Whoop ! Booked Venice. Roll up and critique my itinerary please

[DaphneDeloresMoreheadRidesOn]

Am travelling 23/10 - 27/10 (late flight home) with DD13. She likes sights but she doesn't want too much "boring history" so I keep the plans light 😀

Monday - Arrive 0905 Marco Polo 23/10. We are staying near San Stae vaparetto stop and will get the water bus from the airport. We are staying here https://abnb.me/0B1NXoz5zCb.
First day go to the market for food shopping (we will do a bit of self catering mixed with restaurants) then head out to St Mark's Basilica (and the terrace for midday to see the clock figures chiming), giardini reali, the clock tower to go inside the clock and museo de La musica. (Dd is an aspiring classical flautist with orchestra ambitions and also plays the viola so will be very interested in this museum)

Tuesday - start early with Row Venice, self guided tour of the Ghetto and general wandering about, drinking of wine and eating of snacks. then head to Murano for some lunch and the afternoon where we hope to do glassblowing, visit Simone Cenedese gallery and find the blue comet sculpture . Take vaparetto ride through grand Canal after we get back

Wednesday - a chilled morning on Burano and Torcello as Dd loves being out in the fresh air then back via Murano to collect our glass then wander around Dursoduro taking in Ca Macana mask place and the gondola boatyard. Vivaldi concert at the Vivaldi church in the evening

Thursday - start early at Doges Palace secret itinerary tour, Fondaco roof terrace, then just spend the afternoon soaking up the city before our 2140 flight
Does this sound doable, too much ? We like to take our time and factor in plenty of gardens and coffee stops

It sounds lovely - would suggest factoring in a fair amount of time for just wandering - although you think you're prepared for the what the city will look like it's hard to describe just how gorgeous it actually is! You only need to step two minutes away from the main square for it to feel quite tranquil.

Be wary of the restaurants - we found them generally over-priced and poor quality - there must be exceptions so perhaps we were just unlucky? Some of the supermarkets have suprisingly good and cheap deli/takeaway counters and there are some good bakeries.

You may struggle to pack all that in. The doges palace secret tour was amazing. Coffee at florians is an obscenely expensive must. It is quite a long trip to burano - lace making museum is really interesting, much longer than I anticipated. Murano I could have wandered around all day, especially the glassmaking museum. There’s also a naval museum that I really wanted to see but it was closed when we were there. And make sure to time a trip
along the grand canal for just around sunset to get photos in incredible light.

Totally jealous! Have an amazing time.

I love Venice! You’ll have a great time with DD. We took our 13yo and she enjoyed every minute.

We also stayed near to San Stae and found it a great area to be - outside of the crowded areas but not too far from anything. Sorry if I’ve misinterpreted, but if you land at 9:05, I’m not sure you’ll have time to get to your Airbnb, go shopping for food and get to the Basilica terrace for midday. We found that somehow all walks to and from places took double the Google Maps prediction and it’s not nice to rush in such a beautiful place. Have you already bought timed Basilica tickets online? It’s a short queue past security if so, and a long wait if not. The queue will go down to the waterfront.

Do have a drink/lunch in Florian’s. It’s expensive but worth it!

You’ll probably want to have a casual mosey along the high-end shops from the square to the Music Museum, so plan time for that.

Tues - Row Venice is awesome! Such good fun. Hotel Heureka is on the canal where you’ll meet your rowing teacher. It has a lovely little garden where you can have drinks and snacks if you’re parched before or after your lesson.

Wed - I think it’ll be a rush doing the islands and then heading south to Dorsoduro. I had planned something similar and had to abandon it and re-jig the itinerary as we just couldn’t get there in time.

The Vivaldi concert is fantastic (DD also plays violin and viola). Pop into the bar of the Danieli Hotel next door for fancy cocktail/mocktails afterwards. DD13 loved this!

On your last day, instead of the shopping centre rooftop, why not cross to the San Giorgio Maggiore island after the Doges Palace (line 2 from right outside, I think). There you can go up the tower and have a great view, there’s also a maze but you have to book that 24hrs in advance. You can catch line 2 again and cross over to Zattere (have gelato at Nico’s!) and then explore Dorsoduro then. You’ll be right by the gondola workshop.

If you can splurge, a private water taxi from the airport was a real highlight for us. Zooming out of the airport with the wind in our hair was a great experience, and shutting off the power as you glide into the most magical city on Earth was priceless.

Have fun!

Thanks @RatSalad, great tips. How long would you say it takes to get into the city ? We will only have hand luggage so will just be straight out of the airport.
I've already rejigged my islands onto one day; going to start early in Torcello, lunch and lace in Burano then a late glass blowing activity and a bit of window shopping on murano and back to the city early evening.
much prefer your island and maze tip to the shop, we aren't big shoppers at all so couldn't care less about going in the fancy shop with the view !
I haven't bought any tickets yet so the whole itinerary is up for grabs. I was going to be tight and just buy. 24hr vaparetto but I think it will be worth spending the extra to give us a second day of flexibility

Crumbs, hotel Danieli looks Wow 🤩
just our sortie of thing

I too think your first morning isn't going to work, by the time you get out of the airport etc it's going to be 10, even with hand luggage (remember there will be passport control too). If you're just getting a scheduled water taxi they're every half hour or so? I do remember we'd just missed one so had to wait half an hour, then the journey, then finding your lodgings etc, - that all sounds not really doable for noon.

