Trip to Venice Italy, anyone ever been?

[Goodies1.8t@wrk]

Hey all,

Wife and I are going on a cruise on Royal out of Venice, in September, and we are spending 2 night prior to our Cruise in Venice.

Is there any pointers from anyone who has been, places to go etc etc.
Don't hold back, give me the dirt!

Thanks

[Lwize]

I've been there three times, and plan on going back in 2013.

It's small enough that you don't really need a plan -- just walk the streets and snake around the place. You'll understand once you're there.

[kenstoy]

In September is nice time to visit because European summer holiday ends and no many tourist there.
Well start off from Piazza San Marco then walk around and visit different church or bridges.
No need to plan a head just be there with good pair of walking shoes.

End of September evening and early morning may chilly weather so bring light jacket.

Most good restaurants are out side of Pizza San Marco and ask hotel stuff they should know. In Italy usually dinner starts 7pm and happy hour is from 5pm. If restaurants dinner starts 5pm more like tourist type place and most of time food is not good.

[GeoffD]

Hey all,
we are spending 2 night prior to our Cruise in Venice.

The "just walk around and soak it in" is the right advice for two days.

Get the obligatory photograph feeding the pigeons in St Mark's with 30 pigeons standing on your head.

If you're staying in Venice, pay attention to hotel location or you might face a lengthy walk dealing with your luggage. I usually pick a hotel that is close to Vaporetto/water bus stops. It's not like you can call a cab in a city with no streets.

Do you have a hotel yet?

Ways to spend money if you are splurging:
* Water taxi from the airport to Venice ($150+) instead of the Alilaguna water bus (15 euros per person)
* Gondola ride (another $100+)
* Wining & dining in good restaurants (when you're about to OD on food on a cruise ship)

You want to plan to ride the Vaporetto the length of the Grand Canal at least once. I usually used it several times per day. Just buy a 48 hour travel card and get on and off when you want.

[kenstoy]

The "just walk around and soak it in" is the right advice for two days.

Get the obligatory photograph feeding the pigeons in St Mark's with 30 pigeons standing on your head.

If you're staying in Venice, pay attention to hotel location or you might face a lengthy walk dealing with your luggage. I usually pick a hotel that is close to Vaporetto/water bus stops. It's not like you can call a cab in a city with no streets.

Do you have a hotel yet?

Ways to spend money if you are splurging:
* Water taxi from the airport to Venice ($150+) instead of the Alilaguna water bus (15 euros per person)
* Gondola ride (another $100+)
* Wining & dining in good restaurants (when you're about to OD on food on a cruise ship)

You want to plan to ride the Vaporetto the length of the Grand Canal at least once. I usually used it several times per day. Just buy a 48 hour travel card and get on and off when you want.

Vaporetto is good solution and if too many passenger watch out for pick pockets.
http://www.actv.it/en

[Goodies1.8t@wrk]

thanks for the replies, ya we'll just be there for 2 nights, looking forward to it though. Then hitting the cruise on Royal, and doing Turkey and some Greek Isles.

I guess it's really not that much different than say Paris, where it's pretty easy to spot the tourist traps etc, especially restaurants when all the menu's start looking the same. I just want a more authentic experience.

[ttvick]

I went there in 2009 with a friend while traveling around Europe. We used hostels.com and actually ended up with a VRBO-type place. It was a studio apartment with a kitchenette, and the owner lived elsewhere in the same building. Great experience, a little bit of a walk (10-15m) from the touristy spots, but we were in an extremely quiet area among people who actually live in Venice, so it was a cool experience, especially given what we saved in staying there. I don't remember offhand what we paid but the savings over a touristy hotel were incredible, plus it was a pretty cool experience since we were literally walking into an apartment from the cobblestone walkway like we lived there.

[Goodies1.8t@wrk]

thanks, that sounds like it would have been a great idea as well.

Now I am going to try my best to get the authentic experience. I think I have a good idea what to look out for. When we get there. I just don't want to hit the common tourist restaurants etc.

[bzcat]

You don't need a "plan" for Venice. Water bus are easy to use and pretty cheap. If you have 2 days, you can see just about all the main islands in the lagoon.

The only thing I would recommend - make you you have a working phone with data plan so you can call up Google Maps to lead you out of the maze of narrow streets to where you want to go. Printed maps are useless because many streets are too tiny to accurately reflect on small maps.

[fuquar]

My wife and I just spent 3 days there as part of our Honeymoon. A few notes:

1. Gondola is 80 Euro during the day, 120 at night.
2. Water Taxis are also expensive (6 euro each way, and there is an option to buy a 24 or 36 hour pass). It's not that big of a place, just walk; plus you'll get to see some of the cool stuff off the main streets.
3. Bring comfortable shoes.
4. Prepare to get lost.
5. I'm putting this here as a place holder, but we took this free tour to see some of the places the locals drink and the foods native to the city. Best tour ever. Lots of great food, awesome special drinks, and some amazing bars we never would have found otherwise. It's best to do the tour the first night you're there, so you'll know where to go the next day. I'll get the info from my wife and update this post later.

[TT for me]

Get yourself a guide book, it doesn't have to be of Venice, or even Italy. Get a guide book of Europe that covers where you're going, make sure it has decent coverage of Venice. In Venice, the locals often have cicchetti, i.e., Venetian small plates, with wine before going home for dinner. You can book a cicchetti tour of several bars, or you can do it on your own. Some of the best restaurants in Venice (and they'll be packed so you'll need reservation) include - al covo, Fiaschetteria Toscana, and Osteria alle Testiere.

[fuquar]

^^ That's what we found. Turns out it wasn't free, but was worth it for what we ate/drank.

Urban Adventures I think my wife found a coupon or discount, which helped offset the cost.

[TT for me]

The tour wasn't cheap but it covered food and drink at several bars and it was a wonderful introduction to food the Venetians (the few that actually live there) eat.

[Lwize]

A nice little blog post regarding Venice:

http://foodnouveau.com/2012/06/13/de...-go-to-venice/