Venice planning help

[Smurfmurf]

DH and I are going to Venice in February. Our flight lands at 22.30 on Saturday evening and we leave at 14.00 on the Tuesday. Basically, we’ve got 2 full days plus a couple of hours on Tuesday morning.

Plan so far is to take the bus from the airport and then walk the 2-3 minutes to Hotel Arlecchino for 3 nights. Went with this hotel due to arrival time which will be around midnight.

We have no firm plans other than to wander, get lost and see where we go. We would like to do a private Gondola, see the Rialto, Bridge of Sighs, the book shop and St Marks Square. Don’t think we want to go inside the Basilica. We’ve done plenty in the past albeit not Venice. We can spend time elsewhere.

I would like to get a coffee or a glass of wine in Florian’s just to say we’ve done it. I would also like to do the secret tour of Doges Castle. Is it worth it?

I would also love to go to Murano for a few hours but I am not sure if that’s realistic in the time we have. What do you think?

I read somewhere that it’s good to have an early start and see the sun come up, the city come to life. Potentially we would do that on the Tuesday to make use of the last couple of hours.

Clothing wise, we are hand luggage only. I’m thinking layers and a warm jacket. Not sure we need hats, gloves and scarfs though.

Any and all tips welcome. Thanks.

Murano and Burano worth seeing and easily organised. The food markets in the am are interesting.

the water taxis from the airport are expensive but amazingly glamourous!

feb can be very cold, near carnevale as well then!

Thank you!

We've just come back. Our favourite things were Burano and St Mark's Campanile. Both need goodish weather. Burano was so beautiful in the sunshine, and the tower has amazing views, but sooo windy!!

We took a water taxi back to the airport. Felt like being in a James Bond film 😁If you like art then the Peggy Guggenheim museum is excellent, not very big so can be appreciated in a couple of hours. There was a lovely café there too. Murano is great, you'd need to allow at least half a day I think.

And you can book to go onto the terrace behind the horses overlooking St Mark's Square. I really enjoyed that.

Take wellies. We went in May and had several Alta Aqua tides.
Though we did enjoy ourselves! We didn't bother with a gondola ride, the buses were fun enough.
I loved the Jewish quarter though it was 20 years ago so I don't know the status right now.

We won’t have space for wellies. We either need to hope for the best or buy the blue over shoe things that I’ve seen people buy. I did look into it though so that’s for mentioning it otherwise it may have passed me by.

Water taxis fro the airport are an amazing way to arrive but I don’t think they operate at night.

Maybe get the bus when you arrive & a water taxi to leave. They are a lot quicker than the water buses so will give you more time.

Florians is so worth it despite the expense. They give you lovely free savoury nibbles with a glass of wine!

There are loads of water buses to Murano so it’s easily doable. Burano is prettier but takes longer so maybe not the best idea on such a short break.

The basilica is stunning, and I would say worth it. You can do a visit to both there and the Doges' Palace with a tour guide which means you don't have to queue. We really loved both.

The Ghetto is fascinating and it's not closed off so you can walk around, and have an audio guide to give you the history. We did the synagogue tour but there was a lot of security and I don't know if it is open right now, as a result.

We enjoyed just wandering around.
We bought the Opera pass which gave us access to a variety of different churches which was lovely - we didn't make special trips but if we were in the vicinity we'd go in to one and we made it to most of them.

Make sure you check winter opening times — I’ve never been there in Feb (depending on when you’re there, might be Carnevale?), but many museums are closed on Mondays, some on Tuesdays, and, I think in winter, some shops also close Monday mornings?

The getting up at dawn advice tends to be about seeing the Piazza San Marco when it’s less crowded. If you’ve already been there (though I find it eminently missable — I’ve been in Venice several times and only went there once, early in the morning, when I was heading across the lagoon to an event).

Though I do actually like seeing the city wake up, other than dawn breaking over Venice, it’s unglamorous — rubbish collection boats, delivery boats, laundry boats taking linen to the hotels. Anything that happens in any city, but on boats!

I would also like to do the secret tour of Doges Castle. Is it worth it?

Very much worth it - it was the highlight of our visit to Venice a few years ago. No queuing, small group of people, we crept about in the attics, heard the story of Casanova who was imprisoned there, could see down into the main hall of the palace from the windows above, we went across the Bridge of Sighs into the jail and ended up popping out of a secret door into the palace halls. We loved it, it was very different to the standard tour of the palace.

In the late afternoons and early evenings wander around the small bars to have a glass of wine and cicchetti - finger food, similar to Spanish tapas. It's very popular with the locals, especially after work, or pre-dinner, and it a great way to sample local cuisine, usually at quite cheap prices. Quite a lot of the bars stop doing this at around 7, once the work crowd have gone home.