A private taxi is a good shout, it's £££££ but will be quicker.

The private taxi is convenient but also rather lovely as a way to arrive, so felt like part of the holiday.
Torcello is magical but a long journey.
We booked a guided tour of the synagogues in the Ghetto. Really glad we did as that was one of our highlights.

This sounds fabulous and what a fantastic city break for you both

I'm definitely adding this to my list

Thanks @LaviniasBigBloomers , it's no biggie, we will just shunt it round to another day. I saw on a blog that midday is thr best time for the terrace as you get a fab soundscape of all the city bells

Sounds like a fab itinerary! Can recommend stopping into small bars for Cicchetti for lunch - quick and tasty!

Sounds amazing, but I also don't think you've left enough time for how long it takes to get from place to place. Have you been before? Do you know where to go or will you be looking at maps and signs to find your way?
The actual best part for me was heading towards St Marks Square from Rialto, getting totally lost and then St Marks square suddenly appearing from a completely unexpected side and taking half an hour instead of the suggested ten mins. Not great though if you have a tour booked!
It will likely be busy (we were there in April and it was busy), so queuing for vaporettos and boats also take in time, so hopping over to Murano took twice as long as we expected, not helped by getting lost the second we arrived there too.
As someone above mentioned, the vaporettos from the airport are approx once every half hour, there is also a humungous walk to the vaporetto stop (probably 20 mins but felt like hours!) and the journey itself is around an hour.
I would consider the water taxi and maybe drop something else to save some money.
I am very envious, I would go back to Venice in a heartbeat, I loved it so much.

I absolutely loved the Peggy Guggenheim gallery - definitely worth visiting if you like art.

Other than that, I could easily have spent the whole day in St Marks. Not least because the queue to get in was about two hours long. Your day 1 itinerary sounds much too full.

Also, just practically, are you able to get into your apartment that early or were you just planning to drop bags (are you allowed drop bags?)?
Might impact your food shopping if you can't get in.

Good point !

so the Must Dos for me are

the islands including Torcello. We are early risers so will head out early around 7 so we can have a full day and come back in the evening

basilica and going inside the clock

Doges Palace

Vivaldi concert

Row Venice

so we could do

Monday - wander around, mortgaged coffee in caffe Florian, Doges Palace around 1pm, museo de La musica, food shopping on our way back to apartment. Vivaldi concert pm

tuesday - row Venice at 10 Then mooching in Canareggio, ghetto with some lunch and maybe St marks basilica later in the afternoon when it quietens down. Trip down grand canal in the evening

Wednesday - islands

Thursday - dorsodoro and Giorgio Maggiore

If you’re taking the Alilaguna water bus, it will take around 50 mins. If you land at 9:05 you may be very lucky and catch the 9:35, getting to San Stae at 10:26 but more likely will catch the 10:15, arriving at 11:06. There’s also a bit of a walk from the arrivals down to the water transport harbour.

https://www.alilaguna.it/files//attachments/orari_linea_arancio_07_giugno_2023.pdf

A private water taxi will take you to your door in around 30 minutes.

Another idea is, if you only have hand luggage and can’t check in early anyway, to go straight to St Marks and store your luggage in the baggage store that’s to the left of the basilica - Check Google for “stow your bags st marks square”.

It’s only a short walk from where a water taxi would drop you and where you can pick up the vaporetto to your accommodation. If you were to take the Alilaguna water bus from the airport, it would drop you a 15 min walk away too.

@RatSalad that is brilliant, much better option. Thankyou !

This is why I ❤️ MN :)

Has anyone done the secret itinerary tour ?

I’m just so excited for you!

Yes, we did the secret tour. It was brilliant.

Secret itinerary tour is good. Torcello is lovely but not a whole lot to see tbh. I would drop it if pressed for time. Venice is lovely for just wandering around so leave yourself time for that. There is a costume museum I liked too.

I'm a size 20 - I'm a bit anxious that it's going to be full of small spaces. Will it be ok ?

I’m sure you’ll be fine. It’s only really the staircases that are narrow in a couple of places. A couple of the rooms are a bit small for everyone in the group to stand in but I just stood by the door, which gave me a bit more space.

If I remember rightly, it’s the first staircase going up that’s the longest and there were a few worried looks from the elderly in our group after the warning on the website that there were lots of stairs, but you get to sit down and recover as soon as you reach the top and everything is manageable after that.

It's more being cramped into a tiny space that worries me, I'm ok with climbing stairs

No, there’s nothing really super cramped. I’m claustrophobic and I was absolutely fine.

☺️

If you do get the chance the Guggenheim gallery is pretty special and compact enough to see quite quickly.