Non touristy Venice?

In Venice, there is a parade of tourist following signs leading them from San Marco to Rialto to the train station. If you venture one or two blocks off of this parade of humanity, then Venice will reveal all of its beauty to you.

Thank you! How many days would you spend there?

2 nights give you 1 full day. Stay off of St Mark’s square between 9:00 and 4:30 to avoid the mass of tourists.

2 nights would be best, in my opinion.

I agree with what the others said. It’s amazing to me how quiet Venice becomes even a 5 minute walk away from Rialto/San Marco. The crowds are insane at those places - see them very early or late to avoid that. San Marco (the square, the church is closed at off hours) is a whole different place at 7AM or 11PM. But away from those (and to a lesser extent away from the famous museums) Venice is very quiet.

Crowds anywhere near the top sights are unbearable from 10-3. By 4 you see it slowing (day trips leave) but it’s still crowded.

If you want to go out to the outer islands or see several museums then 3 nights (2 full days) is as short as I’d go. To see the highlights on the main island, then 2 nights is ok. Stay IN Venice. Staying on the mainland is a recipe for dealing with the touristy stuff you are trying to avoid. You want time to wander and to go out very early and very late, probably resting in your hotel at mid day.

I agree with everything said so far. Avoid the routes between Piazzale Roma, Ferrovia (train station), and Piazza San Marco between 10 (10AM) and 16 (4PM). But everything outside that are fine :-)

If you are there in the summer half of the year, visit Piazza San Marco in the evening after dinner (don't eat in the Piazza unless you have money to burn) and enjoy the music and the ambience.

Since it looks to me like this will be your first visit to Venice I recommend looking at https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/top-tourist-mistakes.htm

Going to Venice involves more than just going to see St. Mark's Cathedral and the Doges Palace. There are museums to see there, as well as climbing the tower at St. Mark's Square. Also, recommend visiting the old Jewish Quarter not far from the Train Station.

We took a tour that included three islands, including Murano and I think Burano. Murano island is were the fantastic glass and crystal is made. I think Burano is the original island where Venice was founded in the 5th Century when the Huns were tearing up Italy.

You can see a lot in two full days, but I would recommend three full days, if you have the time.

Last year, late Sept was our 5th visit to Venice, so we can now avoid the tourist traps. We went to Frari Church (my fav) for the 2nd time and there were maybe 20 people there. We went to the Scuola Grande di San Rocco - which was gorgeous and I don't know why it took our 5th trip to go - maybe 10 other people there. Don't stand in line for the San Marco campanile (bell tower) - head across the lagoon to San Giorgio - where most likely you won't have a line at all and there might be 6 other people up top. Head down towards Arsenale and be practically alone.

Obviously you want to see some of the highlights - make the most of your stay and prebuy tickets if you can for Doge's Palace (if that's on your list). We actually got combo tix at the Correr Museum (nice in it's own right) and used them to skip the line at Doge's (this was years ago - check if you can still do that). And I will say - on our 4th visit, my mom was with us, so we had to go back into St Marks - even tho the line up was halfway across the square, we were in within 20 min.

Avoid SMS if you can between 10am-5pm. Grit your teeth and bear it when you take the vaporetto from the train station - it was horrendous when we got on last year with our bags - we were basically held up by the crush of people around us and if that had been my first taste of Venice, I'd have hated it. But I love the place so really think it needs 2.5-3 full days (3-4 nights).

We spent 5 days in Venice and that included one day trip to Verona and never got bored. The best part about staying overnight in Venice is that it will be considerably less touristy after the day trippers leave. Visit St Marks before 9:00 or after 5:00 and it's much more enjoyable. Get to Burano by 9:00 and you have an hour before it's crowded. It's not hard to lose the crowds in Venice by just wandering and half the fun is getting lost...and you will get lost.

