Venice at the Christmas holidays

[Isabella777]

Fancying a city break over the holidays, and kids have been learning about Italy in school and requested we go there. DH and I have been to Rome and Florence and would definitely like to take them to Rome at some point, but will likely wait until my youngest (6) is a bit older. I just don’t think she has the stamina yet. They are intrigued by Venice and we could get decent flights- has anyone been at this time of year? We would likely go for 4 nights after Christmas. I’m not put off by chilly weather and shorter days (will be slightly better vs. where we live!) but am worried a little that if it rains the whole time about having enough to do. Good time to go or crazy?? Any suggestions would be appreciated about neighborhoods to stay too.

Venice would be magical out of season. Please check what museums etc will be open over the Christmas period. If it does rain you may get high water (Acqua Alta) when the pavements are flooded, so worth checking when that might happen.

Day trip over to Murano to see some glass blowing - there are some places where you can have a quick go yourselves which the dc might find fun.

its really easy to take the train to Verona for the day and see the amphitheater and there is a really nice museum there too. Journey is about 1 hr 15.

too many nice areas - Dorsoduro is pretty central. When booking check the maps to see how close you are to the water bus stops, but nothing is too far away.

Venice is very very cold in December/January. I mean unbelievably cold so you need to go with appropriate clothing.

It's very beautiful and not smelly the way it is in the summer.

Not been at that time of year with children. As adults I'd recommend it -it's quite special and if you go with warm clothing like I said its v. beautiful. I'm unsure about suggesting it for young children simply because its so cold but without (usually) the lapland snow fun side.

and also don't forget it is Acqua Alta season at that time of year. I've been lucky and never been there when there has actually been high water - they have the platforms laid out. That's another reason to be cautious with young children.

I think you need a fair amount of stamina for Venice - it's all walking around all day.

I would be too nervous about Acqua Alta, personally, but otherwise think it would be a nice time.

I would counter this a bit in that I felt there were less must-dos in Venice than Rome. Or maybe it was just by the time we got to Venice (at the end of our trip) I felt less pressure to check off boxes than when we were in Rome (at the beginning). Still a lot of walking but more ambling than hurrying from place to place.

Went with a couple of friends, one of which struggles with mobility but we did everything that we wanted to. We were careful to stay near good water bus routes, and targeted our movements accordingly.