Why not? My (now ex) boyfriend took me there when I went for the first time. Yes, it’ll cost you more than your local shopping mall, but I though the experience was worth it (well, my boyfriend paid, but I would have). The waiters where charming and treated us like royalty and we met all kinds of interesting people. Yes, it’s expensive and not something to make a habit of, but to make believe you’re a fifties film star/crooner/famous writer it was worth the price. Not everything expensive is automatically a rip off.
I agree the card it a good idea, but single rides are only expensive if you get off after two minutes. The ticket is actually valid for, I think 90 minutes (could be an hour, not sure). For example, on the same ticket you can ride the nr 1 along the Grand Canal from the station all the way to St Mark’s.
Which takes maybe 20 minutes - it is less than a mile’s journey. Truthfully you could walk there faster.
If you use it as a sort of “circle line” to take a trip round the whole city, then sure. I’d still personally balk at paying $12 for it, but it wouldn’t be crazy. For getting from A to B its a bit ridiculous.
Agree totally with all the ‘just wander’ advice. Take a map. It won’t help, but it’s nice to pretend. Make sure you see the pelargoniums in the window boxes (some people call them geraniums, but I am a pelargonium snob, and they are actually pelargoniums). The colours are simply glorious in spring and summer.
As for the Penny Guggenheim Museum recommended above, I must disagree on it being a must-see. It’s actually the Peggy Guggenheim, but that doesn’t make it any more interesting. Had stunning toilets, though.
Murano, lovely. Didn’t do a tour, just went there. I thought the Doge’s Palace was fantastic.
And have a meal at one of the restaurants along the Grand Canal. Allow plenty of time to watch the crowds. With really good company, it is almost impossible to beat.
A Houston newspaper columnist who specialized in touring rural Texas visited Venice a few years back. He was shocked by the price of a drink at a cafe on St Mark’s square. Then he took a deep breath, looked at the surroundings, & decided it was a pretty good deal…
For the art/architecture thing, San Marco is ‘meh’ because of the cattle-herding experience and the crowds, but other great spots are the Frari, Giovanni e Paolo (those are the two big mendicant order churches), San Zaccaria (some very nice Bellinis there), San Rocco as noted above, and head over on the vap to San Giorgio Maggiore, the Palladio building you can see from San Marco. Nice place to take photos from, too. If you like Venetian painting the Accademia is a good morning. If you get tired of the city and have an extra day head to Torcello to see the earlier Byzantine era things with fewer crowds.
When I was looking into booking hotels for my family to stay in I came across apartments to rent. We ended up finding Venice Apartments on holiday-velvet.com and we were so happy with our stay!