Venice, Italy
Venice is one of those cities that’s on everyone’s bucket list. There’s something extremely romantic and charming about this beautiful and unique collection of islands. Travelers from all around the globe come to Venice to experience and see the beauty for themselves, and beautiful it is. Pictures just don’t do Venice justice. They really don’t.
Overview
Venice is made up of neighborhoods, known in Italian as sestieri (singular sestiere), there are six spread out over its outlying islands. Some neighborhoods contain Venice’s most popular sites while others are quieter, where the locals live.
Cannaregio (Jewish Ghetto) is the most northern of these neighborhoods, and one of the most culturally interesting parts of the city – it’s the “hidden gem” neighborhood. It’s far away from the more popular, more touristy areas, but it has a small-town feel that makes it one of the coolest places to visit in Venice.
San Marco is the touristy heart of Venice and home to Doge’s Palace, St. Mark’s Square, and the Rialto Bridge. Most tourists spend the majority of their time here, along with Dorsoduro (Pont dell’Accademia, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute), and San Polo.
Santa Croce, located on the western end of Venice, is the main transportation hub. The bus station, parking garages, and train station are located here.
Like Cannaregio, Castello, and Giudecca are where many local Venetians live, but these sestieri make great places to go for a stroll if you want to escape the tourist crowds in the heart of Venice. Lastly, Murano, Burano, and Lido make great day trips from Venice, but you need to have at least three days in Venice in order to have enough time to do this.
What to Expect
Language: Italian! Though some locals don’t speak English, most Venetians have become accustomed to English-speaking tourists so you shouldn’t have a problem communicating. We suggest you get a good English-Italian guidebook or app on your phone and familiarize yourself with common phrases such as hello, goodbye, excuse me and numbers 1-10.
Climate: The weather in Venice is very extreme. In the summer (June-August), it is very hot out. With a huge increase in tourists. In the winter, it is quite rainy and cold. Italy is on the same seasonal cycle as the USA meaning when it’s summer in the USA it’s summer in Italy. The same goes for spring, fall, and winter.
Every season does have its special charm. Tourists enjoy sightseeing in Venice all year round: Mardi Gras time, which typically falls in February, has its peak periods in the last ten days. In fall and in the winter, you can enjoy a very unique atmosphere, much more intimate and secluded, a mysterious ambiance largely created by the mist that hovers over many days.
The peak tourist season for Venice is June-August. Since so many people visit during these months, prices get VERY expensive, even for hostels, so expect to pay more than anywhere else in Italy.
Best Time to Visit: Don’t miss our guide on The Best Time to Visit Italy for a detailed breakdown of what to expect throughout the different seasons.
Currency: Much like a lot of other countries in Europe, Italy uses the Euro. With so much tourism, Venice widely accepts credit cards. However, it can be easier to pay for small purchases and souvenirs with cash, so keep some Euros on you at all times.
Check out our guide on Tipping in Italy which covers most situations that you will encounter as a tourist.
Where to Stay: There are so many beautiful corners of Venice! If it’s your first time visiting the city, we recommend the San Polo or Santa Croce areas – these areas offer a great taste of local and tourist sights but it isn’t too noisy. Also, check out these neighborhoods.
Getting Around
There are a few ways to get around Venice but the most common is going to be walking. Venice is a compact city, which is designed for pedestrians. If you’re looking to go somewhere a bit further or have heavy bags that you don’t want to carry, you can take a water taxi. If you take a train to Venice, you can walk out of the train station and the first bridge that you see is the main bridge. Right underneath there are water taxis. For a detailed explanation of getting around Venice, check out our Getting Around Venice guide.
What to Eat
Food in Venice is very good if you know where to stop for your meal. Not all restaurants serve dishes with fresh ingredients and that’s something to bear in mind when visiting some popular destinations. Avoid restaurants on the main touristic streets like the ones based on Strada Nova and get lost in close by ‘calli’ and ‘campi’ to find the best authentic Venetian food.
Venice is known for fish and seafood dishes. The most famous you can try in Venice is bigoli in salsa, a pasta dish with an anchovy sauce. Baccalà mantecato, to sample when eating ‘cicchetti’, a Venetian version of tapas. You can have these ‘cicchetti’ with cured hams and cheeses as well. For seafood lovers, scampi alla busara and risotto al nero di seppia. Other popular dishes are the sarde in saor (marinated sardine fillets), risi and bisi (risotto with peas) and fegato alla veneziana (calf liver with stewed onions).
