How to allocate our days in Venice this May

You can see all of San Marco in under two hours. I dawdled a lot and still saw everything with time to sit on the benches on the roof deck and spent a grand total of two hours there. I think doing San Marco in the morning followed by the Correr and Doges Palace in the afternoon makes sense and would not be overwhelming. There’s a nice little cafe in the Correr where you can have lunch and overlook San Marco square. End your day by enjoying an aperol spritz at the famous cafe, Caffe Florian, on the square.

Churches do offer concerts. I bought my tickets months in advance, but another woman on my tour went with me and bought hers only a day or so ahead of time. I was there in October, not exactly peak season, so if it’s a priority I would recommend getting tickets early to ensure you can get in. Interpreti Veneziani was excellent and a highlight of my trip. I am not sure which church they performed in, but were listed in the RS Italy guidebook.

CindyB, thank you so much. This is exactly the kind of helpful information I am looking for. I have Rick's book on Venice so I will check there about the churches that hold concerts. And it's nice to know that the Correr Museum cafe serves good lunches.

The Correr is much bigger than we thought it was, but full of interesting things --- we went there mainly to see the Barbari map and its woodblocks and it was in the very last room.

nancys8, do you remember approximately how long you spent at the Correr? Thank you.

Remember that you're on your feet during a museum trek, so give yourself a nourishment and foot break in between, maybe 90 minutes. You'll enjoy the second one so much more!
Have a great trip!

We must have spent at least an hour and 10 minutes in the Correr --- my first photo there was at 10:25am and my last was at 11:34!

Thanks, Pat!
Nancys8, your time at the Correr falls in line with what Rick suggests - 1 to 2 hours.

I've never seen any sign of a line at the Accademia, and I was there in September 2022 and September 2024. I haven't been to Ca' Rezzonico recently--maybe ever--but I've never read anything here about getting tickets early.

The Guggenheim has a really good collection of modern art. It attracts many visitors; expect it to be crowded. I wouldn't want to just walk up and try to buy a ticket, but I've twice been able to buy a ticket online just a day or two ahead of time; I wouldn't expect May/June 2025 to be terribly different from September 2024. Obviously, you should skip this if you don't like modern art; Venice is wonderful just to wander around in.

We got to the Accademia when it opened and it was quite lovely without very many people. We bought our tickets that morning.

acraven, thank you for your helpful information. That's good to know about the Accademia and Ca' Rezzonico so I won't purchase advance tickets. We like to have some spontaneity when we travel. And we are staying in Dorsoduro so it should be easy to go there when they open or when walking by. Those two museums interest us more than the Guggenheim (though I won't rule out the Guggenheim). We could buy tickets for the Guggenheim the day before if we decide to go there. We want to have time to wander around in Venice and to use the vaporetto, too.

BethFL, I think we will do what you did. Go to the Accademia when it opens and buy our tickets then.

I am coming up with a good sightseeing plan thanks to everyone's help!

Vaporetto tickets cost 9.50 euros each, which is astronomical. Although I prefer to walk practically everywhere, there are only a few bridges across the Grand Canal, and there's a lot in Venice to cram into 3-1/2 days, so you may want to use the vaporetti multiple times a day to save some time. Therefore, you might benefit from a vaporetto pass:

24 hours: 25 euros
48 hours: 35 euros
72 hours: 45 euros
168 hours (1 week): 65 euros

This isn't a no-brainer decision; I'm not saying you definitely should buy vaporetto passes, just that you should consider it.

Thank you, acraven. This is helpful information. Something to consider. You are a wealth of information!

While in Venice when going from place to place I also think it’s better to just walk rather than using the Vaporetto. However you’ll probably use the Vaporetto the days you arrive and depart and also the Vaporetto is a great way to sightsee while cruising the canals especially when they are not full. So I think the passes are expensive but worth it.

We went to Venice for 5 nights on our first trip to Europe together, my husband and I , 40 years ago. The thing I loved most and remember best was the day we just walked as far as we could until we ran out of islands. the further from San Marco we got the more interesting and photogenic it became; I still have a poster size print of a snapshot I took peeking down a little residential tunneled street to the water. You can't get lost because it is islands and when you want to go back, if you ask someone 'San Marco?' after appropriate polite greetings, they will point and you keep doing that till you are back in the center if you are confused.

that said -- San Marco is amazing and climbing the tower well worth doing. Book San Marco tickets. We didn't have to; these days you must.

Marco and janettravels44, thank you so much. We plan on hiring Venice Link, a private water taxi, to take us from the train station to our hotel in Dorsoduro. We are in our 70's and really don't want to take the Vaporetto to our hotel with luggage, especially if the vaporetto is very crowded. I think this will be a worthwhile splurge for us as our first introduction to Venice. But I would like to take Vaporetto #1 in the evening for a tour of the Grand Canal as described in Rick's book. So I'll have to figure out if the pass is worth it for us.

We also want to do a lot of walking as both of you suggest. janettravels44, I love the way you describe your most memorable day, walking until you run out of islands! That's what we like to do, too. I now wish we had more time in Venice, but this was supposed to be a 4-week trip that easily morphed into a 5-week trip! :-)

We have our tickets for St. Mark's Basilica, and I plan on getting tickets for Doge Palace and the Bell Tower. Would sunset be the best time for the Bell Tower?

Thanks!

A friend of mine who is from Milan recommended going to San Giorgio Maggiore over St. Mark's tower. You have to take a vaporetto there. You go up in the bell tower and you look back on Venice which is just beautiful. I

There are gardens there as well.

We really enjoyed it as it is not as crowded as St. Mark's square.

Beth. I wish we had known about that tower. The only thing I really remember about the St. Marks bell tower is that we lined up and locals just pushed their way to the front of the line; finally several Brits (world's best queuers) and a couple of Canadians and we sort of linked arms and defended the line so people couldn't push ahead. And thus we got to climb the Tower.

We had to use the same technique a few years ago at immigration in Russia where they allowed aggressive Chinese tourists to just crowd to the head of lines pushing people back -- once again we allied with British travelers, linked arms and blocked the line busters from our line.