My older sister and I (80 and 72 years of age women) are visiting Florence to attend the Andrea Bocelli concert July 17. We will fly into Venice July 14 and take a train to Florence July 15. I'm trying to make this as easy on us as possible while having a memorable Venice experience.
Coming in: Where wd you suggest we stay the night in Venice to be able to experience it easily?
Departing: We will leave Florence July 19 and could stay two nights in Venice ( Friday 7/19 and Sat 7/20) before flying out Sun 7/21.
What should we see in that short amount of time.
Posted by
Washington DC
28247 posts
Rick summarizes his top sightseeing picks for most major cities right on this website:
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/venice
Click on "At a Glance" for his Venetian list.
Key places for which you'll want to get tickets in advance are St. Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace. I'm not big on history, myself, so I skipped the Doge's Palace, but it's very popular with other posters here, and the "Secret Itineraries Tour" comes highly recommended. St. Mark's Basilica is glorious and usually has a long line for those arriving without tickets. It only took me about 30 minutes to clear that line in September 2022, but there will probably be more people traveling in July 2024. You can certainly go stand in line and get in, but you don't have a great deal of time for Venice, so why not make it easy on yourself?
If you like modern art, the Guggenheim Collection is great. That's another ticket it would be smart to buy in advance if it's important to you. As short a time as you have in Venice, though, I'd tend to prioritize just walking around. As far as I know, the other Venice museums are not a problem; I walked right into the Accademia, for example. It's always worth peeking into Italian churches when you're nearby. Rick gives good descriptions of the key churches, which will generally either be free or have very low entry fees.
One extremely important thing that somehow got omitted from Rick's list is taking a vaporetto ride down the Grand Canal. One of our other posters suggested doing that once in the daytime and once at night (after lights go on), and I think that's an excellent idea.
The roughly-hour-long vaporetto ride across the lagoon to the very colorful island of Burano is also worthwhile. That trip takes you past the glass-blowing island of Murano which is definitely worth some time if you're into glass. There are lots of shops, including some selling inexpensive glass pendants and other jewelry. It's fun to browse if you like that sort of thing, or if you've got big bucks to spend on larger pieces. However, if you don't much care about glass, Murano is skippable. It's not nearly as pretty as Burano. Even in the case of Burano, though, I'm doubtful about this as something you might want to do, since you have only one full day and some scattered hours in Venice.
If you care about your budget, you should give some thought to when you might be taking vaporetto rides, because individual tickets are an exorbitant 9.50 euros each (about $10 US). There are passes that can save money if you will ride very often--which you may, because every time you have to cross a canal in Venice, there's a little hump-backed bridge you have to cross, meaning steps going up and down. Venice isn't large at all, but the path from Point A to Point B is rarely a straight line and usually involves multiple bridges, so you may find vaporetti helpful if not essential. Here are the current prices for vaporetto passes:
24 hours: 25 euros
48 hours: 35 euros
72 hours: 45 euros
168 hours (one week): 65 euros
As you can see, the 24-hour pass is the most expensive per hour. You could try to push as much of your vaporetto-going as possible into your second stop in Venice and not use vaporettos at all on July 14-15. It's fun just to wander around in Venice with no particular sightseeing target in mind.
With your two very short stops in Venice, I'd look for a hotel close to the train station. I have no specific place to suggest, but others will have ideas. You can also use the Search function on this website to find recent posts about hotels in Venice. Here's what I found from the last year:
Posted by
Phoenix🌵
3097 posts
It will help us if we know what time you land in Venice and when you are taking the train the next day. That will tell us how long you are in Venice on arrival to help plan your day. Are you flying from somewhere in Europe or from the US? I ask because jet lag may be a problem.
A memorable, albeit expensive experience, is taking a water taxi from the airport to your hotel (or nearby) so your first view of Venice is from the water. We took the taxi to the airport on our first visit so our last view of Venice was from the lagoon.
As for hotels, what is your budget? It goes back to timing, but you may want to stay near the train station for easier access on Day 2. Do you have mobility issues or can you walk up and down the canal bridges? Last visit I stayed in Castello neighborhood and will again in September. It's not close to the train depot so I have to allow time for the vaporetto ride, but it is quieter and less touristy.
Posted by
Firenze, Italy
1722 posts
I never attended the Lajatico concerts in the audience but several times in the working forces. I hope you got a combo ticket including a shuttle ride to/from Florence, as it looks to me the only convenient way to get there.