5 nights in Venice

We visited Venice for a solid 3 weeks last summer, and the best thing I'd recommend is to wander around the less-touristed islands, like San Giorgio, Giudecca, and the Giardini area. Allow yourself to get lost, enjoy the sights, then go back to looking at your phone :)
Also, the early mornings (before 10am) and the evenings (after 6pm) can be magical, because the day trippers are not around. Splurge on opera tickets at La Fenice -- it was a highlight of our last visit.

Rick's top sightseeing suggestions for Venice can be found here: https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/venice. Click on "At a Glance".

What that summary list doesn't tell you is that the island of Burano (farther from central Venice) is really colorful and pretty. The island of Murano (much closer to central Venice) is not especially pretty but is a reasonable target for people with a serious interest in glass.

You can book an entry time for San Marco online at a modest cost. It's smart to do that ahead of time, because the regular entry line is quite long (though not terribly slow-moving).

The Guggenheim Museum is very popular and recommended if you like modern art. That's a ticket I'd consider buying just a bit ahead of time, as there often seems to be a bit of a line there.

The Secret Itineraries Tour at the Doge's Palace is very popular on this forum. I haven't been to the Palace at all, so I'm not certain about the ticket situation there. However, I'd guess tour tickets need to be purchased in advance.

The path between the train station, the Rialto Bridge and Market and Piazza San Marco tends to be mind-numbingly crowded, though I'm sure it's not as bad in March as it is later in the year. Try to spend as little time as possible along that path.

We’ve spent 3+ weeks in Venice on various trips and plan to return for another 10 days when we can.

Arzana squero museum tour was great — contact Row Venice for more information (you could also take a rowing lesson on the back canals).

Find the narrowest alley and the last remaining bridges without railings (one is on Torcello)

Ride a vaporetto all along the Grand Canal in the evening — if you start in Castello and go toward the train station you are more likely to get a great seat outside in the front of the boat.

During the day, you’ll get the best seats on a vaporetto early in the morning, like, before 9:00am. The vaporetto passes for one, two, and three days pay for themselves after about two rides a day. Yes, you can walk everywhere on the main island, but with a pass you can just jump on a boat whenever you want and even use one to cross the Grand Canal where there is no bridge. It is one of my favorite things in Italy to be on a vaporetto!

We think it’s more fun to watch other people in a gondola than to ride in one ourselves, but it was interesting to take one of the last traghetti across the Grand Canal that goes between Santa Sofia (near Ca' D’Oro) and the fish market

Visit the Accademia if you enjoy art, also the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, Frari Church, and many others.

Correr Museum --- uncrowded, view of San Marco, see the wood blocks for old Barbari map prints of Venice

Visit Torcello first thing in the morning and you might have the church and belltower all to yourselves like we did. It’s a 45-minute enjoyable boat trip from the 'top' of Cannaregio, then an 8-minute walk to church, Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta. Its very early mosaics of the Last Judgement are fascinating and I read that the subject was popular at the time because possibly the year 1000 was going to be the end of the world. Go straight to Torcello first, then colorful Burano if that also interests you.

Scala Contarini del Bovolo spiral staircase --- at noon it’s cool to hear all the church bells

San Giorgio Maggiore bell tower — elevator to the top, great views.

Outside the Doge’s palace (which hasn’t interested us so far) — see the carvings on the tops of the columns.

Places we like to eat, but there are many more:

La Rampa in Castello

Osteria La Zucca

Osteria da Pampo in Castello

La Palanca on the Giudecca

Such excellent advice, nancys8 !

Thanks to you, I learned about the Arzana Squero Museum. I've only visited the Squero San Trovaso, and I really enjoyed it.

Adding to your answer, I noticed only one Scuola was mentioned. Venice is famous for its Scuole Grandi: San Rocco is probably the most well-known, but personally, I really like the Carmini, especially for Tiepolo's work there (he's also represented at the Accademia Galleries, which you already recommended).

Most churches are now free to enter, so don't hesitate as soon as you see one with its doors open, especially if it's part of the Chorus Circuit.

This thread alone makes me suddenly want to go back to this fabulous city. You're going to have such an epic time, OP!

Google maps is not bad for using the vaporetti, although of course it will tell you the fastest route, not the most scenic or interesting ones. But these two are the best:

https://avm.avmspa.it/sites/default/files/attachments/pdf/ES/mappa_linee_di_navigazione_febbraio2025.pdf

https://actv.avmspa.it/sites/default/files/avm/navigazione/MAP/interattiva.html

We visited last April and had dinner at Al Covino, which we found by accident prior to our visit. We still dream of our experience! It is a tiny 10 table open kitchen restaurant run by a husband and wife chef and pastry chef couple. It is a pre-fixe 3 course menu, but you can choose from the seafood, vegetarian, or meat menus. Everything about the meal felt incredibly special and we would go back in a heartbeat. Definitely need a reservation!

Aside from that dinner, we simply picked a neighborhood to wander and would choose our meals or drinks based on what we stumbled across!

We spent 4 nights in Venice last May, and we absolutely love Venice. It truly is like no other. Where are you staying in Venice? We stayed in the Dorsoduro district and absolutely loved staying here. It is much quieter and less crowded than the area around San Marco.

