Venice Trip Review - Planning Your Trip to Venice
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Virtual Tour of Venice
Pictures featuring the canals, palaces and gondolas in Venice have always evoked a strong interest in visiting this magical city. One of the most romantic and unique cities in Europe, Venice defies description.
My husband and I visited Venice during the end of August 2009. Here I would like to share our trip experiences, and hope it would be helpful for those planning a trip to Venice, and for others give an insight into what this historic city has to offer it's visitors.
Before you go to Venice
Things to know
- Entry requirements: Make sure you check the passport/visa requirements for your country to enter Italy.
- Currency: As in most of Western Europe, Euro is the currency of Italy.
- Local time: GMT + 1
- High season: April to October
- Language: Italian. It would be helpful to know some very basic Italian phrases before your trip.
- Venice is a car free zone. The only way to get around this historic city is by foot or by water. So ensure you wear comfortable walking shoes.
- Read some Interesting Facts about Venice before your visit
Venice Travel Guides
Island of Venice
Murano
Picture taken at Murano, one of Venice's islands
Booking
- Book your travel to Venice well in advance, at the least a month before your trip.
- Accommodation in Venice is fairly expensive. Also since the city is busy for most of the year, it is highly advisable to book a hotel well in advance.
- If you prefer, you can buy the entry tickets for museums even before you land in Venice. We bought 'Museums of St.Marks Square' tickets at Venice Connected for 12 Euros. This allows entry to Doges palace, Correr museum, Marciana Library and Archeological museum at St.Marks square. The ticket is valid for 3 months, and it certainly helped us avoid a long queue at the Doge's.
- We also bought the 36 hour vaporetti (water bus) tickets at Venice Connected for 20 bucks. You can get tickets valid for 12/24/36/48 or 72 hours depending on your trip duration. This would work out much cheaper, since a single ticket valid for an hour costs around 6.50 Euros.
Grand Canal starts here
Ferrovia
View of Ferrovia vaporetto stop from Scalzi bridge
Getting there
Finding your way around Venice can be slightly difficult, so hotels are generally good in giving directions. Make sure you print out those, and also carry a map.
- By flight: Marco Polo airport is a convenient bus or boat ride (Alilaguna ferry) away from Venice.
- By train: Venezia Santa Lucia is the train station. Don't get off at the previous station Venezia Mestre by mistake. Right outside the train station is the vaporetti stop Ferrovia.
- By road: All buses to Venice terminate in Piazzale Roma. If you have a good map, you can walk along the Grand canal towards the Scalzi bridge which crosses to the railway station. But taking a vaporetto (water bus) is much easier with the luggage.
Planning a trip to Venice?
Check for flights & hotels here
Grand Canal Tour
Venice's highway
The best way to get a glimpse of Venice and start off the tour, would be to take the Grand Canal Ride - Venice's marvelous highway. It's an S shaped canal that winds through the heart of the city, lined by numerous churches and palaces. We boarded vaporetti No. 1 at Ferrovia (train station) and got off at San Marco. This takes around 40 minutes. Both lines 1 and 2 cover the same route, but line 1 is slower and stops at all the places, which is ideal for sightseeing. It is interesting to see that there are just 3 bridges across the Grand Canal, Scalzi bridge at Ferrovia, the famous Rialto bridge and the wooden Accademia bridge.We downloaded Rick Steves Grand Canal audio tour in our iPhone, which was highly helpful to know the famous places as we glided past numerous palaces on the Canal.
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St. Mark's Square
Symbol of Venice
St. Mark's Square also known as Piazza San Marco, has been the symbol of Venice for ages. It is one of the most photographed attractions in the world, Napolean called it Europe's finest drawing room. You can easily spend a whole day here, visiting St. Mark's Church, Correr Museum, Doge's Palace and the bell tower-Campanile. Pigeons are very common in the square.Visit the square at night to experience the magic, with less crowd and enchanting music.
The Cafes in the square are well known for the open air orchestras. The two famous ones are Caffe Florian and Caffe Quadri.
