Venice Things To Do

Most tourist destinations have what are thought of as high and low tourist seasons, but Venice seems to be popular pretty much year-round. Still, there are a few benefits to visiting in the slower seasons – which, in Venice, includes part of the spring. The calendar generally says spring runs from March-May, but those few months vary widely in Venice. If you’re headed to Venice in Spring, here’s what you can expect.

For many travelers, Venice itself is a day trip from elsewhere – but if you’re spending several days in Venice itself, you may be looking for day trip options in the area. Here are some of the best day trip options from Venice.

For most visitors, a trip to Venice would not be complete without a journey along its famous waterways. Yet navigating the canals of Venice (and their boatmen) can be a surprisingly complicated affair. The options are endless: you can take a vaporetto which, much like a city bus, jumps from stop to stop along the Grand Canal or you can sign up for a boat tour on a large, flat-bottomed vessel. Our two favorite options, however, are to take to the water on a gondola and water taxi.

Anyone can tell you what to do in Venice – get lost, visit the St Mark’s Basilica, take a gondola ride, yadda yadda yadda. When you hear people talk about Venice, however, it’s all love or hate – there’s very little in-between. How can one city inspire such diametrically opposing feelings? It’s simple: there’s as much value in knowing what not to do in Venice as there is in knowing what to do.

In the lagoon of Venice are a number of significant islands, one of which is Murano, home to the glass making industry for which the city is famous.

One of the iconic visions across the water in Venice is the Salute Church with its gleaming white dome.

Santa Maria della Salute means Saint Mary of Health and this church was built in thanks to the Virgin for the ending of the 1630-1 plague that had killed one-third of the Venetian population. The church was finished in 1687. The design has many homages to the Virgin Mary – the dome represents her crown, the eight sides are the eight points in her star…

Venice, La Serenissima, city of more than 150 canals, narrow streets, and wrought-iron bridges connecting over 117 islands. City of masks and gondolas, beauty and romance, wonderful artwork, elegant mansions, exquisite glassware and lace. Maritime capital of the medieval world, home to famous merchants and clandestine meetings in alleyways. This crumbling city on water is like nowhere else on earth, and is one of the world’s most visited tourist destinations. It has to be seen to be truly appreciated, so here are some tips for making the most out of your trip to enchanting Venice.

As you head up the Grand Canal on a vaporetto, you might catch sight of a modern villa crouching between all the historic palazzo. This was the home of Peggy Guggenheim, a wealthy American art patron and collector and Venice personality until her death in 1979. She was the last person to keep a private gondola and gondolier in Venice.

After her plans to open a gallery in London and Paris were scuppered by the outbreak of the WWII, she used the money to buy art by avant-garde artists in Paris.

Venice is one of the cheaper cities to visit in Italy. This may sound strange given how expensive it is to stay within the historic center of Venice itself, but in terms of seeing the sights of the city, much of it can be done for free because the best thing about Venice is walking and discovering, and also the views along canals and across the lagoon. Here are some options and tips for discovering the free experiences in Venice.
There is something lovely around just about every corner in Venice.

If you think today’s political scene is dirty and tangled you should have lived in Venice back in its heyday. For centuries Venice was controlled by the Council of Ten who were led by the Doge – a leader who was elected by an incredibly complex system of secret ballots from the Grand Council of over one thousand men, a system even more convoluted then electing a Pope.