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Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

what did you think to Venice?

29 replies

fishingfilly · 02/09/2010 15:14

have chance to go somewhere for 2 nights in Feb with DH.

Good flights to Venice from local airport...please sell it to me?

All we want is good hotel, good food and be able to enjoy each others company wandering around etc... ah life before the children Smile!!!

OP posts:
said · 02/09/2010 15:16

Loved it but food was shite/overpriced. We may have just been unlucky or too poor but that was not a good side of Venice for me. The rest is spectacular.

nameymcnamechange · 02/09/2010 15:18

I went last month, just for a day. We were on holiday nearby with the children.

Although it was boiling hot and packed to the rafters with tourists, I was absolutely enchanted with Venice. It was incredibly beautiful, unspoiled and atmospheric and very small so quite possible to get away from the really touristy areas very quickly.

I can't wait to go back for longer some time.

Original poster
fishingfilly · 02/09/2010 15:21

food was rubbish Shock

OP posts:
Alibabaandthe40nappies · 02/09/2010 15:23

We went for 3 nights on honeymoon and loved it!

We didn't find any brilliant food, but I was 5 weeks pregnant and very tired so we just had room service in our room overlooking the Grand Canal and ate delicious pizza during the day while we were out exploring.

It is beautiful, and so foreign that you can hardly believe you are still in Europe in some ways.

Do take a gondola ride, ours took us round little back canals and it was so interesting. The vaporettos are great though and very cheap.
We loved the Doges Palace, we went and looked at some of the glass factories on Murano as well and just generally wandered about. We are going to go back in about 10 years time and leave the children with my parents!

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 02/09/2010 15:25

fishing I think you have to look carefully for the good food. Head away from the main tourist areas and I think you will be fine.

We had eaten our way round Paris and Milan before we got to Venice, and as I say I was exhausted in the evenings so we only had one meal out really near the hotel. It was nice food, but not brilliant - it was more for the atmosphere because we were sat just down from the Rialto.
On another visit we would be more determined to find good restaurants!

AbsofCroissant · 02/09/2010 15:26

It is incredibly beautiful and interesting, and the advantage with feb is that it will be relatively tourist free.

But yes, the food is terrible. We found only two decent restaurants, one which is kosher in the ghetto area (so not typically Italian) and the other in some alley way somewhere behind the Piazza San Marco.

We stayed in this hotel which is on an island a bit further out - takes about 20 minutes to walk to the main tourist areas, or about 5 minutes by vaporetto. The hotel is FABO and we managed to get a cheap rate as it was outside of tourist season (end of Jan), so worth a try.

Original poster
fishingfilly · 02/09/2010 15:29

Shock Abs - hotel looks stunning!!!!

I need good food though, weve just had a uk holiday where we self catered and Im knackered and want this w-end to be fab with lovely wine and food!!!!

OP posts:
Alibabaandthe40nappies · 02/09/2010 15:32

here is where we stayed, it was amazing.

Fishing - go to Milan if you want to eat well without it costing seven arms and legs. We were spoilt for choice within the 500 yards around the hotel. Amazing, local food really well prepared and really friendly atmosphere.

rewardgirl · 02/09/2010 15:35

Venice is amazing. I've been around a bit, but Venice is one of the most beautiful places that I've been to. Looks like you've just stumbled onto a painting or film set - it's stunning.
I went in Feb too - was lovely - not as many tourists, not as cold as here, canals weren't smelly (as I understand they get quite smelly in the summer heat), and there was this atmospheric fog most mornings which made our photos look very ethereal - we've framed a couple.
We found a decent cheap hotel, but the food was v expensive. There were also a few places that were closed seeing as it was out of season, but nothing of importance that I remember being inconvenienced by.
Deffo go - it should be on everyone's bucket list. Just fantastic.

ElbowFan · 02/09/2010 15:36

We flew to Marco Polo airport (in March when snow remained piled up at the side of the runway!), took the water bus from there into Venice, staying at the Best Western not far from St Marks. (Hotel unremarkable but so very well located) There were a number of nearby backstreet restaurants offering very reasonably priced tasty food. Lots of coffee shops offering cakes and pastries to accompany your coffeee/ hot chocolate when you need a warm-up. Venice is lovely at that time of year as it is not heaving with tourists. Take the 'circolare' water bus around the islands of Murano and Burano, getting off to explore the little shops for glass, embroidery, lace etc as well as investigating all the usual sights - St Marks, Bridge of sighs, Rialto...
I so envy you!!!!

said · 02/09/2010 16:14

We went in Feb as well and I thought it was a great time to go. Really really cold but bright and sunny and not too full.

AbsofCroissant · 02/09/2010 16:16

When we went it was also very sunny (for the first two days, then tons and tons of snow hit - remember snow day 2009? We were in Venice) and during the day I was walking around in a t-Shirt

Callisto · 02/09/2010 16:21

Venice is utterly, enchantingly beautiful. It can be smelly in the summer and always rammed with tourists at that time of year. February would be a great time to go I should think.

