Venice, Italy Travel Guide
Why Venice?
Venice is the perfect spot for a vacation. It is very famous, and with good reason! Venice is simply enchanting, with unique architecture, great food, spectacular tourist attractions and of course the world-famous canals.
Food in Venice
Venice is perfect for foodies. A combination of being in Italy and being a popular tourist destination has resulted in numerous fantastic places to eat in Venice, all with delicious food. The gelato is plentiful and delicious. For anybody in the mood for pasta, Alfredo’s is the place to go. Alfredo’s sells fresh pasta to take away. The pasta is delicious, reasonably priced and made in the shop. Alternatively, Antico Forno is a small pizza shop that sells hot pizza by the slice. There are lots of different types of pizza, and freshly made pizzas are constantly coming out of the kitchen into the display case. However, it is a small shop and there is no seating inside. For a more formal dining experience, try Riviera. Riviera is a top-notch restaurant that specialises in seafood and has stunning views of the waterfront from their outdoor seating section. Otherwise, Impronta Café has attentive staff and fantastic Italian cuisine. Both Riviera and Impronta Café were awarded the Tripadvisor Certificate of Excellence this year.
Attractions in Venice
During the day Venice has plenty of attractions for sightseers. Saint Mark’s Square (Piazzetta di San Marco) is a large area filled with tourists and pigeons. It is the perfect spot for people watching and home to the statue of the Lion of Venice. The winged lion is the symbol of the city of Venice and can be seen represented throughout the city. At the edge of the square is St Mark’s Basilica. It is an awe-inspiring, beautiful building which will be stunning no matter what your religious beliefs. The Doge’s Palace, located nearby, is a grand Gothic style building with fantastic paintings on the walls and ceilings. Admission also includes crossing the famous Bridge of Sighs, written about by Lord Byron, to the prison cells on the other side of the canal.
More things to do in Venice: The Grand Canal
The Grand Canal is the biggest canal in Venice, and goes more or less down the middle of Venice. Take a ride down the canal on the Vaporetto and you will see numerous fantastic buildings and tourist attractions. Keep an eye out for the Rialto Bridge! Venice is also home to many museums, including the remarkable Peggy Guggenheim Collection.
More things to do in Venice: Gondola Ride
No trip to Venice is complete without a ride on one of the iconic gondolas. Explore the small canal passageways where the Vaporetto can’t go, and experience all Venice has to offer. For a romantic trip, there is also the option of a night time gondola ride with a singing gondolier. For a budget gondola trip there is the option to share a ride with strangers and pay a fee per person. A small booth on the waterfront near the Plaza of Saint Marco offers this service. This is a cheaper option per person for solo travellers or couples, though it is not worth the cost for larger groups.
More things to do in Venice: Day trip to Murano and Burano
A popular day trip from Venice is to Murano, famed for its beautiful Murano glass. There are many fascinating glassblowing demonstrations to see how it is made, as well as large glass sculptures on the streets. The masterpieces in some galleries are out of most people’s budgets, but are still amazing to look at. From Murano a boat also goes to Burano, a small island with lots of handmade lace and gorgeous coloured houses. Nearly every house on the island is painted a bright colour such as pink, purple, blue, green or yellow.
Night life
At night the city of Venice comes alive, with numerous bars. Jazz Bars in particular are very popular, with notable examples including the Venice Jazz Club, Bacaro Jazz and Margaret Duchamp.
Getting Around Venice
Travel within Venice is mainly by boat. The water buses, Vaporetto, come frequently. It is advised you buy a pass for the Vaporetto because paying for each individual trip adds up very quickly. Alternative means of transport include water taxis and the traghetti, which are small boats that take you from one side of the Grand Canal to the other. Walking is also possible, as there are small streets that link up to bridges to cross the canals.
Traveling to Venice
Getting to Venice is straightforward. Although Venice itself has an airport, for a long distance flights, it may work out cheaper to purchase a ticket to an airport in Rome and then either take another flight to Venice or take a high-speed train. Trenitalia runs a frequent train service between Rome and Venice which takes approximately three and a half hours. The price of the train ticket increases the closer it gets to the departure date.
Venice is a fantastic city to go for a memorable holiday because of all it has to offer in terms of beauty, architecture and tourist attractions. The memories of a trip to this stunning city will last for many years.