The masses of tourists move between the main points by following the yellow signs.
Those main points are: Piazza San Marco, Accademia, Rialto Bridge, Frari Basilica, Ferrovia (Railway station), Piazzale Roma car parking.
Those yellow signs point people on specific routes to those points.
You can see those routes on this map prepared by the University of Bologna using big data algorithms (basically cell phone activity).
As you can see yourself on the map, if you avoid those main routes indicated by the yellow signs, the city is pretty devoid of people.

Question: What time of year will you be traveling?

We were in Venice last November, and we didn't experience any of the hordes of tourists we were warned about. St. Mark's Square in the mid-afternoon, for example, was totally fine, and there was no line to get into the basilica. I don't know if this is a general off-season thing, or if people were scared away by the recent flooding (we were there the week after the historic headline-making acqua alta), or if it was because we were there specifically on days when there were no cruise ships in port (you can look up cruise schedules here).

We spent about 1 3/4 days there, which was enough to satisfy me that I'd seen the place. We could have spent more time and not run out of things to do, but as you note, more days in one place means fewer days in another.

For places to sit and watch the world go by, I can suggest the Peggy Guggenheim museum, which has a private patio right on the Grand Canal (worth the 15 euro admission all by itself, in my opinion, although the museum is great too). We were the only ones on the patio for most of the time we were there, although again, this might be a low-season thing.

I generally recommend 3 nights in Venice. The reason is that extra day will allow you to visit the nearby lagoon islands of Burano (glass blowing), Burano (most colorful home facades) and Torcello’s basilica. All 3 can be comfortably visited on a day trip via vaporetto (water bus) and will give you a glimpse of what Venice was like before mass tourism.

If you want experience a city built in a lagoon, standing on wooden piles, try this:
Venicekayak.com

My trip report from 2013

After we visited Venice about six years ago, I read "Venice" by James Morris. I was taken by a sentence, when he was talking about "Streets Full of Water", viz.:

"One canal goes clean under the Church of Santo Stefano, and you can take a gondola along it if the tide is low..."

I was determined to pass under San Stefano by boat, and today (25th April, Liberation Day, St Marks Day and ANZAC day for Australians) I can announce Mission Accomplished. We've had the best day.

I'm not really a "tour" kind of person, but today we took a kayak tour. I chose today, because I did not much want to be mixing it with the delivery boats, rubbish boats, all the water-born traffic of Venice. 25th April was relatively quiet.

We booked a full day excursion with Venice Kayak (venicekayak.com) and it worked well. The day started at Certosa, reachable by 4.1or 4.2 vaporetto. Certosa was a military base in the 1800's, with a munitions factory and other fortifications. It's being cleaned up now, getting rid of the industrial legacy of pollution, and now is really pleasant. We'll go back there for a picnic another day.

Met up with the kayak people in the bar - there were a couple of running events happening on the island today, 2 km for the kids, 10 km for the adults, so it was pretty busy. We met up with Rene and Loretta, who was to be our guide for the day, were outfitted with life jackets and "skirts" to seal the kayak openings and headed off. We were six in all, Loretta, another couple, Lou and I, and an another guy (who I think was a guide in training, as he had a carbon fibre paddle and his own kayak, serious stuff).

Loretta seemed very business like at first - I can understand that, as it must be a bit tricky taking a group of paddlers out onto the lagoon without knowing what their capabilities are. She explained that canoeists are the lowest form of aquatic life, at the bottom of the marine food chain, so don't mess with vaps, water taxis, gondolas or anything else for that matter. We duly embarked, Lou and I in a double kayak, the others in singles, and headed out.

A completely new Venice unfolded before us.

I've tried to mark on our map where we went, and lost the plot. We went down canals little wider than a ditch, under bridges too low to paddle, just pull yourself through with your hands. Under the Rialto and Accademia bridges, no problems with height there. Down the canal at the back of the Guggenheim, around two sides of the Arsenal, crossed the Grand Canal several times, a bit of a dig in the Giudecca canal, all over the place.