View from Campanile
St.Marks Square as seen from campanile
Venice at Night
Piazza San Marco
St. Mark's Square at night
Doge's Palace
Marvelous Architecture
The Doge's Palace or Palazzo Ducale was the seat of government presided over by a doge. The famous sights include Golden Staircase, Great Council Room which houses the largest oil painting in the world, wonderful paintings by Tintoretto, Veronese, Titian, and the famous Bridge of Sighs which connects the palace and the prison. When we went, the Bridge of Sighs was almost hidden by the huge advertisement hoardings. Where is Bridge of Sighs?
Bridge of Sighs...almost hidden though amidst the advertisement boards
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View from Bridge of Sighs
Picture taken from the tiny window holes of Bridge of Sighs
St. Mark's Basilica
San Marco Church
St. Mark's church has a splendid facade covered by 5 domes, and an imposing interior with a wealth of paintings, sculptures and golden mosaic. Admission is free for everyone, but it can get extremely crowded. Big bags are not allowed inside. You can leave your bags at nearby Ateneo San Basso church (located in Calle San Basso, to the left of St.Marks church) Also, you can Book San Marco Church visit for free. Venice Campanile
Spectacular Views of Venice
The Campanile offers breathtaking views of St. Mark's square and infact a 360 degree view of Venice. It is well worth the 8 Euro entrance fee. Also when we went , luckily there was no crowd in the ticket counter as well as on the top.The picture here is the view of San Giorgio Maggiore island from the top of the bell tower.
Rialto Bridge
Bustling with tourists
Rialto is the oldest (over 400 years) and most famous of the bridges crossing the Grand Canal. It has small shops that sell jewelry, linen, Murano glass, Venetian masks to attract tourists. If you prefer to walk, be it from Ferrovia or San Marco, you can see signs all around pointing directions to the Rialto. The other option is to just take vaporetto 1, and get down at Rialto. Masks of Venice
Famous during Venice Carnival
Venetian masks displayed at a shop
Venetian Items on CafePress
What's going on in Venice?
Venice News
- Merchant of Venice angers heritage group
- The dispute is the latest clash between conservationists who oppose the creeping commercialisation that tourism brings and developers who believe that without shops and services, Venice risks becoming a museum without inhabitants.
- Benetton in row over palazzo shopping conversion in Venice
- The dispute is the latest clash between conservationists who oppose the creeping commercialisation that tourism brings and developers who believe that without shops and services, Venice risks becoming a museum without inhabitants.
- Venice rebels against cruise ship intrusions
- The fatal grounding of the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast has sharpened the focus on the largely unchecked boom of these ever-larger luxury liners, and nowhere more so than in Venice, a fragile city already struggling against mass tourism and the ...
- Venice rebels against cruise ship intrusions
- The fatal grounding of the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast has sharpened the focus on the largely unchecked boom of these ever-larger luxury liners, and nowhere more so than in Venice, a fragile city already struggling against mass tourism and the ...
Island Tour of Venice
If you have an extra day in your schedule, consider visiting relatively less crowded Venetian islands Murano, Burano and Torcello. We spent an entire day in these 3 islands, and each of these are unique in it's own way. You could also consider visiting San Michelle-the cemetery island of Venice, Mazzorbo-small rural island connected to Burano by wooden bridge and Lido-beach resort.The picture you see here is the bridge between Burano & Mazzorbo.
Lido, Venice
Beach Resort
Lido is a narrow strip of island between the Venetian lagoon and the Adriatic sea. Venice film festival takes place in Lido every year in September. The atmosphere on Lido is very different from Venice, it has road, cars, pavements and many residential avenues, relatively cheap restaurants.After spending most of our day at St. Mark's square, we proceeded to Lido in vaporetto 51 (you can also take line 1 or 52) in the evening. After strolling over the main shopping area Gran Viale SM.Elisabetta, we headed over to the beach.
Murano
Famous for glass
Next day morning, we started our trip to the 3 wonderful islands of Venice, and Murano to begin with. Murano is famous for glass making. Places to visit here are the Glass museum (Museo Vetraio) and fascinating Santa Maria e Donata church. If you are interested, you can watch live glass blowing sessions in the Murano glass factories.There are beautiful glass sculptures displayed all over Murano. The picture you see here is one such glass work.
