Best sites ~ Venice, Italy

RS Venice guide has a DIY Grand Canal tour via vaporetto
I believe also offered as an audio guide

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours

You might like the Doges Secret Itinerary tour

hey hey christine.enyartelfers
what's best for me may not be best for you. i go to one church to light candles for family, seen so many museums which are always different, i like roaming around. the area at san marco and rialto bridge will be busy/crowded. it's harvest and festival/fair season, with cruises still going on
your dates/times will not be 2 full days. (check-ins at 3-4pm and check-outs 10-11am), decide what's important to see, get your reserved tickets since some maybe time/day slots.
europeforvisitors.com
local transportation/vaporettos will give you info, buying a pass, make sure validated before getting on board at platform or get a fine. we liked walking the back canals staying away from crowds till late afternoon
many ride it for "sightseeing" which gets crowded on open decks. read about the lines and where they go, do you need to get off and back on again, many on forum will tell you.
camacana.com
make and decorate a venetian mask
guruwalk.com/ venice
schezzini.it
alessandro does a bar crawl with wines, appetizers "chichetti" and history of venice. email him for info and to book
streaty.com/ venice
enjoy your time, have fun, slow down without cramming activities at once.
aloha

You'll find most of the glass blowing demonstrations on Murano; reachable by vaporetto.
You can download Rick's app and his Grand Canal vaporetto audio tour here: https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours/italy

Then hop on the vaporetto at your convenience and ride it all the way as you listen. We particularly enjoyed doing it after dark.

Gosh.... thanks for the info!

I've been to Venice (2005) on Rick Steves Tour - Best of Europe in 22 days. Unfortunately, my husband hasn't been to Venice, so we booked a few days in Venice before we catch a bus for Padua. We'll be taking our 9th Rick Steve's Tour - Village Italy. I was just hoping there was something really different in Venice to share with him.

We've downloaded audios & watched the latest videos of Italy..... Rick's the best!

Still looking for local guide names & unusual sites!
Thank you in advance.

Row Venice gets good reviews here

With only 1 full day you don’t really have time for too much more

Have you prebooked San Marco?

If you ride the vaporettos more than a few times consider a length of stay pass -huge money saver

Be sure to validate each and every time you board-fines are expensive and they do check

You could take the train or bus to Padova

I can’t help much with your specific questions (guides, unusual sites) but wanted to say that some of my favorite memories of Venice came from wandering… I happened upon an artisanal stationery shop where they were making marbleized paper; a busy fruit and vegetable “stand” on a boat docked in a side canal; a leather shop where the owner was making wallets behind the counter between customers. So do leave time for wandering.

My favorite view of Venice is from the bell tower of San Giorgio Maggiore, on the island just opposite St Marks.

Enjoy Venice!

If you have time, get the book Venice by James Morris. Morris lived for a year in Venice with his family decades ago. Have a look for a second hand copy, Venice does not date. Morris has been a faithful companion for us over a dozen visits to Venice.

@Christine-I am doing the same trip, but not the same dates as you. I am arriving in Venice on October 23, then proceeding to Padua for the RS Villages of Italy tour, which begins on October 27. I planned a private trip to Murano with a local tour guide; we had used him the last time we were in Venice to see some of the less touristy areas of the city. I can send you his information if you like. He is a tried and tested Rick Steves-approved guide, not inexpensive, but worth the splurge.

The issue is you only have 1.5 days, but I'll give you a couple of suggestions that admittedly may not make sense with your short time;

Visit the evocative cemetery on Isola di San Michelle if you want to get away from the crowds.
Visit San Giorgio Maggiore, climb the tower and get a great view of Venice.

Otherwise maybe the flooded crypts under San Zaccaria?

Christine, what do you mean by "unusual place"? Unusual for Venice, or just unexpected in general?

Otherwise, Venice is full of interesting spots and it really depends on your preferences. A few more hints would help!

For example, for me, an unusual place in Venice would be the Venetian Arsenal and the Cold War era submarine you can actually tour inside. Also inside the Arsenal you'll find a giant sculpture of 6 pairs of hands atop a dock. Super unusual.

I have been to Venice three times and I can tell you, you don't need to waste money on a tour. The vaporetto will take you to the island of Murano to see glass blowing, there are no furnaces on Venice (not even a pizza oven!). Just get off at Colonia stop and walk along the canal, it's lined with glass stores and the ones with demos will have a sandwich board sign, look for the word "Forno". You will likely walk down the side of the building to an an entrance near the back where the glass blowers will be working, take a seat and watch, film. Some stores will have someone making tiny things right in the store. This is all free of charge - no need to get ripped with 300 euros boat tours when the water bus goes all day long. On my next trip I have to go see the Palzzo Contrarini with the Snale steps (scale bovolo) and I agree with the person above, take the waterbus to guidecca island to the San Giorgio Maggiore for a great view of Venice on your second day, You can combine that with either the Puggy Guggenheim where you can sit on the roof top cafe and take refreshments and watch the grand Canal from above after seeing the San Giorgio Maggiore or The Academia museum and then over the Academia bridge. No matter watch you do, you will be surround by mystical beauty!

