bedrooms and plenty of charm. It was all we needed and more!
The 2nd bedroom had twin beds, which was perfect for my daughters. Both bedrooms overlooked a charming canal…a reminder that we were in fact in Venice!
I loved our Venice Airbnb! The one mistake we made though was leaving the windows open the first 2 nights while we slept. This is common practice in many European countries as central air is not so common and you rarely find air conditioning outside the extremely warm summer months.
While we enjoyed the fresh air, with it came lots of mosquitos. We were all scratching and splotchy for the next several days and decided keeping the windows closed was the way to go!
I can hardly blame the mosquitos on the Airbnb, but this is an important travel tip to keep in mind if you are traveling during mosquito season.
What We Did
Now that we were settled in our Venice apartment it was time to explore.
My favorite thing to do in Venice is simply wander.
Wandering Venice
Around every nook and cranny, there are new photo-worthy settings, quaint shops, and quintessential Italian restaurants. Each day we were in Venice we spent time navigating new routes and stumbling upon new parts of the island that somehow seemed even more charming than the last.
Prepare to do a lot of walking in Venice, and wear comfortable shoes.
But take your time, no need to rush. Chances are you will be stopping around every bend to take yet another photograph of Venice’s beautifully decaying facades. Notice the ancient churches, spot the Venetian children playing, stroll through the fish market, and simply take it all in.
One of our favorite finds in Venice was a small modern art exhibit. The Bel-Air Fine Art exhibit in San Marco was free to wander through the 5-6 rooms of unique expressions of pop culture and 3-D art. This was in sharp contrast to the Renaissance art we admired all throughout Italy and was a fun change of pace for my crew.
While exploring Venice we also stopped in the legendary Libreria Acqua Alta.
This tiny bookstore is packed to the gills with books as well as enthusiastic tourists. The shop is known to flood numerous times a year as the water levels rise, which is a common challenge for Venetian stores and homes.
The Acqua Alta bookstore manages the rising water by displaying their wares in gondolas, bathtubs, and other means of elevation. Tourists frequent this establishment to shop and snap selfies on the piles of books.
Side Note: Unfortunately as I type this, just a few weeks after our Venice vacation the city is facing one of its worst floods ever.
Withlocals Photography Tour
To help us capture Venice in all its glory, we took a photography tour through Withlocals. This private guided tour was the perfect way to learn about Venice and step up our photography skills. We had such a great time, I wrote a whole article about our Withlocals tour.
If photography isn’t your thing, Withlocals offers a number of great tours in Venice themed around food, art, families, history, and so much more. The best part is each tour is led by a local guide and only includes your family.
Withlocals operates in many major cities, so it is now a top priority on many of my travel itineraries. (If a trip to Paris is in your future, read about our WithLocals tour in the City of Light!)
Island Hopping to Murano and Burano
Don’t travel to Venice without visiting the neighboring islands of Murano and Burano.
Murano is just a 15 minute Vaporetto ride north of Venice. Famous for glass blowing, Murano offers numerous stores filled with blown glass treasures ranging from massive to minute, in both size and cost.
We spent nearly 2 hours strolling the main walkways, popping in and out of shops, and snapping photos on the idyllic bridges.
With a bit more time, and if you have a desire to learn more about glass blowing, you can tour the Murano Glass Museum and even watch a glass blowing demonstration. After chatting with a shop owner about the elements of authentic Murano glass, we purchased a few small keepsakes and hopped back on a vaporetto.
We then traveled another 30 minutes north to the colorful island of Burano.
If there is a more Instagram-worthy setting than Burano, I haven’t been there yet!
Row after row of homes in every conceivable hue make for an amazingly colorful backdrop. We spent nearly an hour taking selfies and snapping shots of each other as we wandered the alleys of Burano…and we could have stayed much longer!
