I spent two weeks in Italy and three weeks in France. Venice was by far my favorite place. Allow at least three days. I loved the canals, the little side streets, the sense of being in a very beautiful maze and most of all the sheer prettiness of it. I’d take the vaporetto down the Grand Canal everyday of my life if I could.
The reason the place is popular is because it deserves to be.
I agree with most of this thread: in my experience, Venice is a pretty neat place that, unlike many tourist destinations, somehow manages to avoid being a Disney version of itself, especially on back streets. The vast quantity of tourists on the main paths are indeed a drag, though. The suggestion of getting up early sounds good to me (though with Italian dinner hours, this might require an afternoon nap).
To clarify my earlier comment: You should look for restaurants that have menus only in Italian (a phrase book is helpful), not ones that have menus in Italian and a bunch of other languages. The ones with the multilingual menus, in my experience, tend to be the ones serving expensive bland tourist food.
It’s also helpful to get at least a little way off the main tourist routes when looking for a restaurant. The ones with less prime locations tend to be cheaper and not have bland tourist food.
Yes! When Mr. Neville and I went to Italy on our honeymoon, one night we went to a restaurant at 9 PM for dinner. We were the only people there. I felt like I used to when I’d go to dinner with my grandparents at 4 PM here in the States.
I’m curious - what are the ‘shitty and depressing suburbs of Venice’ like? I’ve always pictured Venice as old, twisty, unique, and of course full of canals and bridges. So what’s in the suburbs? Just ‘modern’ buildings like anywhere else? Canals? Shacks?
(or something like the appalling back streets behind the casinos in Atlantic City, NJ?)
The suburbs are pretty well separated (a 5-minute train ride away, but separated by water). Venice is on an island, with canals. The suburbs are on the mainland, no canals. Just kind of boring, lots of modern buildings, little houses with fenced off front yards, etc.
See:
http://www.mestre.it/pages/contenuti/index.php?content_id=124
this is considerably more picturesque than I remember Mestre being, but it gives you an idea.
There are no supermarkets in Venice – there’s the Rialto Market and then a couple of small shops you might find tucked away – all of the “big box” retail serving the Venice area is in Mestre. So, pretty much imagine any American outdoor format Big Box strip mall in a medium sized midwestern city, and that’s what Mestre looks like.
Some tourists stay [in Mestre] as a cheaper alternative to Venice, although we don’t recommend this option (see our advice on where to stay). Mestre is everything Venice isn’t: modern, ugly, traffic-filled, ordinary.
When I lived there, there were at least a couple of supermarkets in Venice (one on the Zattere, one off Campo Santa Margherita) so I don’t think this is quite right.
I think you are spot on as far as impressions of Mestre, though.
Huh! I never even thought about supermarkets in Venice, and I didn’t realize there were actual dull suburbs. Though there would have to be both. Thanks for the information.
We stayed in the Cannaregio district. There was a supermarket about a ten minute walk away.
But yeah avoid Mestre. Very ugly. I hear Padua is nice and about fifty minutes away by train.
We spent nearly two weeks in Venice, staying at a campsite on the mainland and getting the bus into Venice every day. We did not find ourselves short of things to do, and one of the best and most memorable meals of my life was in a tiny restaurant just by the Rialto. We had nothing but great food the whole time we were there. Also one of the best early morning experiences I ever had was getting into Venice on the first bus and going to the Rialto, where we watched them unload the barges and set up before getting breakfast in one of the cafes the market traders use. I would go back to Venice tomorrow; there are still things I haven’t seen. Nobody seems to be mentioning the **incredible **art that is everywhere. Most of the churches have paintings and sculpture that in any other city would make that building the main tourist attraction, but in Venice it’s just another church that hardly anyone goes into. Go to the main tourist sites, by all means, but in between, wander the streets. Walk into the churches. See the beauty. (For finding the beauty, I recommend the DK Eyewitness Travel pocket book and guide, which has a very good map and information.) We walked up towards the Ghetto on a Sunday, and literally had the streets to ourselves; there weren’t just no tourists, there was no-one around. The synagogues tour had a lot of pretty ignorant people on it, but you do touristy things, you get tourists.
It didn’t smell at all when we were there (August/September two years ago). Verona on the other hand stank. It’s a most mediocre little place, with a nice enough amphitheatre but not anything really special. The completely fictional Juliet is immortalised in a bad statue with one shiny tit in a cramped courtyard which smells of Juicy Fruit gum due to every moron who goes there sticking their gum to the wall to write their name on it. It’s rank. We spent one afternoon in Verona, because it was a nasty little shit tip. Go to Mantua and/or Padua instead. They’re much nicer. If you go to Mantua, try the mostarda.
I’m actually going to be in Venice for a few days this November, so this thread is of great interest. Is it less touristy at that time? Also, what kind of weather can I reasonably expect? Online sources indicate averages in the 50s and 60s (Farenheit) - is that accurate? Thanks for any input!
