Daytime Activities in Venice

Other than avoiding the crowds on the main through route by using alternate paths and routes I do nothing different during the day. But I'm always exploring new bits of the town anyway so that's just the way I enjot it. St Marks square can be quite a zoo during the day so other than the occasional wander into St Marks when it is illuminated at 11, I avoid St Marks during the day (night too, really, because I am lucky to have done that previously). Any time you can have a great time.

I stayed away from San Marco and the Rialto Bridge, and wandered back alleys of back alleys; we were completely alone most of the time. The architecture alone kept us amazed at every turn. There are minor churches that have their own beauty. Came across the hospital as a boat ambulance was coming in with a patient. Also, this is how we found the resturaunts the gondola drivers ate lunch at (sorry I can't remember the names/locatins), and that's where we went back to for diner :) Also, the 'busy' afternoon hours is a great time to take a nap, so you'll be wide awake to have dinner late into the night :D

Buy the Chorus Pass for some 20 churches and visit the churches away from the San Marco/Rialto area. The churches are very interesting, like mini museums, but the getting there is fun and even more interesting. Your get to see lots of Venice this way. Have fun.

Buy the book "24 Great Walks in Venice" and you will have itineraries that take you to locations most tourists never see. Most are 1-2 mile walks, with sights to see along the way. Simply fabulous for getting off the beaten path even in tiny Venice!

Thanks for the advice! Laurel, I just ordered the 24 Walks book from Amazon. Sounds really good!
Bob

The tourist crowds really are concentrated in a few areas. Unless you are in these areas (train station, St. Mark's Square, Rialto Bridge), you can easily avoid crowds. I keep coming back to Rick's sage words: "While 80 percent of Venice, is, in fact, not touristy, 80 percent of the tourists never notice." The masses of tourists are in the 20 percent of places; by going to other places, you get away from them. Of course, you'll want to see the 4 star attractions too; just expect crowds there. My hotel was in Dorsoduro, and I had lovely deserted streets nearby. I also found stores refilling ink cartridges, and selling socks (not shoes - just socks). This was a nice change of pace from the crowds, and it was nice to see signs of native life in Venice. (In the touristy center, you can start to think that only stores selling masks and glassware can survive). But, I didn't come to Venice to get ink cartridges, so of course I spent some time in the busy places too. Don't avoid sights just because they're popular, but do go early or late, and follow Rick's other crowd-beating tips.

Recommend the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. The garden with its many modern sculptures is interesting and shady and you the cafe serves a pretty good lunch (a bit pricy but good quality). The Collection is housed in Guggenheim's home, and some of her furnishings remain there - a great glimpse of how an expatriate lived in Venice after the war. Seems to be less crowded in the mornings. Take the Vaporetto out to the Lido for a beach day. It will be hot, hot, hot, so stock up on water and sunscreen. It will be busy but with Italians not tourists. There is a supermarket on the walk from the vaporetto stop to the beach - good stop for a picnic lunch, water and vino. Visit the gondola workshops at squero di San Trovaso - if you walk along the right side of Fond. Nani from the Zattare you will see the old wooden buildings on the other side of the canal. Gondalas have been built and repaired here since the 1700's. The last suggestion is pretty much off the tourist route.

I'd suggest visiting some of the smaller islands. Torcello is probably the most commonly visited; it's lovely, largely uninhabited, w few toursits (in my experience), and has the earliest church on the lagoon (with amazing mosaics). There's an Armenian Catholic monastery island that I really enjoyed visiting (San Lazarre?); one vaporetto a day stops there and is met by a monk who guides you around. There's also a Franciscan friary island, which you get to by arranging a ride on a private boat (from Burano, I seem to remember).
And there are lot of other options for smaller islands, depending on your interests.

Don't let the masses of tourists put you off ... and it's entirely possible to come across an almost completely-empty square or church. The last time I visited, I stayed in Dorsoduro and it was fairly quiet and pleasant to wander round in. St Mark's Square, the Rialto and the streets surrounding them are a madhouse during the middle of the day but I also think of them as 'quintessentially' Venetian experiences. Try to do the main sights early in the morning, though. And the one place you can't avoid being in a crowd: the vaporetto.

There's not really a long list of the places to avoid during peak hours. It's the Rialto and St. Mark's. As noted, it's very easy to avoid the crowds in Venice. Here's a series of photos I took to prove the point: Uncrowded Venice Happy travels.