3 1/2 days in Venice-What to do?

The words "bored in Venice" have never been seen before on this forum! There are churches, there are museums, there are palaces, there are trattorie, there are other islands to get to on the vaporetti. How could you be bored? By the way, you have 2.5 days, not 3.5. Just enough time to get the smallest taste of Venice.

We have all of Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and leave at lunchtime on Wednesday. So yes, 3.5 days.

You'll love Venice. I go every chance I get. I wander around happily for 3 days. There's plenty of sites : St. Marks, Doges Palace, some art museums. I covered them on my first two visits and now I go with no agenda. The magic of Venice is just seeing it.

Thanks Valerie, glad to hear. It'll be our first time so it sounds like wandering around and getting lost will be the way to go. Always nice to hear from a Pacific NW native, born & raised in Olympia myself!

With a list of highlights like this, I don't think you'll be bored. I'm not, after many visits. That list hardly touches upon the fish & produce market, backstreet wandering/photo safari, the Jewish museum and ghetto area, gondola ride and/or gondola lesson, or shopping. See also self-guided audio tours further down the same page. If you're interested in Venetian masks, you can decorate your own for about 80 euros per person.

Lots of detail about these in Rick's Venice guidebook, as well as he covers day-trip options by train to Padova, Ravenna, or Verona. A trip like that doesn't need advance reservations for trains, but calling to reserve a day or two ahead can be helpful for a visit to Padova's Scrovegni chapel.

I've been lucky enough to visit 4 times with about 9 nights or so. I still haven't gotten bored of it. My fav place ever - and hoping to return in a few years for more nights!

One thing to do that can take up the better part of a day would be to visit Murano/Burano/Torcello. Burano is gorgeous with all the brightly painted houses. I love all the little glass shops on Murano. Torcello we only did once and unfortunately, got there just as the few things of interest were closing.

My absolute fav thing to do (on the last two trips because that is when it sunk in)...is to get up early and head for St Marks and/or Rialto (I mean - like 7-8am) and experience them without the total crush of people. Enjoy viewing the Bridge of Sighs without jostling for position and getting knocked in the head with selfie sticks. Remember how lovely it was when you return at about 10am and see the hordes who have descended.

Also - on our last visit, we went across the lagoon to San Giorgio to the bell tower over there - no line at all (compared to about the 30-40 min we spent standing in line at St Marks bell tower on our 1st visit in '08). And the views over to St Mark's Sq are lovely.

My second fav thing to do - probably because we've hit the major sites - is just to wander and get lost in the maze of alleys - oh, such fun!

Hi Jeremy, I'm researching the same time frame. We're planning a trip to Murano/Burano/Torcello as one of our days, and we are hoping to spend a bit of time in each of the 6 Sestieri.. my limited experience in Venice has been that each turn or bridge crossing reveals a very different place; I seriously doubt that boredom will be a concern. It will be a great trip.
Robert in Montreal

We really enjoyed The Peggy Guggenheim Museum. It's not too large, in a beautiful building and has great art. They also have tours in English, most days, that are very good.

Some excellent suggestions. The island of Torcello is one of my favorite places. Also, the Jewish Ghetto is a great neighborhood to walk around, have lunch or dinner (Tam Tam is my favorite restaurant in the area).

Do a pub crawl with Alessandro http://www.schezzini.it/

Jeremy, plenty to see, do and experience during several days in Venice. I echo the other good ideas you have received here, including: (1) spend a full day on Murano, Burano and Torcello, and be sure to wander beyond the commercial areas in Murano and Burano; I especially enjoy the residential areas of Burano, and the seafood there; (2) I also enjoyed the Peggy Guggenheim Myseum, more than the Academmia in Venice; (3) go to the St. Mark's and Rialto areas very early in the morning and late in the day, avoiding the huge crowd of day visitors; (4) I also enjoyed Alessandro's Cicchetti Tour, far more food, drink and fun than the cost; (5) poke around various residential, less touristy neighborhoods, and have some meals there, also not so touristy and less expensive; (6) I have heard about gondola lessons, kayaking, etc but I have not done any of that. When in doubt, best response us to slow down and have a gelato!

You could always take a kayak tour around Venice. More fun than a gondola, and you'll see more.

Venicekayak.com do it very well. We have paddled with them twice.

Also, if you go to Torcello, you can climb the campanile. It is a massive structure, the interior is fascinating. Costs about five euro, I think, and gives great views over the lagoon.