What to do in Venice after cruise ship disembarks

I don't think 5 days is too long in Venice and if you are flying home from Venice you will need to be there night before departure.
Your arrival day will be a blur and next day not much better. Maybe see the major sights that day- St Mark's, Doges.
Then after cruise you can spend time wandering - which is the best thing to do in Venice- visit the islands- Burano, Murano, Torcello. You can day trip easily to Verona, Padova and/or Vicnenza from Venice as well. All worthwhile.

There is plenty to do in Venice for your extra days but if you wanted you could also take a day trip to Padua which is a very interesting and near by town.

Do you ever follow Sarah Murdoch, one of Rick's Italy guides? I follow her on FB (https://www.facebook.com/adventureswithsarah ) and she's just finished a tour from her own tour company she billed as a Venice Staycation. Honestly, those pictures looked wonderful! They did such fun things. I also have a FB friend who was on the tour - met her on a long ago Rick's Village Italy tour - and saw her FB pictures as well. I think you could get some ideas from what they saw and did as well.

You could also go to Florence after you disembark and fly home from there unless you have already purchased your flights in/out of Venice.

Rick's top sightseeing suggestions in Venice are listed right on this website: https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/venice

There's a full guide book devoted to Venice and some other cities in the northeast, at least some of which are reasonable day-trips. I particularly enjoyed Padua, a university town less than 30 minutes away by train. Many others recommend Verona, which is farther away and a place I haven't visited yet. Other possibilities are Vicenza (also in the Venice book), Treviso and Bassano del Grappa.

I'd certainly have no trouble filling the time you have in Venice alone, but there's something to be said for sightseeing variety. I don't know whether you've looked at lodging rates yet, but in normal times Venice is a very expensive place to stay. I wouldn't really want to pay Venetian hotel prices if I was going to make more than one day-trip away from the city--but I'm a very frugal traveler.

I highly recommend buying Rick's guide to Venice. It will help you a great deal. Do note, however, that Ravenna with it's stunning Byzantine mosaics is not a viable day-trip from Venice; it's over 4-1/2 hours away by train.

If you decide a day-trip will be sufficient for you, there's no need to make those plans way ahead of time. The regional trains will get you to any of the destinations I mentioned. They don't have reserved seats and cannot sell out, and the ticket prices do not increase as the travel date approaches.

I suppose that much depends on the types of things/activities you are interested in. You can take a look at the Venice section in the Explore Europe section on this site, as well as the Venice guidebook, to see what interests you. And there are several day trips that you could take as well. The Venetian islands (Murano, Burrano, Torcello), Padova, and Verona are some examples.

It is possible or even likely that your ship will dock at the mainland port of Marghara, not at the Venice dock. That is where they have been going this summer, from reports I have read.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/venice-cruise-ship-ban-government/index.html

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/venice-port-79

So if you might want to do an overnight trip somewhere else, the time to do that would be straight from the ship after the cruise—-head to the train station at Mestre. Then return to Venice for the rest of the time before your flight home (assuming you are departing from the Venice airport). Book the return train to Venice Santa Lucia. Walking out of that train station to see the Grand Canal in front of you still gives me chills (in a good way).

I have been to most of the places mentioned (all but Vicenza) and they are all worth a visit, but Padua is so close to Venice it makes a better daytrip. Ravenna is wonderful—-a nice welcoming moderately-priced town, and the mosaics are stunningly beautiful. The train journey is 2.5 to 3 hours each way.

We went to Bassano di Grappa from Venice to see the famous Palladio bridge, and really enjoyed our short time in the city, but mainly because of our interest in all things Palladian.

Verona would be a good choice, or Verona plus Lago di Garda, a 15-minute train ride from Verona (to Pescadero del Garda). Take a boat up the lake to Malcescine—-it should be lovely there in June. There are nice beachfront hotels, a charming co=bled old town, a ruined castle, and a cablecar to ride to the top of Monte Baldo for hiking or sightseeing.

https://www.visitmalcesine.com/en

Or simply return to Venice. “Is five days too much time in Venice?” It depends on you. We have spent as long as a full month there, and then returned another time for a week. But we never go there in summer. For a first-time visitor, in summer, I would recommend exploring at least one other town close by. You will likely find the lodging cheaper and the food better. . . .

You can see examples of the Ravenna mosaics on website such as this, although the photos do not do justice to the depth of color and the luster of the actual artwork.

https://mandalameadow.com/ravenna-mosaics/

Wonderful tips up thread. I would agree that there is plenty to see in 5 days. We stayed a week and still didn’t see it all. We enjoyed walking off the beaten path to avoid crowds. One of our helpful guides was “Frommer’s 24 Great Walks in Venice.” We did morning trips to Burano, Torcello, & Lido (during the Venice Film Festival). One of our favorite getaways was to San Giorgio Maggiore. We took the elevator to the observation deck of the bell tower to enjoy looking back at the superb view of Venice. If I recall it was €6 & well worth it. In addition, if interested, there is the beautiful San Maggiore Church.

You might check Venezia Autentica..a wonderful organization in Venice..either their website www.veneziaautentica.com or their Facebook page. We have used their suggestions for restaurants and shops…always great, and plan to look into local experience suggestions when we return next year.

There are lots of trains from Venice to Bassano del Grappa.

You are correct, acraven. Last time I looked there was only a bus route via Padua. It must have been something to do with the date I picked to search. I see the route to Ravenna from Venice is also shorter than I said, with just one change on the way. I will edit my earlier reply!

We just spent a week in Venice and it was the perfect amount of time to take everything in and not feel rushed. We did a day trip to Padua one day, and went to Burano and Torcello another day, and had some lazy afternoons. Five days will be great!