Observing gondolas. Gondolas look small if you are viewing them from the Rialto, but are quite big if you are sitting lower in the water than the gondola passengers. And seeing a fire boat blasting down the Grand Canal, flashing lights, sirens, full noise, is quite exciting. Especially if you start to think that if said fire boat is going to turn from Grand Canal to Giudecca Canal round the Salute, you might be in the way. So back up a bit.

Yes, a completely new Venice.

Magic.

We stopped for lunch at Campo San Barnaba, which we know really well, as we have stayed near there on a couple of occasions, and I must say that it seemed a bit special to arrive in the Campo by water. Down back canals, past a couple of squeros, past the Cantina Schiavoni. Being photographed, as if we were film stars.

And under Santo Stefano! Excellent!

Practicalities. We paddled for about four hours, which was enough for a day. Experienced paddlers would do more, and we're not experienced. Loretta was a great guide, lots of info about places as we passed, very conscious to ensure that we had a happy time, and she took about 200 photos of us (which we've already received by email, which is a great demonstration of good admin).

Stay for several nights, in one of the neighborhoods. There are so many wonderful museums, and the churches have amazing art too. Great places to eat as long as you go a few blocks off the "tourist highway." Find a neighborhood piazza for your morning coffee and pastry. Eat on Burano at El Gato Nero and enjoy the lovely pastel-painted houses. Don't miss an afternoon stroll in the lovely, usually deserted cemetery on the funeral island near Burano. There are some famous people buried there.

@Aussie

Thanks for the heads up. A work colleague was in Venice a few years ago and also said that the kayaking was a highlight. That is definitely on the to do list now. As you can tell from my moniker, I'm pretty at home in kayaks, though usually the river kind.

In looking at their website, I see there are multiple tours? Did you do the Venice and the Lagoon?

I would stay for several nights. Check to see if the "Chorus Pass" is still available. We used one of these some years ago in our free time on a RS tour. It gets you into a number of churches that have wonderful art, and the best way to get to these churches is by taking the back streets. We saw actual kids playing soccer, older men sitting and talking on park benches, and had coffee at a tiny bar where we were the only tourists.

Since we were on a tour, our time was limited, so we only saw about half the places on the pass. Even without the pass, this would be a good strategy.

Kayaking.
We did the one day tour of Venice. They also do tours out into the lagoon, to Burano I think.

If you look at the map of tourist paths" provided by Roberto, you will see that there are none in Doesoduro. I highly recommend staying in that area ---water on both sides, lots of charm, and easy to wander.

We have booked an apartment there for a few nights next month; our fifth visit to Venice ( one was a full month). It is near the Peggy Guggenheim art museum, and a nice little apartment for €120 a night. We used this local agency for our full month stay and we're well satisfied.

https://www.veniceredhouse.com/apartments-in-venice/venier-apartment

If you prefer a hotel, the Hotel American Dinesen is nearby, it will probably cost twice as much as the apartment. Don't be put off by the "American" in the name; The hotel has more inspiration from Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen).

One of our favorite walks is out to the eastern end of Dorsoduro, known as Punto del Dogana. Wonderful views across to San Marco. Or you can wander through Dorsoduro the other direction to Campo Santa Margherita, with bars and shops frequented by locals. Then find your way through the back streets of San Polo to our favorite Campo, San Giacomo da l'Orio.

Another place to consider staying is Sant'Elena in far eastern Venice, or close to it. You will be far from the tourists in that area. Last spring we stayed in Cannaregio, which used to be an area with fewer tourists - no more!

We loved the island of Torcello (on the same ferry route as Burano). It has Roman ruins, a great cathedral and was where Hemingway lived and worked for a while. A beautiful place to spend a few hours.

If you go to Burano, get off the vaporetto at Mazzorbo, the last stop before Burano. You can then walk through a vineyard and across the bridge to Burano.
Going back to Venice from Burano, the line for the vap can be very long, and you might not get on the first boat. But if you walk back to Mazzorbo they will always let you board.