THANKS to all who replied! We have our two days planned & have left a lot of time to wander. We did book St Mark’s Basilica as that is the #1 site my husband wants to explore. Looking forward to being on the island & looking w “fresh” (meaning never been here) eyes. My husband loves churches & we always light candles wherever we go. I personally am wanting to go up in the Clock Tower, so we are hoping to make that happen. As I’ve mentioned, we are seasoned Rick Steves travelers ~ use his books, watch his videos & will be taking Village Italy as our 9th tour. So, Arriverderci….

Do you mean the clock tower or the bell tower?

@nancys8
First choice would be the Clock Tower. Prebooking is necessary. Three English tours/day.
Bell Tower (Campanile) is the other option. I know it gets busy; but willing to give it a "wait".....
Have you visited either one?

the clock is an original digital clock - very interesting. It gets few visitors and doesn't really give a view. You'd be most interested in the mechanism?

The bell tower, which so many go up as what they think is a "must do", in front of St Marks is a replacement for the one which collapsed. It gives a view of the surroundings and the roof of St Marks but not really the plaza because it is straight down. Sort of like using the Empire State Building to look at 34th street and the base of the building. Most people visit the Empire State Building and enjoy the vistas of New York.

Across the water from St Marks, reachable only on the Vaporetto 2 not using the Grand Canal, the first stop, is S Georgio. It has an original bell tower with an elevator, a very small charge and relatively few crowds. Beautiful church, and the views from the top are spectacular (beware the loud bells). You look across the water at S Marks and see it in all its glory, and get views of the bell tower in front with all the people lined up, and of the plaza, and in general an excellent view. That is the one that I return to time after time.

It is all what you want to do, what you want to see, what you think your friends will ask about.

If you are interested in bookstores - or just shops in general - make a visit to https://venicelover.com/libreria-acqua-alta.html

On our latest trip to Venice, we really, really wanted to take the tour of the clock tower, and reservations were available, but the timing just didn't work out --- next visit, for sure!

I haven't yet been up in the bell tower next to San Marco, but as others have said, love the view from the San Giorgio Maggiore bell tower.

For unusual, here's some ideas from my December 2023 trip report, including three that are not at all near San Marco but really everything in Venice is either easy or fun to get to --- I love the long boat ride to Torcello, for instance:

The Bovolo staircase was a hit with both kids, but the athletic 6-year-old especially liked it. She might be the only visitor to Venice who was bummed that some of the towers have elevators.

Our early morning visit to Torcello, walking along the canal, seeing the fields and flowers, climbing the belltower, seeing the mosaics in the church and the church’s thick stone window shutters on stone hinges — Torcello was a favorite outing for all of us. Nobody else was there, although we saw a tour group arriving as we left. Burano was great although considerably more crowded. It was a good idea to visit Murano separately from the more distant islands of Torcello and Burano. The glass blowing demo at the Glass Cathedral was cool and worth the money, but seemed just a bit perfunctory. However, it had no sales pitch and was not attached to any scary glassware shop for our two young “bulls” to crash around in.The kids could see plenty of little fragile glass goodies by walking along the canals and window shopping.

We greatly enjoyed our tour of the Arzana squero museum in Cannaregio and my husband enjoyed his tour of the working boatyard Squero di San Trovaso in Dorsoduro. Contact the Arzana people through Row Venice. My husband did Row Venice for the third time, despite a painful ankle that required surgery a few weeks later and six months of recovery. So I think just about anybody could learn to row a Venetian boat. I prefer my passenger role.

We went to the Correr Museum to see the wood blocks for the old Barbari map of Venice. We were surprised by how big this museum is — the map is at the very, very end of all the rooms. Lots of interesting things to see on the way, though.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/bologna-ferrara-venice-rome-in-december-with-kids

You could find the only two bridges left that do not have railings --- one is on the path to the church and tower on Torcello and one is the Ponte Chiodo in Cannaregio, an 18 minute walk from San Marco. It is surprisingly scary to walk across these little bridges!

We purchased tickets in advance for St. Mark's Bell Tower (Campanile). Went up there at sunset, and this was spectacular! One of the highlights of our visit to Venice.

I know this sounds touristy, but we also took a fabulous gondola ride. We boarded the gondola at Campo S. Barnaba in Dorsoduro. Told the gondolier we wanted to go down the quiet canals and to stay away from the Grand Canal where there can be traffic jams. Our gondola ride was wonderful! So interesting and so peaceful.

Row Venice was a hightlight for my son and I