Lastly, if you’re heading to Venice, one thing you absolutely have to do is try gelato – the Italian version of ice cream. Gelato is easily one of Italy’s greatest cultural contributions and La Serenissima is one of the best places in the country to find it. Finding the best gelato in Venice isn’t easy and as you stroll around the city, you’re going to find yourself overwhelmed by choice as this frozen Italian treat has a ubiquitous presence.
What to Do
St. Mark’s Square
St. Mark’s Square, or Piazza San Marco, is the heart of Venice. It’s one of the most beautiful piazzas in Italy. From here you can easily visit most of the other main sites including St. Mark’s Basilica, Doge’s Palace, Campanile San Marco, and the Bridge of Sighs.
This is the only piazza of Venice since the other squares are called ‘campi’. It’s a very old square as it dates back to the year 826. The St. Mark’s Basilica (Basilica of San Marco) is the religious heart of Venice and one of the symbols of the city. Don’t miss the chance to visit inside the church decorated by thousands of golden mosaics!
The Accademia Bridge is one of the four bridges that span the Canal Grande in Venice. From here, you can enjoy a lovely view of the Canal Grande on a sunny and clear day and spot the Basilica of San Marco too!
This is also where you’ll find the Galleria dell’Accademia, originally an academy, this building was turned into a museum by none other than Napoléon. Today, it’s filled with an expansive collection of Venetian art from the 14th to the 18th century by artists such as Bellini, Tintoretto and Veronese. If you enjoy art – especially Renaissance art – then you’ll love this museum.
Take a Gondola Ride of the Grand Canal
The Venetian gondola boat is the symbol of the city and an icon of romanticism. This is a traditional boat, used to move around Venice and the lagoon since the earliest days of the city. Its distinctive features are the black silhouette and sparkling gold and red velvet details. You can get to a gondola all around Venice.The cost for a 30-minute day ride is around 80 euros (max 5 people) and around 100 euros between 7pm and 8am.
The Bridge of Sighs
The Bridge of Sighs is one of the most famous bridges of Venice, after Rialto. Behind its elegant face, the bridge hides a painful story.
The Bridge of Sighs name is a reminiscence of the sighs of condemned people by the Serenissima court who were led across this bridge to their cells.
The story tells that when crossing the bridge, they were taking their very last look at the beautiful Venetian lagoon, before their final sentence.
Santa Maria della SaluteThe Santa Maria della Salute was built to celebrate the end of the plague in 1631 and is dedicated to Our Lady of Health. Nowadays, many will recognize this magnificent Roman Catholic Church as the backdrop for many photos of Venice. There’s a good chance you’ll see it whether you take the time to go inside or not. You can easily see the Santa Maria della Salute over the Grand Canal from Piazza San Marco. The church itself stands out due to its white marble facade and the 125 statues that adorn it, but there’s much to see and explore inside.
Visit the Jewish Ghetto in the Cannaregio Neighborhood
The Jewish Ghetto is located in the Cannaregio neighborhood and it’s the oldest ghetto in the world. Many Jewish people were forced to live in this part of the city during the Serenissima Republic days and under Napoleon’s rule.
Take a Day Trip to Murano, Burano, and Lido
Murano, Burano, and Lido are a series of islands that sit in the Venetian Lagoon and make a great day trip from Venice.
Murano and Burano are famous for their talented glass-making, colorful buildings, and lacemaking, and are the perfect Venice islands to shop for unique souvenirs. And Lido is a long, thin island with a beach. This island hosts the Venice International Film Festival every year in early September! If you’re visiting this time of the year, expect to spot lots of celebrities—but large crowds too.
Check out this 3 day Itinerary in Venice, Italy and learn how to make the best of your visit!
Popular Venice, Italy Itineraries:
- Check out our #1 Bestseller and the perfect introduction to Italy
- Experience Italy by Train: Rome, Cinque Terre, Florence, and Venice
- Experience the Best of Venice
- See One of our most popular vacation packages, offering an incredible introduction to Italy!
Things to Do near Venice, Italy
- Verona (75 miles away): One of the best places to visit in Italy, Verona is the setting for Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
- Lake Garda (114 miles away): Of all the lakes in northern Italy’s Lakes Region, Lake Garda is the closest to Venice. However, other lakes including Lake Maggiore and Lake Como are within a reasonable distance and are worthy of a few days.
- Milan (168 miles away): The most popular things to do in Milan include exploring the Duomo and shopping.
- See more Highlights and Attractions of Italy to enjoy more ideas for an Italian Getaway!
Tourist Entry Fee in Venice: Starting in Spring 2024, visitors to the floating city will have to pay around 5 Euros to enter on peak days if they’re not staying the night.
