3 Days in Venice-Advice on Tours, passes etc

A lot of the must-see experiences of Venice are just walking around through the alleys and seeing what's around the corner. It's an island - you can't get lost. Doges Palace, San Marco Basilica are probably the 2 most visited sites of the island. Other than that - just enjoy yourself. I've been to Venice more times than I can count, but just last week I read about kayaking through the canals with a guide. Now that sounds like fun to me. Next time kayaking will be on my list of things to do!

We did not go up in the clock tower, so I don't know if that's worth it or not. I agree that Doges Palace and the Basilica are must see attractions. We also did the "bar tour" with Alessandro that Rick recommends in his book. We had a fantastic time! It was a small group and he took us around to 3 or 4 different bars off the beaten path, that we would have never come across on our own. At each place we sat and drink wine and ate little finger food and sat around and talked with Alessandro about the city. Here is his website: http://www.schezzini.it/ We found him very knowledgeable and easy to work with in getting everything arranged prior to our visit.

Thanks Tim and Christine for your suggestions. I had seen the bar hopping tour in the RS guidebook and it sounded l Ike something we would enjoy. Thanks for confirming that it's a good time.
John

We didn't do the clock tower, but the Correr Museum was fascinating and uncrowded. We loved it. I have to admit that the inside of the Doge's Palace is nowhere near as beautiful the outside for my taste, and we got dragged through the Bridge of Sighs and into the prisons, which was extremely claustrophobic. And do take the vaporetto over to San Giorgio Maggio for the view from the tower. Magnificent. We found the 3-day vaporetto pass to be well worth it, even for sudden urges like going to see what San Marco looks like at night after you finish dinner. If we'd had to pay a fare each way we'd never have done that. Have a great trip!