We are returning to Venice for 5 days this fall. We recently spent 3 days there touring museums. We are now looking forward to returning with no agenda.
We love to walk. So each day we plan to explore a differnent area of Venice. Any advise on nice areas to walk through, things to see,
places for good pastry and sandwiches, or small family run eateries where the locals dine, etc. are what we are interested in.
You input will be greatly appreciated!
Wow, 5 days in Venice, more than many people here take. Go to the websites, think about getting Rick's guidebook, or other guidebooks, and have a wonderful time!
On your previous trip, did you tour some of the islands in the Lagoon?
We’ve spent some longer stretches of time in Venice and are always ready to go back. Have you taken a boat out to any of the nearby islands? That is a nice, leisure day outing.
We also enjoy wandering in different neighborhoods. We like to attend an evening Vivaldi concert.
A few things we’ve done during our three trips to Venice:
Gondola ride
St. Mark’s during different times of day
Dance in San Marco to the orchestras
Accademia museum
Explore the Dorsoduro neighborhood, I.e. get lost just for fun!
A few hours at Murano island
Attend the Fenice Opera
Clock Tower tour
Walk through the Jewish historical area
Ride the vaporetto early in the morning & late at night
Find the best gelato
Attend the Regatta Storica (if you are there in September)
For a unique experience, I would recommend Row Venice. They will teach you how to row a gondola, and depending on what time of day your lesson is, you may also roll up to a cichetti bar or two for a snack. It’s an unforgettable, very unique experience.
We spent a week at the end of August and enjoyed wandering off-the beaten-path neighborhoods, avoiding the crowds mid day, visiting the sights at off hours, experiencing the unexpected, using a 3 day Vaporetto Pass to Burano, Torcello, Lido and the tower of San Giorgio Maggiore view towards Venice. Jewish Ghetto. Libreria Acquaintance Alta bookstore. Rialto Market. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Our favorite view of the Grand Canal is sitting at a waterfront table at Bar Foscarini & sipping an Aperol Spritz & freshly made pizza at Ponte dell' Accademia. A Vivaldi concert at Chiesa di Santa Maria Della Pieta'. Hidden gem: Osteria Vino Vino- cozy, casual wine bar, Ponte dell Veste. 5 minute walk from our Hotel (Hotel Flora). Ah, nothing better than reliving magical Venice....
We spent a month in Venice recently and never needed to ask this question. We filled our days with walking and exploration. We have never taken a gondola ride or sat down at a cafe in Piazza San Marco. We prefer exploring, and discovering our favorite places to which we return often, to see them in different light.
Two of these are Punta Del Dogana, and the church of Santa Maria die Miracoli. We have never been inside, but marvel at it from the outside, improbably set in a tiny square, but so beautiful.
If we had a guidebook it would be "Brunetti's Walks", based on the Commissario Brunetti mystery series by Donna Leon. If you haven't heard of them, you might give one a try. The author knows Venice intimately, and the books are more about family, social, and political life in Venice than death and gore. The books have a sort of cult following, I will admit, but they are well-written and entertaining. The walking book is based on tours of various neighborhoods, with stops at cafes, stores, and other sites featured in the books. Most are real, although the location of the Questura ( police station) is fictionalized.
If you can get your hands on it, the book “24 Great Walks in Venice “ is great. It is out of print but available used online. It has inspired us on several trips to the city.
We love Donna Leon’s books set in Venice too.
When we spent two weeks in Venice we bought a Chorus Pass that gives you entry to 15 art filled churches. They are located all over Venice and it got us wandering off to different areas of the city. I recommend getting one.
Take a cooking class and eat what you prepared! We took a class on Lido and the food was divine, so much fun!
hey dgrieco
a few years back we spent a week in venice. took vaporetto to mazzorbo, got off and had vino and appetizers outside table at trattoria alla maddalena. there is venisa winery, maybe wine tasting. walked around across bridge to burano, walked around island with lunch at someplace can't remember roaming thru alleys with the pastel colors houses, visiting lace museum. stop at the bakery (pasticceria palmisano carmelina on via galuppi) famous for the cookie bussola buranello. hopped on another vaporetto to the lido, walk down santa maria elisabetta to beach area. bacl along main street, stop for glass vino and people watch, dog friendly with kids, parents and grandparents having fun hand communicating, on to stop and back to venice during sunset, gorgeous.
destination360.com search cicchetti tour schezzini.it does a pub crawl with wine, appetizers and history of venice
isoladiburano.it
ilburchiello.it a boat cruise up the brenta river
if you are there oct 3 to 7 2019, bardolino wine festival. we rented car for 2 days, and drove. they may have public transportation. it was a fun fun day, eat drink and be merry.
cocaeta crepes back canal (fondementa san giobbe) for fresh made crepes. one man operation, bring patience if he's busy.
walk down to the castello area away from the crowds.
we did private prosecco tour out to small villages and gorgeous countryside on prosecco road. we had oriana as our driver and guide.
take a train ride to Vicenza, Verona, or bologna (Verona "la bottega della gina")
eatwith.com (check venice have dinner at massimo's house) and bologna (has pasta class in morning)
you'll have a great time, hope this helps
aloha
I spent 7 nights in Venice and, like Lola, didn’t take a gondola ride or drink in Piazza San Marco.
There are many guided walks.
We enjoyed taking the vaporetto to Torcello and walking down to the Basillica. We almost had the island to ourselves and it’s so different from Murano and Burano, which were heaving, despite getting there early.
We also took the vaporetto over to Lido, which, having roads and cars felt very different. We didn’t stay more than an hour, but as it was at the end of our week, it was strange to see. It’s more a locals place rather than tourist central and there were many very popular cafes and restaurants with not a tourist in sight.
