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Venice is a dream world. A romantic city set on islands separated by canals and connected by bridges, it’s one of the most fascinating places in the entire world. It’s a place where there’s so much to see and do that it would take ages to finish everything, but it’s perfectly acceptable to just wander through the narrow streets and enjoy the atmosphere for your entire stay.
History
Venice gained fortune and power through commerce in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It was its own independent republic from 697 until May 12, 1797, when it fell to Napoleon. It was ceded to Austria later that year, became part of Napoleon’s Kingdom of Italy in 1805, and returned to Austrian rule in 1814, and united with Italy in 1866.
The city is made up of 118 island separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1987.
Train Stations
We arrived in Venice at Santa Lucia Railway Station on a 25 minute train ride from Padua. It’s located at the edge of the historic city in the Cannaregio district. The station provides direct service to cities such as Florence, Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples, Verona, Vicenza, Trieste, and Bologna. A second railway station is located at Mestre, which is the mainland district of Venice.
Airport
We left Venice from Marco Polo International Airport. It’s a modern yet crowded airport with several flights to major cities in Europe and the Middle East and seasonal flights to North America. The airport is connected to the historic city via vaporetto service (see below) or scheduled buses to and from Piazzale Roma. Buses can also get you to and from Mestre and the Mestre Railway Station as well as nearby cities such as Treviso.
Getting Around
You have two choices to get around Venice’s historic city – on foot or by boat. In fact, everything is done by boat including garbage pick-up, ambulance, and fire services. Bicycles are forbidden. We enjoyed walking around and even getting lost at times, but Venice is also too big of a city to be walking around in all the time.
The vaporetto service saves lots of time and is very convenient, dropping passengers off just a short walk from most attractions. The service also runs 24 hours with more limited frequency at night, and can take you to nearby islands such as Murano, Burano, Torcello, and Lido.
For the majority of tourists, the most economic option is to buy a time-limited ticket offering unlimited rides on the city’s entire public transport network (excluding trips to the airport and the People Mover). You can buy a ticket for 1, 2, 3, or 7 days costing €25, €35, €45, or €65 respectively (as of August 2023). This is far more convenient than paying a whopping €9.50 for a one-way ride. The tickets can be purchased online or at VeneziaUnica sales points and automated ticket machines in the city. To use the card, you must validate it by touching it to a machine each time before boarding the vaporetto.
VeneziaUnica
The VeneziaUnica City Pass is a card that allows for free or discounted entry into some of Venice’s biggest attractions as well as transportation, tours, wifi, and more. You can even skip the queues. It’s possible to purchase a pre-packaged card or build your own online. We decided not to purchase a card because many of the places we wanted to visit weren’t included.
Museum Pass
The Museum Pass is good for those who plan to visit several of the civic museums of Venice. It costs €41 (as of August 2023) and grants access to 12 of the city’s civic museums, including the Doge’s Palace (Palazzo Ducale), Ca’ Rezzonico, Ca’ Pesaro, Correr Museum (Museo Correr), the Glass Museum in Murano, the Lace Museum in Burano, and more. Again, we decided not to buy the pass because we didn’t plan on visiting any museums other than the Doge’s Palace.
Chorus Pass
Chorus Pass is a useful pass if you plan on visiting several of the historic churches in Venice. It covers 18 churches for just €14 (as of August 2023). Entrance to each church individually is €3.50. We didn’t buy this pass either because we only planned on visiting two of the churches on the list.
B&B Le Marie
We stayed at B&B Le Marie in Castello, just off Campo Santa Maria Formosa. It’s a cozy place with comfortable rooms near lots of good restaurants and attractions. We enjoyed our stay very much. It included a simple breakfast.
The only minor issue we had is there was no lift and we had to carry our heavy bags up three flights of stairs to get to our room. The views from our room were fantastic.
Money and Tipping
Venice is definitely not a cheap place to stay or eat. There are plenty of restaurants but you’ll most likely pay much more for a meal than in other Italian cities. Sometimes, the quality of the meal doesn’t justify the price. Also be prepared to dodge people trying to get you into their empty restaurants.
We had a few instances where the servers were rude when we didn’t leave a tip even if service and/or cover was included on the bill. In Italy, tipping isn’t customary. Don’t give in.
