Venice Walks

Almost any wandering will reveal hidden gems in Venice. One suggestion would be walking through the Lista de Spagna and through Cannareggio along the main street there.

We like to get close looks at the bridges. I too love photography and have some great shots of some wonderful details on the bridges.

Safe Travels!

Hi Marcus. We are off to Venice this fall and I picked up "Brunetti's Venice" by Toni Sepeda. Brunetti is the protagonist in a famous series of detective novels by American-born Donna Leon. Sepeda outlines walks through neighborhoods visited by the peripatetic detective. You don't have to enjoy the novels to enjoy the walks. You'll experience the architecture, history and culture just the same, and travel into some off-the-tourist-beat neighborhoods. Of course reading a couple of the novels might put you in a Venice mood!

Get the Eyewitness Travel Guide for Venice. It has some wonderful walks, including some very much like what you're describing.

One of the more interesting walks is from the Rialto bridge to the clock tower in St Marks square. It's a major shopping area. Many world-class store names that you will recognize. Wonderful window shopping as you stroll through.

If you can get out to Murano, it's a very nice walk from the Colonna vaporetto stop to the Museo vaporetto stop. All kinds of shops (mostly shops selling glass) and places to eat.

you really can't get lost so to speak since you are surrounded by water so just walking around anywhere is a joy...the dorsorduro neighborhood is a bit off the beaten path and really neat...my fave square is campo st margherita...not listed as prominently in many guide books (i do not think rick mentions this campo in his venice book...)...i discovered by accident by just walking around...very lively but less touristy area...

Thanks for the great feedback everyone. Michael's suggestion for the Eyewitness Guide was great. I found a bunch of great walks in there. Even better is the Lonely Planet Venice/Veneto book. It has a ton of great walks.

I love the book "Venice for Pleasure," by J.G. Links. He includes in his books references to paintings of Venice from long ago. So you can go to the same spot the painting was made of - and in most cases, see how little has changed. He's also quite funny and chatty, almost like a relative telling stories about people he knows.

As a 56 yr old guy with wife and two grown sons touring Venice I was worn out by mid-afternoon, like a child in Disney World. Yes, if I would have been in better shape and 20 lbs less I would have likely done better for maybe a few more hours at least. Venice was all that I imagined but not enough to want to go back. A gentleman from the States we met on a ferry boat on Lake Coumo best described his Venice experience...."I felt like I was a lost mouse in a complex maze never able to find the cheese at the end", I gave him a high five! The Venice purest reading this will think I'm crazy but one day was enough for this moderately old out of shape mouse. Oh by the way in Venice one of my most vivid memories was an Ameican dude wearing a freaking nylon NASCAR baseball cap how sad is that!!!

This past June I used Frommer's "24 Great Walks in Venice" for additional walking tour suggestions. I would recommend the book. The maps are good and the photos are great.

My advice to any photographer is to get up early at least one morning and wander around. You will be amazed and richly rewarded. Try Castello and Giudecca for some nice "across the Lagoon" shots, if you have not already. But the bottom line is that Morning (or evening) light plus Venice = great photo.