Things that we did:

Gondola ride - this was a highlight. But don't pick it up along the Grand Canal. Instead, walk to Campo S. Barnaba in Dorsoduro, and board the gondola from the stop there. We told our gondolier we wanted to stay on the back canals, which are much quieter and very little traffic. We saw maybe 2 or 3 gondolas at the most. The route did take us on the Grand Canal, in order to get back to our stop, for about 3 minutes or so.

St. Mark's Basilica - outstanding - we purchased our tickets about a month in advance. Our tickets included everything, the nave, the museum, and the loggia.

Doge Palace - we purchased tickets in advance. Very interesting. We purchased the audioguides, but honestly, we stopped listening after awhile because the guide talked about every painting, which became monotonous after awhile.

St. Mark's Campanile (bell tower) - purchased tickets in advance for sunset. Take elevator to the top. Glorious sunset! A highlight.

Ca Rezzonica - a former palace; now a Museum of 18th Century Venice. Lovely. Not crowded

Vaporetto - purchased the pass for 24 hours. Took the vaporetto up and down the Grand Canal. Got off at various spots. We loved it.

Cichetti's and drinks at Terrazza Nobli on the waterfront in Zattere along the Guidecca Canal. We did this twice. Beautiful! Another highlight for us.

We also spent a lot of time just wandering around the back canals and getting "lost". Lovely surprises around every corner.

Venice is now one of my favorite cities!

Try Row Venice, small group rowing lesson on the quiet back canals. It should cost about a 100 euros total for your small group, 90 minutes total. It's harder than it looks, and IMHO, much more fun than a gondola ride, as it lasts longer. Starts in the Cannaregio area, which is our favorite place to stay , at the Ai Mori D'Oriente hotel .
I would love to spend five nights in Venice!

you might consider a day trip to Padua, its a quick train ride.

Padua is home to the Scrovegni Chapel, amazing set of frescos. The main cathedral has the tomb of Saint Anthony of Padua. University of Padua had a professor named Galileo Galilei. His lecture stand is part of the university tour, as well as the anatomical theatre.

I'll be in Venice mid-March as well but for the fourth (or fifth?) time.

I think San Marco is the only real "must see" and I would book ahead. Add on the small cost of the extra "museum" ticket since not only is the museum interesting it gives you access to the rooftop view of San Marco and the canal. (The add on for d'Oro is only interesting if you're really into gold or church decorations. Both of these can be added on the spot in the church but is easier to do it ahead of time.)

Dodge's Palace is interesting but unless you delve into the weird institution that the Dodge became it doesn't have the same impact. The Secret Itineraries tour does some of this but there is way more about the Dodge and twisted Venetian politics.

The rest of the time is Venice is about getting lost and checking things out. Venice has tons of churches - some humble some spectacular - that few tourists visit as well as under viewed museums. Museo Fortuny in the old factory if you're into fabric or textiles is one. The Jewish quarter is interesting and evocative - watch the excellent Italy's Invisible Cities TV show about Venice for many insights. My only tip on wandering is that if you're with a group of people while walking and suddenly find yourself alone that means you've missed the turn to the bridge to the next area and are probably on a dead end course. That's not bad unless you're trying to get somewhere specific just a heads up that you've probably walked yourself into a cul de sac and you'll probably need to wander back to where everyone else turned eventually.

One must do for me is to take the traghetto across the canal. They just just cross back and forth all day and you get a gondola experience for 2e. There are several the Traghetto Santa Maria del Giglio crosses to very near the Guggenheim palazzo and you can take it then cross back on the Accademia Bridge to the main island.

Never done but on my list this time - Venice Jazz Club in Dorsoduro and paying 3x what you should for a drink at the Hilton Molino Stucky Venice Rooftop bar to watch the island lights come on at sunset from across the water.

Venice is probably my favorite city in the world and but it is not, in reality, the instagram city people make it out to be. Transportation is awkward and can be difficult and it can be muddy or even dirty in spots because all the usual things a city does - trash, food delivery, packages - all happens in the water and canals just like a regular city. But it is also a magical, unique place that needs to experienced at length - not for a half day - so your plan is great.

Have a great trip, maybe we'll pass each other in some alley at some point,
=Tod

Have a sit down drink at one of the places on San Marco that has live music. Perhaps even a dance or two. A bit expensive, but well worth it in our opinion.

A visit to the Jewish Ghetto is also worth a visit.

And, as someone else mentioned, just walk down side streets and wander and you'll soon be away from the crowds.

With regard to eating:

For seafood, our favorite place in Venice is In the Rialto Bridge area. The name is Trattoria Da Marco Valla Fava on Calle Stagneri. It is definitely pricy so you might want to do lunch there rather than dinner. However, it has some of the best sea food ever!! Try to eat inside rather than outside. The place has been around at least 50 years so they must be doing it right.

Also in the Rialto area (but on the other side of the Grand Canal), when walking to Piazzale Roma, is an out of the way place named Pane Vino e San Daniele on Calle Dei Boteri. Not a seafood place per se, but definitely a local place, good food, good house wine, and not expensive at all.

I don’t think anyone has mentioned this upthread, but using the CheBateo? app (the question mark is part of the name) is wonderful for plotting your vaporetto trips and stops. It’s in real time, and is so helpful.