2 days in Venice

Day 1: Start early and walk thru San Polo to the Frari Church. (Rick Steves has a great walk to gide you in his book. You can go from San Marco to the Rialto, then on to the Frari.) Ask for directions to the bakery Tonolo (or look on Google Maps) and have a treat. Then about 3:30pm go to San Marco. The line for the basilica will be much shorter. You could do the Doges Palace at this time, too.
For evening, the Grand Canal Cruise in the vaporetto is a great idea. Call a few days in advance (seriously, don't wait) and make a reservation at La Zucca. Fabulous restaurant! Day 2: Go to San Giorgio Maggiore and up the bell tower. This is a quiet native to the Campanile at San Marco. What a view! Walk through the Dorsoduro area to the Zattere. See the Accademia if you are so inclined. Or the Guggenheim. natively, take a walk out to St. Elena for a look at a quieter Venice.

- Doge's Palace Secret Itineraries Tour is a must. - Cruising down Grand Canal at night and stopping at St Mark's square. See it at night when the hordes of tourist are gone. - And last but not least just get lost in Venice.

Don't plan anything - just go with the flow or, as many others have said, get lost in Venice! Two or three streets away from St. Marks you will find a whole different world. Don't rely on restaurants for food (they are pricey), hit a supermarket or grocery and buy a picnic. Having said that, do try and go to the Rialto market in the morning to buy fruit and veggies. And the fish market is worth a look - just to see the many varieties of seafood available. Don't waste your valuable time in Venice queuing to get into St. Mark's or the Doge's palace or other major sites. And do stop at least once at one of the old, and very expensive, coffee shops on Piazza San Marco, have a coffee or a drink and watch the world go by.

Do you have a copy of RS 2012 Venice Guide Book yet? If so, good. If not, I would suggest you get one soon as it is full of useful information that we are using to plan our visit to Venice in September. You can order it elsewhere on this web site if you choose to.

I disagree with Lesley regarding skipping the basilica and Doge's palace. If it's return visits to Venice, then by all means, skip St Mark's square altogether. But it's hunter's first time to Venice! Anyway, when I was there in Venice last September, I got a time slot to get into the Doge's Palace for the Secret Itineraries tour and thus was able to skip the queue. For the basilica, you can use RS's advice on bag check to get to the front of the queue. The Rialto market in the morning is a good idea. I also enjoyed the Frari church area and its surroundings.

Thank ya'll for the advice, we are looking forward to our virgin visit

Hunter What about the islands of Murano (glass blowing and jewellery) or the quaint island of Burano know for its lace. I am sure your wife would enjoy. Murano is lovely to walk along its canal to the main area and stop for lunch. Fish is supberb.

I like day 1 of Lurael's suggestion. Not to see those things while in Venice would be a mistake. Day 2 I would do as so many others have suggested and just around and get lost. Me and my wife particularly liked the Dorsoduro section. It is beautiful.

Everybody has a different answer to this, as you're seeing. I would NOT recommend leaving the main island since this is your first time to Venice and you only have two days. Save Murano and Burano for a future trip. They're charming enough, but pale in comparison to the main event. Highlights for me include St. Mark's interior, the Doge's palace and just wandering around. You really should buy the RS Venice book to read and decide what matches your own interests. Happy travels.

Pension Guerreto is in a convenient location next to the Rialto market. Be sure to enjoy it. The best part of Venice isn't the "sights" - it's Venice itself. My suggestion would be not to worry about what to see and just enjoy Venice. Get up early and get outside before the day trippers and cruise shippers arrive. Don't exhaust yourselves. Take a siesta during the hottst (and most crowded) time of day. Go out in the evening and walk. Do take a gondola ride and do go to St Mark's square (after 7:00 pm or so) and enjoy the orchestras.

Check your backpack at the location Rick recommends, get a pass to St. Marks and be there mid-day when they turn on the lights of the dome. Seeing the gold mosaics with the lights on is amazing!! Check Rick's Venice guide for the details.

I really appreciate everyone taking time to help us out. I did buy RS Venice, but there really is nothing liking talking to multiple people who have been there and getting several viewpoints. Thanks again, Hunter

I was in Venice with my daughter for two days. We arrived Saturday evening (7pm at our hotel) and left Monday evening. Since it was a first trip, we did go up the Campanile (wait 30 minutes), see the Doge's palace (long line so bought ticket at Correr museum and saw the museum - 4pm at Doge's palace wait none) and go to the Basilica (wait 15 minutes - early afternoon and it was raining). I really liked the Basilica. The tour groups start arriving between 9 and 9:30am Agree with Laurel about the bell tower on the island of San Giorgio - water bus every 10 minutes to and from Zaccaria, 5 minutes ride, 5 euro for the tower. In total we spent 1hr, getting there, going up the tour and getting back. Well worth the time for the view from the top looking at Venice and the islands. I wish I had more time to walk and get lost though. I liked the Venice historical objects and art in Correr museum but I would skip the rest and just use the museum to buy the combo ticket for the Doge's palace and not tire myself out visiting the museum. I did manage some walking getting lost both evenings - Zaccaria to Rialto, Rialto to San Marco neighborhoods. I thought I was going to get back to our hotel in about 15 minutes and ended up taking a lot more time. By the time we left on Monday, i had got familiar with only one small area and all its bridges. It was fun. Plan to end up at St Marco at around 9pm to hear the music. I agree with Michael about not visiting the bigger islands. Time is better spent exploring the Venice neighborhoods - with a gelato cone in hand. Next visit I am staying longer in Venice, whenever that is.

I was in Venice last May and my companion and I had been traveling in Europe for three weeks and Venice was our last stop. I know some might think it's absurd, but we were so tired for all our sightseeing in museums, churchs, castles and such that we decided to take it easy for our last 2 days. We literally walked around and got lost :) It was amazing. Such a beautiful city. We did take a nice vaporetto ride down the Grand Canal, which is definitely a must. I am planning another visit for next summer, and I'll probably hit up the Doge's Palace then. I'm also in love with Venetian Renaissance art so I'll be going to look at that. Have fun!

Hunter This will be our 3rd trip to Venice. Some people hate it, some people can't wait to get back- always assume you will come back for longer(if you like it) and with only 2 days I agree get lost in the back streets, relax and enjoy. I suggest you research some nice places to eat. We ate twice at a place called "Da Mamo" on a back street near the Rialto bridge and with only 1 night 2 days there, will probably to so again but will consider Al Cavo. Leaving Venice the last time at 7AM on a Vaporetto I sat up front as the sun was hitting some of the buildings and got some amazing photo's that I will never forget - Can't wait to return.
ENJOY

Thank you all. Shelley thank you for the advice....I am a sunrise/sunset photo junkie and will defintiley try to get a morning photo

Just back after a 3 day stay at PG. Every bridge has many steps up and down and you must be in shape for a lot of walking. Do the Basilica and Doge's Palace/Correr M 9:30 or so or after 4-5pm for smaller crowds. Accademia M was just OK. Do San Georgio Maggiore for pix of Venice rather than the Campanile. SMS in evening is worthwhile. Best event is early evening bar/cicchetti tour, once on our own and once with Alessandro Schezzini, esp Cantina Do Mori. Osteria alle Testiere food was good but it was crowded and I thought overhyped. Frari Church is worth a walk. My wife and I enjoyed a 40 m gondola ride from the Accademia Bridge after a lunch at Ristorante Foscarini. For a 2 day visit don't overload on the "must dos" and spend half your time relaxing.
Cheers, Tom