Would you spend 4 nights in Venice?

Since you have only spent a few hours in Venice, I would recommend staying in Venice. As you said, you can do day trips to explore the Veneto and there is plenty to see and do in Venice and the surrounding islands to fill up your time. You may have been to St. Mark's and Doge's Palace, but take time to wander the back lanes and see the Frari Church and the areas where Venetians live and eat. Take a boat to Murano and Burano to see glass making and lace sewing. Have lunch on Lido. Venice is a totally different place at night. Do a pub crawl and just soak in the ambiance. If you are concerned about filling up your days, you can arrange it so that you only have 3 full days. Arrive in Venice late afternoon day 1, stay 4 nights and leave early day 5. You have all of Days 2-4 to explore Venice and the Veneto. If you day trip to Padua/Verona, that only leaves 2 days for Venice and the islands which really isn't that much. I highly recommend experiencing Venice at night and the best way to do that is to stay there.

I know some will suggest that a week is too short. Given your situation, I am sure I could find ways to fill three days so I would not discourage it. However, if I had complete flexibility I would not spend four night. Perhaps three at the most.

My reply would depend on the total days you have in italy. A holiday and a long weekend? Does that mean a total of 9 days on the ground? If so, then I think a four night stay in Venice is too long, and you may want to take it off the itinerary completely -- since you've already "day tripped" there. Now I see you've had 10 trips to Italy, and if you've already spent lots of time in the other two of the Big Three (Rome and Florence) you may want to follow the previous poster's advice and spend the time in Venice. Just make sure you see the Islands.

Are you deciding which city to fly into? If you fly into Venice, from the U.S., you'll probably want your first full day just to get over the long-haul flight and jetlag. Venice is a great place to do that. Ride up and down the Grand Canal on the vaporetto, relax at a sidewalk cafe, stop for a gelato, wander some of the back canals. . . .

That leaves 2 more days. Worst case, you leave Venice in the morning of Day 4, so you've really only had 2-plus days there and are pretty much over the rigors of trans-Atlantic travel.

Well there's certainly no lack of things to see and do in Venice, especially if you also throw in the nearby easily trainable cities of Padova, Vicenza (one of my favourites) and Verona.

Spend 4 nights there? In a heartbeat. Have done, most years. Each time it is a mixture of new discoveries (after all these years) and old favourites.

I'll be back there in the Spring.

Yes I would spend 4 nights there. There is so much to do with say 2 full days in Venice itself, you can spend most of another day going to Murano and Burano as someone put and a day trip day to a nearby town.

We have been to Venice 4 times for a total of 19 nights. Yes, you can spend 4 nights/3 days and be entertained. You might enjoy my report about our 3rd trip.

Considering we've spent a total of maybe 14 nights in Venice over the years, yes, you can easily fill four nights if you and Venice "click." If not, then as pointed out there are other islands you can visit as well as easy daytrips, e.g. Padova which is charming.

Easy to spend four nights in Venice. Don't leave out Torcello, near Burano. A daytrip or two to Padova, Verona and Vicenza can be done by train without renting a car.

We spent 4 nights there in 2010 and it wasn't enough time! We are going back next year and staying 5 nights.

I would absolutely stay 4 nights in Venice...in fact, we spent 5 nights there this past Aug/Sept and it was our second visit to Venice. Even after spending 5 nights there, I feel that we could have spent another 2-3 nights there! There's a lot to see in Venice. I would definitely visit Burano and/or Murano from Venice which will take up close to one full day. We didn't visit one museum while in Venice and we're not shoppers for the most part either but we had no problem filling 4.5 days in Venice and I doubt you'll have any problem finding interesting things to do/see.

If you need a hotel recommendation, you might have a look at Locanda Orseolo. We absolutely loved staying there and it's the #1 rated B&B on TripAdvisor for good reason. The location is superb (right off St. Mark's Square) & only 10 minutes to the Rialto Bridge and many of the rooms have canal views. The staff is extremely helpful, the rooms are clean/comfortable and the breakfast is great as well.

Have a great trip!