Venice recommendations please

[TeeBee]

I'm just about to book a 4-day break in Venice for myself and my partner for the first week in September. Neither of us has been before. Can I have recommendations for the best locations to stay for easy access to attractions/restaurants? Any recommendations for activities and best restaurants would be welcomed too.

I can highly recommend having a boating lesson on the canals and in the lagoon! It was a lot of fun. It was run by a co-operative - all the instructors were female, and most spoke English. Bear with me and I'll find the company name.

https://rowvenice.org/rv-venetian-rowing-lessons/

I've just seen you can now do a cichetti row! (with snacks, basically)

I'd also recommend the Peggy Guggenheim collection, and a nose around that beautiful department store that I can remember the name of - it'll come to me!

Stay on the island if budget allows, close to San Marco (though its pretty much all walking distance on the island) otherwise if you stay on the mainland/Mestre you'll be doing a train and/or water bus journey every day in to see the sights which for 4 days will become tiresome. Venice is (obviously) busy and the main sights are best seen in the morning and evening before/ after the cruise and day-trippers arrive.

There recently and stayed close to Rialto bridge. This has the benefit of being very close to the action, while being able to cross to the other side of the bridge where things were quieter/slightly cheaper.
I'd stay there again in a heartbeat.
Boringly, I'd recommend taking a gondola ride and also a trip to Murano.
There is also a super bookshop full of cats.

The best activity is getting lost! Turning a corner and finding a little square with a church and a bar where locals drink, then finding yourself in exactly the same place ten minutes later coming in from a completely different angle even though you were sure you knew where you were going!

Read some of the Brunetti detective novels by Donna Leon, he is Venetian, she used to live there but doesn’t anymore, but you really get the low down of being a Venetian so where to eat, when to drink coffee, when to drink alcohol, what to eat! You will forget it all when you go there and go and drink the worlds most expensive hot chocolate in Florian’s like a proper tourist.

it’s an amazing city.

Dorsoduro is quieter than San Marco, go to the Ghetto, the Arsenale and just wander round. Cannregio is good for smaller restaurants, get a boat to the islands.

Get the water bus (Vaporetto) down the Grand Canal. It costs peanuts and the views are staggering.

We stayed here
https://www.sansimeonapartments.it/
over looking the water- unbeatable location, ideal for a romantic few days away! However you have to collect the keys from their hotel nr the train station!

Amazing recommendations. Thanks so much everyone.

We stayed in the Tribute to Music hotel. It was gorgeous

If the weather is good it is worth a day trip to Lido for the beach.

I second going to Canareggio - some lovely restaurants, bars, cafes there. Sitting on the steps of a bridge with a cocktail on a moonlit evening is magical.

And I love Torcello - it's just beyond Burano and is green and emptier, with a very old basilica with a 12th century Last Judgement mosaic, plus a bell tower you can walk up to look out across the lagoon. It's one of my favourite places in the world.

Finally, if you happen to like jazz the Venice Jazz Club is brilliant!

The Peggy Guggenheim is wonderful - I'm not hugely into or knowledgable about art but it remains one of my favourite places in the world. There is just something about the building and the location and the light.

Watch the Rick Stein TV show Venice to Istanbul, some great restaurant recommendations, we went to a few and loved them.

rickstein.com/blog/rick-stein-from-venice-to-istanbul-episode-one-friday-7th-august/

I second Row Venice, it was a really fun experience and much cheaper than a gondola ride, but you got to row yourself down the canals! Really memorable.

I'd also highly recommend Interpreti Veneziani concerts. Going to a Vivaldi concert in a church in Venice is such a totally touristy thing to do that I had my doubts, but they played really well and with great engagement. You got no impression that they play the same music all the time. I'd do it again.

Other than that, just walk around all the sestiere. They're all very different in character and very enjoyable.

I took my daughter in June. Stayed in dorsodurro area - not far on the vaporetti to rialto/san Marco and you can see the sights as you go! Got the alilaguna from the airport to our b&b - venice is fabulous!

We stayed in Cannaregio, in a modest little Airbnb near the ghetto, and liked it very much — apart from the main street, it was fairly quiet and felt low-key. It was my first time in Venice, and I was expecting all shopkeepers, waiters etc to be jaded and hardbitten from tourists, but I thought everyone was friendly and very sweet to our son. We avoided the Piazzo San Marco area entirely. I’m mad for art, and caught the end of the Biennale, so was in heaven, and we did a lot of just wandering and trekking around on the vaporetti. We loved Burano and Torcello, and I really liked Isola San Michele, the cemetery island where Stravinsky, Diaghilev and others are buried.

Get a very cheap gondola ride with the locals! Go to the fish market and you can take a crossing from there on a proper gondola for a couple of euro. It’s used by Venetians to go back and forth.

Not read all the messages but I found on here a recommendation www.dfs.com/en/venice/mobile/service/rooftop-terrace to view Venice for free. Via an exclusive shopping complex.
I had to go on every day to book. It's about 15 min time slot but amazing views.

If you haven't already booked accommodation or anyone looking, I booked Cà Paola Cozy Venice Apartment via Booking.com and it was perfect. Would recommend to anyone going to Venice. We stayed 2 adults and child and could not have asked for better.

I recommend going on a guided tour around the Jewish quarter. It was fascinating and you see the synagogues which are not usually open to the public. Also agree that Torcello is magical.

Dorsoduro area. Near the Accademia bridge if possible as then you have easy access to the centre without being in the thick of it. And good restaurants there too. We loved Taverna san Trovaso and Al Vecio.

We went to a classical concert in the Chiesa di San Vidal which was wonderful.

Definitely an airbnb or other rental rather than hotel, you’ll get more space and there’s plenty of places to get breakfast.

Thank you, you wonderful lot! I have booked an AirBnB in the Dorsoduro. Can't wait! I'm concerned that 4 days won't be enough to cover all of the places I want to visit.

Thank you! My partner has booked us onto a food tour in the Jewish Ghetto.