My husband and I will be taking a cruise out of Venice in October . We plan on staying 3 days in Venice when we return. What are the must sees when we are there? Any suggestions on what to see each of the three days? Hotel suggestions? Thank you!
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11852 posts
Rick Steves' has already done such a good job at giving advice here, that all I can do as add my two cents.
- Rick's itineraries pack an awful lot into one day. I'd slow it down a bit, not too many museums or churches.
- Take walks away from San Marco and Rialto. You'll find yourself away from some of the crowd and since Venice is like a living museum, it's a joy just to walk around and take in the views.
- We love the Murano/Burano/Torcello tour. That's in Rick's Venice guidebook. Make sure you do it on a sunny day!
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15798 posts
Rick has several audio tours that you can download to an MP3 player. I enjoyed them all. The tour of the Ghetto synagogues is very good, so is the Secret Itineraries Tour at the Doge's Palace.
A lot of folks here loved visiting the islands. I was underwhelmed by them, but I did enjoy the sail across the lagoon.
Posted by
Truro, NS, Canada
3943 posts
We really enjoyed Santa Maria dei Frari church. Beautiful! We did the other usual suspects - San Marco, Doge's Palace, not quite as popular but we found interesting - Correr Museum (you can - or could - buy combo tickets there for the Doge's Palace as well, allowing you to skip the lines - our first visit, we stood in line for an hour for Doge's, 2nd trip, we got a museum pass, allowing us to skip the line.)
Torcello was kinda cool, but unfortunately, we got there about 30 min before everything was closing...if doing the islands, go in the morning - our first visit we went to Murano after arriving from Bologna...but by the time we got there late afternoon (after finding the B&B and getting sorted out)...the shops were closing, and basically we wasted a few hours of our precious sightseeing time. So next trip, one of our days, we went first thing. Burano is so colourful (except we ended up there in a really hard rain - can't win).
And my last tip - get up early - like, by 6:30-7am (I say this every time!)...forget the shower, wait for breakfast and hit Rialto and San Marco - there is NOTHING like seeing them almost devoid of people - we had St Mark's Sq almost to ourselves at 7:30am (maybe a dozen people there)...Rialto had about the same. There is a great advantage to staying on the island itself...go out early, stay out late...
Posted by
5 posts
We are leaving for a cruise from Venice in October, too, but we won't return there, so I suppose we aren't cruising together. If you have never done it, Venice is absolutely the BEST port to leave from -- you go right down the Canale Della Guidecca past St. Mark's square ... seeing it all from the great height of the cruise ship ... amazing! I'm sure it's equally as wonderful returning to port there.
We have been to Venice about four times and love the whole area. I agree with what everyone else has said -- the magic is in getting lost, wandering, stopping to have a coffee, drink or gelato ... and getting lost again. We really loved Murano -- we go there every time. The last time one of our favorite stops was the tower at the Church of Goirgio Maggiore. We try to hit the bell tower every time, too, because it's just spectacular. One of our favorites, that we do each time as well, is taking a night vaporetto ride. We always stay by the train station (just terribly convenient and there's a vaporetto stop about 1/2 block away -- we always stay at the Hotel Abbazzia, which is always amazing) and we take the #2 to St. Mark's and back. Sometimes a bit chilly, but wonderful to see and experience.
Have fun!
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
Last I heard, there was going to be a ban on cruise ships docking in the Grand Canal, so don't plan on that photo op (I could be wrong, though).
Posted by
Helensvale, Queensland, Australia
17 posts
Forget the books, just get out of your room and walk, know where a few of the main places are that you really want to see, apart from that just get lost and find the real Venice.
I have stayed all over Venice, each area is different, some cheaper and dearer. I am not a big fan of the area near the campo st. margherita. I stayed at the Londra Palace with my mum for a treat, 5min walk to the Piazza, most ferrys dock out front which is handy and breakfast out front watching the cruise ships and people go by is fantastic.