We interspersed our selfies with a delightful lunch (more on food below!) and more shopping. Burano is known for lace-making, and in some shops you can admire Italian women as they work on this intricate and painstaking craft.
Of course, we picked up a few more souvenirs, for ourselves and some lucky family members, during our all-too-short time in Burano.
Views From Above
There are so many great angles for taking pictures in Venice, and I wanted to make sure we took in the views from up above. The T Fondaco dei Tedeschi Mall is located just east of the Rialto Bridge and boasts a lovely rooftop deck with 360 degree views.
The views are free, but you must reserve a 15 minute timeslot to visit the small terrace. You can make a reservation online or on an ipad at the mall. These slots do fill up, especially during busy seasons, so don’t wait to make your reservation. Since there is no cost involved there is no penalty if you miss your timeslot, so you have nothing to lose. And you will gain breathtaking views along with plenty of photo opportunities of beautiful Venice.
St. Mark’s Square
Arguably the most popular area in Venice is St. Mark’s Square. The focal point here is St. Mark’s Basilica. We admired the architectural beauty from the outside and strolled through the massive and impressive interior. It is free to enter and although there is always a line, it moves rather quickly.
To the right of the Basilica is Doge’s Palace. This is the former palatial home of Venice’s ruler, which is now an impressive museum. I toured Doge’s Palace on my first trip to Venice and it was well worth the entry fee, but buy your tickets ahead of time or you will waste a lot of time standing in line for this popular attraction.
Connected to Doge’s Palace, and included in the museum tour, is the adjacent, former prison. Casanova was one of its most notable inmates.
After receiving their sentences, prisoners would get one last glimpse of beautiful Venice and let out a sigh as they crossed the enclosed bridge to the dank prison. Hence the name, the Bridge of Sighs.
While St. Mark’s Square is packed with tourists and pigeons during the day, at night it transforms into a romantic setting. It is worth the high prices to soak up the ambiance and listen to the well-dressed musicians serenading lovers at a handful of high-end outdoor restaurants.
No one goes to Italy without loading up on amazing Italian food! I had a list of must-eats while in Italy, and I was able to check many items off my list while in Venice.
Known for its seafood, we strolled through Venice’s Rialto fish market and got a glimpse of the exotic fresh catches of the day that the local restaurants would soon be dishing up.
While in Burano I enjoyed a tasty plate of gnocchi with prawns. The crustaceans with their eyes still intact were a bit too fishy for my tastes! But I found the round, potato-based pasta (gnocchi) to be quite good.
Pizza was a common meal for us on this trip. And why not…this is Italy! With pizza shops around every corner, it is not hard to satisfy a rumbling tummy in Venice.
One night I did decide a pizza and pasta break was in order, and I opted for this fresh Caprese salad.
One of my favorite meals in Venice was at a quick stop at a cafe in Campo Santa Maria Formosa. Needing just a light bite, I ordered the piadina. The lightly toasted wrap was filled with delectable cheese, meat, and a tangy sauce that perfectly hit the spot. And as is common in Venice, I enjoyed my meal along with an Aperol Spritz. This tangy, alcoholic beverage is a bit of an acquired taste, but I could definitely get used to this popular Venetian custom! Although my favorite Venetian cocktail remains the peach flavored Bellini.
Another evening I again indulged in an Aperol Spritz while trying another popular Venetian culinary treat, Cicchetti. These small bites are Venetian’s answer to Spanish tapas and are a daily ritual for Venice’s happy hour.
A daily treat for our family (sometimes 3 times a day!) was gelato! You simply cannot travel to Italy without eating your weight in gelato. And there is literally a gelateria around every corner in Venice so access is never an issue. The only challenge is deciding which flavor to indulge in next.
We successfully consumed a massive amount of gelato in Venice, but we offset the calories with plenty of steps around this legendary floating city.
All good vacations must come to an end, but we vowed to return to Venice one day!
Wherever the road takes you, make it a joyous journey, Traveling Tanya
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