Top non-obvious things to do in Venice

[Bombinia]

We are going to Venice this summer with our kids age 11 and 16. Obviously we know about the main tourist things, but what hidden gems are there?

We like museums and art galleries, but the kids would probably also appreciate something more active if such a thing exists.

Go out on the water buses (a lot cheaper than the tourist boats). Go to the glass factory, we did a workshop but my youngest was 12 which I think was the youngest allowed, check.

get away from st marco as quickly as possible and you’ll find lovely little churches with priceless paintings (free to enter, they appreciate donations) the public market had lovely produce. We saw Vivaldi’s 4 seasons in 18th Century costumes which was amazing, even more reluctant dd loved it and didn’t fall asleep (she has form for napping during classical music)

We did a “crimes and mystery” walking tour in the early evening which was very good and gave information about the stories/history/legends of Venice which I think younger teenagers would appreciate.

Not super active but did a mask making class which was a lot of fun.

We did a food tour that was a lot of fun and interesting too

Oh these all sound fab! I'll look into it especially the masks, the kids would enjoy that

Lido and hire bikes?

Do a film location walk! Plenty of films with Venice locations such as Spiderman, James Bond, The Tourist, Indiana Jones, Don't look now. You can Google and find some very knowledgeable tour guides for hire, and some will personalise your tour based on your interest.

Seconding mask making (several options, book ahead) and glass blowing demo (lots in Murano, no need to book if just a demo)

The small Leonardo da Vinci museum gets good reports, wish we’d gone

We also went to a classical concert in the church just over the Accademia bridge - can’t recall its name but we were able to get same day tickets

Can’t think of anything physically active except allll the walking