I stayed in Cannaregio and enjoyed getting lost in the small streets. The Jewish Ghetto was nearby.
We took several vaporetto rides in loops around the various islands and some rides at night for a different feel. We had a 7 day vaporetto pass, although at many times it was as quick to walk, it was fun to take the boat.
I generally found the food in Venice to be disappointing. A great place for chichetti (tapas) and a good selection of wines was Cantina Aziende Agricole in Cannaregio, which doesn’t look much from the outside, but which was full of locals. For a quick lunch stop, Pasta & Sugo was good, overlooking floating market stalls in Dorsoduro.
I liked getting lost and especially enjoyed being there in December with nary a cruise ship in the harbor.
Stayed at the opposite end away from Saint Marco Square.
Sunsets were gorgeous at the Park of Rememberance and food at the family run Osteria De Pampo outstanding.
I'd recommend you get a tour guide, preferably a local. Tour guides would help you get the best experience from Venice. Also their being familiar with the place can be a good advantage with security too.
I spent two trips of two weeks each, and never took a gondola or had a drink in P. San Marco!
(Do you see that we need to get t-shirts printed here...…) ;))
One trip, we went to Chioggia ; which is a fishing town way out in the area south of Venice.
You take a vaporetto to Lido, then a bus along the island, then another bus, then a small ferry.
It takes most of the day to get there and back, but you will see no tourists, only local people going about their days.
Quite restful, and a part of the area that most people have no clue about.
Treviso is a nice town nearby , an easy train ride and not many tourists there either.
Second Suki's advice to get a Chorus Pass - finding the churches included on it takes you all over the city, and they let you borrow guides to the art to be seen in each church. Also, I've been reading a small book published by National Geographic: 'Walking Venice - the best of the city', and recommend it highly. It's very inspirational for spending lots of time in the city.
Okay, I have to share the fun story of the gondola ride! We were with the RS Best of Italy tour the first time we visited Venice. Our guide asked who wanted to pay for the experience and several of us wanted to go. They were loading us onto the gondolas. Two guys I didn’t know stepped into ours with my husband & me, along with another couple from our trip.
I was thinking, “Who are these guys? And, why did they get in our groups’ boats?” Well, we started down a canal, and the first guy pulled out an accordion and the second guy was the singer with a wonderful voice! (I have perfect pitch, so I was really glad he could sing!). One of the songs they sang was Funiculì, funiculà, which I know, so I started singing quietly with them. Whoa, he was excited that I was involved and wanted more to participate.
We have a fantastic photo of the singer standing up in the gondola in the Grand Canal, singing with arms outstretched. We haven’t taken another gondola ride because nothing would top how much fun that ride was with our “surprise guests” that our RS guide had arranged.
This will be my 10th year in Venice - about a week each time. I save San Marco for Sunday morning Mass. Just to sit in that amazing space! A day trip to Burano and Torcello (not a big fan of Murano) is always planned. The churches in Venice are on my list every year - seeing the art in situ is, for me, much more interesting than roaming through a museum. The Frari is also a favorite return. BUT here are my 2 absolute musts: late evening vaporetto ride all around the Grand Canal; and trying to get lost! I've never accomplished the latter but I'll keep trying. I see an intersection and then the adventure begins - where will I end up, what will I see on the way? There is so much more to see and experience in Venice than the Rialto and San Marco! Now, if I can only remember where I found that great bookstore that had such wonderful old books and prints. I'll try to get lost and will find it again this year?
edit: OMG, this will be year 15!!! Still not tired of her.
We are planning a walking tour of both Castello and Dorsoduro. Wondering how far we should venture into both these neighborhoods?
Should we walk beyond the Museo Storice Navale, coming from San Marco? Is there a point where the walking tour may not be as enjoyable?
Also, any advise on how far to venture into Dorsoduro, again coming from San Marco?
That may depend on what you find !
Last year as we walked through the Dorsoduro neighborhood, we smelled something wonderful and followed our noses to a pizza place where we had a great chat with the chef ! Then we heard noises, and rounding the corner, found a man with a table set up with wine glasses where he was playing songs by tapping the tops of the glasses with a spoon!
I think you turn around when you run out of surprises !
Here’s another recommendat,ion for a Brenta Canal cruise, maybe one of the half-days. They include stops at Palladian villas. Our guide was excellent.
A trip out to Torcello would also be great. It’s much less crowded than Venice, proper. There’s a very old (11th c.?) church with mosaics. When we went, quite a few years ago, we had a very good lunch at a restaurant, which is on the path that goes between the pier and the church. I don’t recall the name; but, at least back then, there were only two or three. The one where we ate was the largest and nicest looking.
We spent 5 days there in October 2017. Have you visited the museums or sites with a guide? It definitely can open up the secrets and stories of the place. One tour we took because we had an evening to kill was a ghost walk of Venice. Kind of cheesy but some very interesting stories of what it was like to walk in 16th century Venice in the evening when there was no lights. We loved Burano. For the best photo opportunities, get there early in the day. By 10:00 it starts to fill up. We also did a day trip by train to Verona. Easy to get to and a wonderful place to wander.
We stumbled onto a restaurant called Ai Merchanti while we were hopelessly lost. It's in a small courtyard and is easy to miss. The food was outstanding but we thought the service was strangely indifferent. It became extra memorable for us though when we got back to our hotel and looked it up on Trip Advisor. It's highly rated, but check out the restaurant's responses to some of the negative reviews, it's good for a laugh. https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restaurant_Review-g187870-d1320403-Reviews-Ai_Mercanti-Venice_Veneto.html
I'd still go back though, we weren't treated poorly and the food was the best we ate that week.
Thanks to all for the wonderful sugestions!
Now wishing that we had planned to stay longer.
On the bright side, looking forward to going back for another stay.
