Venice - visit for 2 hours ( with kids )

[schooling123]

Which guided tours up to 2 hours are good for families with children 7 and 10 years old? Thanks. Also car parking - where near the city is it posdible to park?

We did a boat tour of the islands when we were there instead of going on a gondola. It was a lovely trip.

I would do a boat tour as well, a trip on the Grand Canal or something like that - Venice is best admired from the water IMO!

When are you going? I mean it's always packed around St Mark's Square etc - you could try the quieter canals and have gelato etc. It can get so hot there in summer, I wouldn't want to walk around with kids (I've tried).

There is parking on the outskirts of the centre - we had a taxi pick us up from somewhere not too far out - but I can't remember where, sorry.

There is car parking near the Venice Mestre train station then you could pick up one of the frequent trains into the main station Santa Lucia from there - it's a very quick journey and the exit from Santa Lucia is probably the most beautiful in the world with its positioning on the Grand Canal. Mestre is on the mainland & where a lot of Venetians live. Just to clarify though - are you looking for a tour that lasts 2 hours or are you looking to visit for 2 hours and see all the sights? If it's the latter that's madness - Venice is heaving with tourists, it's all alleyways not straight lines & you'll cover little in that time period. If you want just a snapshot, pick up a vaporetto down to St Marks square. If it's a 2 hour tour then there's bound to be loads - see what they have on Viator & Tripadvisor. The 3 island boat trip mentioned above does take longer than 2 hours (you buy tickets from a booth just a bit further down from the Bridge of Sighs). I've taken both my DDs on it over the years and it's fine although Burano is the only one I 'd revisit - I found the glass blowing on Murano a bit dull

I am just looking for a snapshot, just staying at camp near Venice ad want to use an opportunity to visit Venice. I think if tgere is a guide for 2 hours, tgen it could give us a quick insight into history, culture...

And as a quick ps 're PPs observation - visited in summer a couple of times over the years with my DC (last June we clocked up 23,000 steps in just a day). My DC are pretty hardy and used to a lot of walking & traipsing around but Venice is unpleasantly rammed in summer & can be hard going however how many ice creams you bribe the kids with - out of season Venice is much nicer!

We normally stay in Venice but once we took the children in by car and parked here then gone the vaporetto in (waterbus).

www.veneziaunica.it/en/content/if-you-arrive-tronchetto-parking-terminal

Never used a tour in Venice - its quite compact and easy to do by yourself. It's well worth getting day vaporetto tickets so you can go round Venice on it - in 2 hours you won't have time to do the islands like Burano but that's well worth it for when you have longer.

I would just get the vaporetto round, go to Rialto and potter down streets from there, quick look in St Marks Square, grab an ice cream - never done these but maybe one of these tours might work if you really want a tour:
www.st-marks-basilica.com/

If you have longer would take vaporetto to Murano, Burano but that's more a whole day than 2 hours or half a day.

Go there by train, it's fab arriving across the lagoon.

Vaporetto 1 goes round the Grand Canal and you will see loads. Then you can easily mooch around San Marco by yourselves.

There are not so much tour guides walking around Venice as it is so crowded as in attractions - tours of the Doge's Palace are excellent.

Also good to take the vaporetto out to the lagoon islands of Burano and Torcello - personally I would skip Murano as it's much busier than the other two and full of trashy shops selling definitely not Venetian glass.

Why only two hours op? I really don't think you would enjoy it in such a rush

Thank you. Decided to postpone thr trip till May when it is cooler