Does this look doable? Monday May 09:00 Train Florence-Venice $75USD/person 3 hours 13:00 Lunch (pizza under the Accademia Bridge?) 14:00 Visit the Frari church. 3Euro 16:00 Go up the Campanile bell tower for city view 8Euro (dramatic bell tower on St mark's square w/ elevator to top Easter-June 0900-1900 (crowd beating tip, either 0900 or 1800) 18:00 Commense pub crawl chicchetti sampling different venetian foods. http://www.ricksteves.com/news/tribune/venice_cicchetti.htm 20:00 Concert and/or gondola or You can ride the vaporetto (cheaper) up or down the Grand Canal ride (take it through small canal, not grand canal street Tuesday May wake up early to catch the sunrise in venice 09:00 Walk to the train station and over the Calatrava Bridge to Piazzale Roma. Then catch the slow boat vaporetto (line #1) to take my self-guided Grand Canal Cruise. 10:30 Interrupt the tour, hopping off at Mercato Rialto (the bridge) to explore the market. Eat an early lunch of cicchetti (Venetian tapas) at the bars recommended on page 284. 13:00 Continue the Grand Canal Cruise, ending at St. Mark's Square. 13:30 tour St. Mark's Square (San Marco). 14:30 Correr Museum (ticket here includes Doge's Palace).
15:30 St. Mark's Basilica (closes at 17:00). 17:00 Doge's Palace *closes at 18:30, last entry at 17:30). 19:00 Dinner (make a reservation) Da Raffaele, 22:00 Enjoy the dueling orchestras with a drink on St. Mark's Square.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
I don't know how early you were planning on having your cicchetti lunch, but most places don't start serving cicchetti until noon, and don't really rev up until about 12:30 or 1. Happy travels.
Posted by
Green Bay
20294 posts
Wow. You're a planner. The train from Florence is only 2 hours, it's 45 euro and that is the undiscounted price, you may find 29 euro economy fares still for Monday mornings in May, depending on which train you take. Get a 48 hour vaporetto pass for 30 euro. It's 7 euro per ride, so it's paid for it after 5 rides. I count 3 rides here (get to Accademia from the station for that Pizza), but you are liable to have more. You don't say where your hotel is. Leave a little time for serendipity.
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
Venice is a place to visit without schedules. Bravo for your planning - but a regimented tour of Venice? No. Don't do it.
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11396 posts
It's good to have a plan: you can always change it, but without a plan you may miss something important. Pizza under Accademia Bridge is terrible, but it's a beautiful location if the weather is good. As to a cichetti lunch, wing it. Maybe a panino in a convenient bar will suffice instead. We like the tower at San Giorgio Maggiore (across the lagoon from San Marco and only a 2 minute vaporetto ride) better. It's less crowded and less expensive. Skip the gondola ride. If you have time, just walk along the waterfront past San Marco for 20 or 30 minutes, toward Santa Elena. Beautiful view back toward the city and peaceful, away from crowds.
Posted by
Green Bay
20294 posts
Second San Giorgio Maggiori. And the little outdoor cafe around the corner is pretty nice too.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
Seven pm sounds early for dinner, but if you get a reservation at that hour, go for it. I make very detailed plans, too, so that I know what I'll need to shuffle around or eliminate if plans change (which they often do because I get sidetracked by something wonderful that I couldn't plan).