Pollyanna · 02/09/2010 16:21

love it - we were there last week. Also have been there a few other times, including on my honeymoon. agree that you need alot of money to get a good hotel and good food, money doesn't go as far there. We stayed at the Cipriani for our honeymoon - fantastic!

stayed somewhere very different last week (with dcs!).

InmyheadIminParis · 02/09/2010 16:22

We went in Feb too - fantastic time of year to go, especially if you're there for the carnival. I second what everyone's said about the food - not great and pricey, but believe me, you're not going to care about what you're eating when you're in a city which has to be one of the most spectacularly beautiful places in the world.

Venice absolutely outshines all expectations. Don't hesitate - go!

Oh and if you head into a local bar / bakers at about 5.30pm and order a Spritz they'll give you a few tasty little nibbles to eat with it (tappas style)... the best food we found in Venice...

RunLyraRun · 02/09/2010 16:26

It's magical. As others have said, like being on a film set. My favourite time was in the evening, when the day trippers have left: because there are no vehicles it is then just SILENT and you have this crazily beautiful city on water to yourself. Unmissable, in my view.

Agree about the food, but did find one good place - will try to figure out what it was called and will post again.

kreecherlivesupstairs · 03/09/2010 08:25

I am very envious, we went a couple of years ago around August. It was heaving with people, very hot and super expensive. We were camping at the end of Venice airports runway, so noisy too. As far as food goes, we found a couple of places that were pretty good, pasta and pizza was what we mainly ate because DD is pretty unadventurous. I would love to go back, and probably will next year. Fingers crossed.

nameymcnamechange · 03/09/2010 12:10

Kreecher - I noticed that campsite when we were on the bus from the airport to our campsite (about an hour away). I did think Hmm about camping quite so close to the airport! But there seemed to be plenty of people there.

kreecherlivesupstairs · 03/09/2010 12:17

Namey, we only went there because there was a swimming pool for DD. It was full of crusty back packers and a really aggressive man from Belfast who kept throwing a ball at one of his sonsShock. DD loved it (not the ball throwing) and she saw hail for the first time.

nameymcnamechange · 03/09/2010 12:27

Yes, the weather can be wild up there can't it? One night we had a thunderstorm that went on for hours with amazing dramatic forked lightening covering the whole sky.

BerryLellow · 03/09/2010 12:31

I went when pg with DS1, it was nice and I'm glad to have been but probably wouldn't go back. Agree with food comments, anywhere easily accessible is pretty horrid. I know from hearing others talk that there's nicer restaurants off the beaten track.

We stayed on the Lido island which was nice and quiet with it's own bus service

SuzieHomemaker · 03/09/2010 13:35

I'm afraid I am going to be Nelly Negative.

We went a few years ago but wouldnt bother again. I think I missed the magic. It probably didnt help that we lived in the Netherlands at the time so the whole canal thing for us ws 'so what'.

I have heard that the attitude in northern Italy is that service is what gets in the way between the food and the money.

For me there are many other places I would rather go.

coffeeinbed · 03/09/2010 13:45

I fully expected to find it overhyped and touristy but fell in love.
Went in Feb as well and there was almost no one on the streets and we had St Marks square to ourselves one evening.
I

aquavit · 03/09/2010 13:50

I love love love Venice.

The food is indeed the big potential pitfall. Do a bit of research in advance and you might be able to pinpoint a decent restaurant or two near to where you're staying. BUT there is another solution: instead of going to one place for a big meal in the evening, go to the enotecas (wine bars) and try out the little snacks (cicchetti), a bit like tapas, that most of them serve. They are almost invariably DELICIOUS and you can eat very well and pretty cheaply (depending on how greedy you are!) this way. And you get to drink gorgeous wine at the same time.

The classic way to do this is to go on a bit of a bar crawl and eat the most delicious things in each bar...

The Rough Guide has some good advice on this and there's also lots of stuff on the web.

have a wonderful trip!

Bunbaker · 04/09/2010 08:07

I loved Venice. I had low expectations because so many people had said it was smelly and scruffy, but was blown away by how beautiful it was. The fact that so many of the buildings are shabby just adds charm to the place. We ate well, but that may be because we didn't eat in any obviously touristy areas.

Do take the circulaire vaporetto as it takes you all the way round Venice. You can also visit Murano and Burano. Take rainproof coats as well because when it rains it lashes down and St Marks Square gets flooded (so take boots as well).

Personally I wouldn't go in February as it is just too cold for me (we went in October), but as long as you wrap up I'm sure you will be fine.

One more thing - beware of pickpockets. Venice is notorious for them, especially on the vaporettos. I didn't bother with a handbag and wore a jacket with secure inside pockets and a bumbag.

Have a lovely time.