To reach Murano: If you are starting from Ferrovia, DM line (Directo Murano) would be faster taking around half an hour to reach. Other options are taking either 41/42 boat services or LN from Fondamenta Nove. You can get down at Faro/Colonna stop, to visit any of the glass factories. If you prefer to just visit the glass museum, Museo is the nearest stop. Anyway it is only a few minutes walk between any stops in Murano.
Burano
Full of colors
Burano is undoubtedly the most picturesque and prettiest of all the Venetian islands, with it's brightly colored houses. It's a photographers delight. Lacemaking is famous in Burano. The lace museum was closed for renovation when we visited. We just had to be content with some pretty lace stuff we bought in the shops.Burano is also a nice place to enjoy lunch, or wander around the colorful lanes, or to just sit in the small garden in Burano waterfront and relax.
To reach Burano: Take LN boat service from Fondamenta Nove, or from Murano Faro stop. It takes around half an hour from Faro to reach Burano.
Colorful Burano
Picturesque Venice Island
Burano
Torcello
Oldest Venitian Island
The island of Torcello was once the largest and important settlement in the Venetian lagoon. But today, it's mostly an abandoned island. Places to see here are the Santa Maria Assunta church, Bell tower, Santa Maria Fosca church. If you plan to visit all the 3, combination ticket is the best deal.Don't forget to take a snap sitting in Attila's throne, the stone seat in the open square. It's a belief that people who sit here, would someday get to visit Venice again.
To reach Torcello: Take Vaporretto Line T from Burano, this runs only twice an hour and the journey takes around 5 minutes. Make sure you note down the vaporretto timings for your return, before venturing into Torcello.
Venetian Gondola Ride
Bask in the Romance
What better way to end our Venice trip, than a relaxing and romantic gondola ride in the evening? We asked the gondolier to go via some smaller canals, and it was a rewarding experience gliding through tiny alleys and canals. Gondola ride is pretty costly, but we felt it was worth it. We paid 80 Euros for a 40minute ride, and that's the current official rate as well. You can divide the cost, if you plan to share the ride with more people. Loading poll. Please Wait...
Gondola in the Grand Canal
Venetian Gondola
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Thanks for reading my Venice trip review. Feel free to drop a comment here!
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MartinSnell
Feb 5, 2012 @ 8:23 am | delete
- Great Lens. Im hoping to visit Venice next year so it's been really useful. Thanks
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DeannaDiaz
Jan 26, 2012 @ 4:54 pm | delete
- I guess if you can't travel, lens teleporting is the next best thing! Thanks for the trip!
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Senora_M
Jan 11, 2011 @ 10:07 am | delete
- Cool lens. My husband and I went to Venice a few years ago. It was a lot of fun. We used trip advisor forums and Rick Steves Books to save a lot of money. We also took a water bus instead of riding a gondola. We got out on the water and saved a ton!
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ZazzleEnchante
Nov 30, 2010 @ 3:26 am | delete
- Informative, interesting lens, with great pics. Loved reading it. Blessed by a SquidAngel.
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kimmanleyort
Aug 4, 2010 @ 8:19 am | delete
- Wonderful introduction to Venice, a very romantic city. Lensrolled to my Italy lenses.
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d-artist
Feb 17, 2010 @ 6:30 pm | delete
- wow this is great, I'm planning a trip to Italy...great information on this lens...5*
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kiwisoutback
Feb 17, 2010 @ 3:31 pm | delete
- Beautiful work, I'd love to visit this city, I've never been. I'm lensrolling this to my Italy posters lens.
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paulachen Feb 1, 2010 @ 5:37 pm | delete
- Great lens and love the pictures 5 stars
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LivingInParis
Jan 18, 2010 @ 5:38 pm | delete
- What a beautiful and informative review of Venice! I felt like I was there again.
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MysticTurtle
Dec 29, 2009 @ 10:41 am | delete
- I didn't think I'd like Venice. I'm not a water person, and I'd heard it smelled bad. But I loved it! And I didn't notice any smell. Unfortunately, we only had a day to spend there -- crazy, isn't it? I would love to go back.
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lakshyaa
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