Unfortunately, November is the worst month for flooding in Venice. They set up wooden walkways on the streets so you can still get around. However, you’ll get some amazing pictures!
Venice is definitely much less crowded in the winter, because it gets very cold. (The exception is in February when Carnivale is going on.) I remember going in December one year and I could only stand being outdoors for 10 minutes at a time. That wind off the water cuts right through you.
We arrived at noon one day and left around noon the next day. We saw a lot and certainly got the flavor of Venice, but would have liked one more full day. I think arriving on day one, having a full day two and then leisurely departing day 3 would be the perfect compromise between the cost and getting the feel of Venice. Definetely stay in the city- the ability to stoll in the evening without worrying about bus or train schedules is worth it. Here’s where we stayed in 2007- we’re tightwads about spending money, so this was about the best deal would could find without committing ourselves to places that were absolute dumps: http://www.locandaquerini.com
Bring or buy tall rubber waders/galoshes. the streets will be full of water. Exciting + gross! The raised walkways are not on every street, only a few main drags, so the boots are really necessary.
I don’t think it will be too terribly cold, although I would bring a coat and sweater. I live in Wisconsin now, and the northern Italian winter had nothing on Midwestern winters temperature-wise. I think it only snowed one day the year I was living there and mostly never got below about 40.
And yes, it will be much less touristy at that time. It will probably be kind of depressing, but atmospheric; misty, flooded, empty, lots of stores closed, nobody around.
My wife and I went to Rome, Florence and Venice for our honeymoon. Of the three, Venice is the one I could have easily skipped. We were there for a couple days but the real “touristy” stuff takes maybe a day to see. I wasn’t especially impressed with what else was there, to be honest unlike in Florence and Rome where casual wandering brought us many more unexpected surprises. In some defense, Venice was the last city we visited so we were getting a bit desensitized to old churches by that point.
Venice also felt (right or wrong) like the least safe of the cities we visited. Many it’s just because the tourist area is relatively small so it didn’t take much wandering before I was in twisty alleyways and half expecting to be shived at each doorway.
Wow, this thread got busy! Thanks everyone for your tips, and keep them coming. 
My prospective Italy itinerary is Florence, maybe a stopover of a few hours in Bologna on my way to Venice, Venice itself, Verona, and then Milan before crossing the Alps and going on to Switzerland. Based on everyone’s advice here I’m planning to spend at least one night in Venice so I can have the evening/early morning experience.
I’m starting to rethink Verona based on comments here and further research I’ve done. I had the mistaken idea that it wasn’t very touristy and I was thinking I’d be able to have a nice, quiet day just walking around between my visits to Venice and Milan. I still want to see some of Verona, but I may not spend the night there unless I can get a really good deal on a room.
Verona is very, very touristy too so I don’t see why it gets a pass from some people. It has a little more open space than Venice but tourism is still the major industry.
In Venice, the pickpockets, gypsies, and other thieves are horrible and aggressive. Get something like a money belt and don’t carry any valuables in purses or bags or anything like it. Gypsies are allowed to roam absolutely freely in and out of restaurants and everywhere else there. I don’t care what the PC name for them is. They are thieves of the type that you don’t usually see in the U.S. and no one will take it seriously if you do get robbed. Don’t let people approach you at all because they probably have other motives. I saved another American tourist’s luggage just because I was watching what a Gypsy was eying. When he made a run for it, I did too and I am much bigger (because I am an American). That ended that. The police grabbed him and…he was back not five minutes later. Be very, very paranoid in Venice and always protect your passport.
alt’acqua (high water) is extremely interesting. Don’t forget to check the daily “water report” on the news!
I have been based in Italy for about the past year (Padova/Chioggia)
After a few months I took a trip to Venice just to say I had been. Big mistake! $40 dollar parking at the railway station. Walked into St Ms. Thought the route quite boring, very claustrophobic, smelly, graffitti blighted and painfully slow through the crowds of tourists. Took a water taxi back for about 90 Euros.
I am not a typical tourist insomuch that churches and overpriced Venecian mask gifts are just not for me. I know others may see “quaint” where I see “decrepit”.
I won’t be back there.
Italy has some excellent small and medium sized restaurants ( also a big and excellent place -Koffler’s) but unless you stumble by accident into one or with someone who knows what to order then you will miss so much.
But this may be just me. I had an unexpected weeks leave which is not long enough to go back to manila so left me desperately looking for somewhere to go to get a break from Italy. So here I am in Istanbul in the middle of Ramazan- so what do I know ?
We took our Honeymoon in Italy, and spent a week in Venice. We loved it. It’s easily the most photogenic city I’ve ever been in, so if you are a photographer, you are going to love it. There is a lot to do - we spent the entire week without really doing any of the typical tourist things. It’s a great place to get some Certosino and an Espresso and just sit and watch the beautiful scenery. There’s no doubt that there are plenty of bad restaurants, but those can be avoided by some pre-planning.