I am not sure blue overshoes (are they the kind you wear to protect ancient flooring?) will help much. Do you have waterproof trainers you can wear on the plane?

We found a few good cicchetti places on side streets in San Polo — just head away from the area about the Rialto Bridge and the main drag leading from it, along Ruga del Oresi. I couldn’t give you a name. We were just wandering. They’re all tiny, so you’ll be standing outside, most likely.

And the café of the Ca’ Pesaro (modern art museum) is a lovely place for a drink — you don’t have to be visiting the collections (though it’s a brilliant museum) to go in, it’s just off the lobby, and it’s a tranquil space looking out onto the Grand Canal though big windows.

We wandered around Cannaregio one evening in the middle of August and barely saw anyone! It was a refreshing change from the crowds in the daytime. We also went to Pasticceria Dal Mas for breakfast which I would highly recommend if you don’t mind standing like the locals!

We went in January a few years ago and it was beautiful. We got to St Mark's Square at around 10 and it was still very quiet. The weather was amazing for some of the days, bright and sunny and actually quite warm. For another couple of days we had some extremely atmospheric (but quite chilly) fog.

Like you, we just wanted to wander, people watch and do a few of the traditionally tourist things. It was a lovely holiday and I'm so glad we went. We did stay outside Venice which made it so much cheaper but took a train in each day.

Just back after a half term trip there.

A mumsnetter recommended Row Venice on another thread which we did - absolutely brilliant and more fun than a gondola. They offer cicchetti and wine trips too .. . . https://rowvenice.org/

Another great find was the free terrace on top of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi which has fab views over the Grand Canal by the Rialto bridge. You’ll need to book a few weeks beforehand - keep an eye on the lead time online. https://www.dfs.com/en/venice/service/rooftop-terrace

We stayed in the Cannaregio area simply as we had many years ago and it feels far more authentic than the more touristy areas. Vino Vero is perfect for evening drinks etc and lots of lovely places to eat nearby.

Have a fab trip!

Doges Castle secret tour is excellent.

We went in May and the Rialto was heaving! We couldn’t get anywhere near it.

Doges palace was amazing if not overwhelming- we pre booked save the line tickets thank god as it was lashing down that day.
Didnt do a gondola ride but wish we had (not on a rainy day though).
Went to Verona by train one day but left it a bit late, should’ve gone earlier in the day.
Lots of lovely cannoli!

For something a bit different I recommend the crime and justice/punishment museum. Might not be your thing but it was a good trip we enjoyed, very gory!

When we caught a water taxi to murano we ended up on a different side of the island than the hugely popular side. It was much quieter and we still got to see all of the glass making and plenty of shops. Only downside was only a couple of places to get a drink and something to eat.
but it was so much more pleasant than when we went to the more popular side which was busy and crowded and huge queues for the water taxi. So much so that we queued for well over an hour and about 5 taxis went before we got to the front of the queue whereas from the other side there were maybe 10 people waiting.
we also did a private water taxi which was great much quicker but very expensive.

we got the gondola at a small entrance near Sephora. It was €80 for about 20/30 minutes. I didn’t go on it just my mum and my daughter. But it would have been €80 for up to 4 people.

I really enjoyed st. marks square. Again very expensive €15 for a Diet Coke but for the experience and people watching it was fab. Think a cappuccino was about €24. This was in the summer.

Ha! When we went to St Mark's Square we just pottered around and drank water from our bottles which we had filled up with tap water at the Airbnb apartment 😂. Whatever floats your boat though. We are just tight careful 😅

I used to live in Venice and returned yesterday from a flying visit. Are you going during Carnevale? Hopefully you miss it as the crowds are far too intense, which is why we always used to skip town then.

here are my tips:

• See St Mark’s in the evening when it’s moonlit and peaceful, bar the band playing at Florian’s
• Try to stay away from the city’s main arteries during peak times (Strada Nuova/Rialto/San Marco for example)
• Definitely Fondamenta Misericordia for drinks…jump from bar to bar sampling cichetti (sort of like Venetian tapas)
• One lively affordable restaurant I always recommend is Al Nono Risorto (their penne all vodka is amazing)
• cliched, but get lost. Venice is still a working city and it’s not hard to find the corners of the city that are still lived in.
• Take one days to visit Murano and Burano (unless you are travelling during carnevale, in which case the wait for the vaporetto might be too much as it gets very busy)

Enjoy!!

Thank you everyone for your help. I’ll take a proper read later. We aren’t there during carnevale.

Torcello and Burano are better than Murano. The Doges tour is ok, the basilica is really good.

It’s foodie heaven - I’m not sure I was that taken by Harry’s Bar though