Post GCSE trip to Venice for the Day?

[Seymour45]

Hi all, DD wants to do a daytrip in a day post GCSEs, preferably to Venice. Is this 'a thing'? I hear it is... love to hear your thoughts

Wowzers, in a day? Why wouldn’t you stay over? You would spend 80% of the day travelling.

A day trip to Venice! I wouldn’t bother going all that way for one day! Not with the cost of flights you may aswell make a full mini break out of it.

I’ve seen this sort of thing quite a lot lately - day trips to European cities. It’s obviously doable but I wouldn’t do it. I just don’t like rushing about. I prefer to stay two or three nights for a city break. Gives you a chance to see everything at a leisurely pace, try out different restaurants etc. Each to their own though.

Depends how close you are to an airport op. I've done a few extreme day trips but Venice is somewhere l think you need an overnight stay

if I was going to do a day trip, it needs to be a journey to somewhere that doesn’t take up loads of the day! Amsterdam?!

Have you travelled to Europe before? Say you had an 8 am flight. By the time you got through the airport etc and were in the centre of Venice it would be 12 at the earliest. If you had an 8 pm flight you would need to start making your way to the airport at 5 pm.

Customs and immigration would probably think you were drug mules ! 😆

The new EU entry and exit system is making day trips less doable for UK passport holders. At the moment you never know if you'll be through in ten minutes or two hours. But that aside, Venice isn't best choice for a day trip. Personally I would pick somewhere accessible via Eurostar but that does depend where you live.

OK thanks all this is super helpful. Think we will stay over. Any tips on Venice in as little time as possible? Thanks

I think it’s a thing but wouldn’t be much fun doing it to Venice. You’d need a very early flight , 6am, then there’s the EES system which is unpredictable but might add considerable time to the journey. She’d need to get from the airport to the area where the water buses go. You’d probably have about 6-7 hours max before heading back to the airport for a very late flight back. Better to have a weekend there once exams are over.

Paris is more achievable in a day just because the Eurostar takes you into the centre.

You could do it but would be better to stay over. You would need to get something like 6am flight from Stansted to Venice Marco Polo (takes 2 hours) and one back at 7pm. From Marco Polo you can get a boat into Venice which is beautiful and then easy to spend day walking round, going on boat round, cafes etc. Though would need to be at Stansted by 4am so it would be a very long day.

How much time is ‘as little as possible’? Are the constraints getting time off for the adults, or money?

Venice is perfect for a quick trip. It’s all walkable. We got a private boat transfer to our hotel in Rialto and then just walked everywhere.

What sort of thing is she interested in?

I don't even think that's possible - surely the flight back to your local airport would be the one you just came in on?

Constraints are time and money as I have 4 other children but don't want it to be too rushed and stressful. She will love the scenery, lunch on the canals, a bit of sightseeing, having fun etc.. We live near Stansted which is a good thing. I am wondering if we spend 1 or max 2 nights there. From the airport what is the best and prettiest route into Venice/ St Marks Square

From the airport you must get a private motor taxi. It's a bit more expensive than the regular boat, but it's spectacular and the most amazing treat. You can book in advance, or quite a lot of the hotels will book it for you (try Hotel al Codega for a typical Venetian small hotel, good location, fantastic breakfast!).

How far are you from your local airport?
Where do they fly to?
Are there multiple flights to any locations?

Palma Majorca would be an easy one, usually loads of flights usually an early and a night one.
6am flight, bus to Palma, lunch, wander around, beach, 10pm flight home.

Venice is a faff, you've got to get a boat from the airport, even an overnight would be pushing it depending on flight times.

Thank you all so much. It seems to be a trend on Tiktok apparently to go to Venice for the day post GCSEs! Thanks for the tips keep them coming

Assuming you can’t get time off midweek I’d go Friday evening, spend Friday and Saturday nights in Venice then early evening flight back Sunday. You could do three sights Saturday, one of the islands Sunday morning and possibly one more sight Sunday early Sunday afternoon. Book thinks like St Marks in advance though! And allow a couple of hours just sitting on the vaporettos (I think there are tourist cards which give you unlimited vaporetto journeys in 24 hours).

The single day trip could work for a group of young people who enjoy being together and the rush of it.

I did similar - early coach, day somewhere, late coach back in that age and it was great.

I wouldn't enjoy it now.

I think there are easier cities to do in a day - we are holidaying in Italy for a week in the summer and my dd has mentioned Venice (likely social media inspired too) but even I am dubious due to the faff of getting there and back (around an hr from where we will be) in high summer heat. Paris or Amsterdam perhaps?

I think Venice seems to be a bit of a Tiktok teen destination and I heard about a hype about going there post exams for lunch.. crazy!

Venice can be extremely expensive so if cost is an issue might be worth looking at other cities? Last time we went we were delayed 6 hours which really ate into our free time.

Venice is beautiful and if you’re sensible, absolutely doesn’t have to cost loads! Can you go for a few days? It’s deffo beautiful and worth a few days.

My boyfriend did an extreme day trip to Copenhagen, including a park run. He loved it haha
I don’t have that much energy and would prefer to stay over 🤣🤣🤣

It does seem rather silly of you to be indulging this tbh - Venice is one of the most amazing cities in the world imo, totally wasted if all you do is a few hours in a day to satisfy a fucking TikTok trend.