2 nights / 3 days VENICE

[Crackery]

Pls give me your tip tips!

Just DH and I

Want 5 star luxury on 3 star budget!!

Have enjoyed a cycle tour on a city tour in the past....?

A wee bump

We stayed in an AirBnB rather than a hotel - got a lovely balcony over a canal and so got to pretend we were romantic residents there.

If you fly Ryanair last of the big spenders you arrive in Treviso and get the train in. The train journey is fun for the arrival crossing the lagoon and the station literally being on the Grand Canal.

If there are things you really really want to do eg Doge's Palace, ST Marks book everything online in advance or you will spend ages in a hot queue. I'd also suggest spending as little time in San marco as possible as most of the cruise ship people simple go there and no further and it is mega crowded and unpleasant. The crowds disappear just by moving a street away.

For 3 days I suggest a trip out on the vaporetto to the lagoon islands of Torcello and Burano (Murano is a bit cheesy and full of shops selling glass made in china)

Instead of paying ££££ for a gondola ride you can have a cheap trip standing on one to cross the Grand Canal - it's 2 minutes but you have been on a gondola.

Get coffee and cicchetti from the many stands around Venice - best coffee we ever had and only 2euro

You can eat v badly v easily for a lot of money in Venice - if food is important to you, you have to research before you go. Luckily there are loads of food blogs and articles and we had great food almost every meal.

We had a fabulous meal at La Zucca. It is a veggie restaurant but neither of us is veggie but it was amazing! Not too pricey either. But do book

@AnnaMagnani Food IS important... and money IS tight... so do you have particular places to recommend?

The food isn't great in Venice IME.

There is a supermarket on Strada Nova - we bought lovely prosecco from there for a few euros for pre-evening drinks.

Do not under any circumstances eat pizza in Venice then There are a very very few places with wood ovens but generally nowhere has proper pizza ovens due to the fire risk. It's not a Venetian food. Despite this Tripadvisor is full of daytrippers pushing pizza places up the ratings with 'best pizza ever!!!!'

Good restaurants feel v strongly about Venetian food. We watched a waiter refuse to seat an American couple who ask if they did carbonara. No, he told them, not Venetian and they could get out

I would recommend Osteria Al Squero for cicchetti as it's a nice location opposite one of the last places gondolas are made.

Go and have a risotto di go on Burano, there are some lovely restaurants there.

We stayed in Castello and there are a heap of v nice restaurants all together - CoVino, Al Covo, Osteria ae Spezie, Corte Sconta plus more. Had a lot more trouble when we stayed in Dorsoduro - much less choice and food not as good.

@AnnaMagnani Hilarious! Mental note not to ask for carbonara! Thank you for the tips.