Venice Maps

I would just pope into any tobacco or souvenir shop and get a cheap map when you get there. I paid 5 euros for a very good map at a place near San Marco. You can get a free map, but Venice is so confusing its worth paying extra.

I purchased a pop-up Venice may before my trip which didn't have a lot of street names on it. I then purchased a 2 Euro map at a Tobacco Shop which worked well - got lost and then found with it!

Aside from an inexpensive map, the best guide we found was the DK Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide to Venice. You can get it in English as well as other languages. It has the best information on sites, restaurants, walks, shops and lot of other things. Best of all, the laminated back cover unfolds to reveal a map of all of the vaparetto stops as well as which vaparetto stops there. Invaluable. You can get this book in book stores here before you leave. The book is smaller than the RS book.

Your hotel will give you a map but they generally don't have enough detail so do as the post above suggests. To get one with enough detail you will need to pay for it.

I LOVE the Popout Map series...they are pocket size and durable and wonderful. Here's the link to the Venice one...

http://www.mapshop.com/Travel_Maps/Central_europe/Venice/Venice_map-p-f.htm

It is best to wander around. While wandering in Venice in June we happened across a fabulous chocolate shop. Given that my family LOVES dark chocolate to say the least, it was nice to walk into a place that was clearly a neighborhood place and had prices to match.

After all, as Rick says, keep telling yourself "I'm on an island and I can't get off." so you can't get too lost.

Thanks you all! That's helpful. I'll plan on buying one when we get there.
:)

Hi Missy. Maps are wonderful if you have a certain destination in mind and need accurate directions.. but we found the best way for us, was to leave them in the hotel room and wander.. get los( although you really can't get lost in Venice) discover the quaint back allies and back yards of the local residents we stumbled into the most charming restaurants and families by trying to follow directions and getting so turned around that it enabled us to ask directions and chat with the friendly shop keepers and people.. (even though we only speak "menu" Italian.) It adds to the wonderful experiance and slows you down enough to really look and embrace the city! Ciao Kate

I have a book/map I bought at the train station when I got off (RS recommendation for 15 Euro), but I found, too, that unless I was going someplace specific, it was better to wander around.