Italy · City break

Venice City Guide

Built on wooden piles in the lagoon, with no cars in the lanes. St Mark's Square glows with the golden mosaics of the basilica, palace facades line the Grand Canal, and behind the Rialto Bridge a maze of lanes begins. Two ready-made day routes sort it all out, from the dawn fish market to Santa Maria della Salute.

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Our walking tours of Venice

Ready-made routes from the station guide you through Venice, to the right spots from the very first step, with no planning needed.

San Marco, Doge's Palace & Rialto

Day one belongs to the old seat of power, with St Mark's Square early in the morning, the golden mosaics of the basilica, the all-round view from the Campanile over rooftops and lagoon, and the state rooms of the Doge's Palace with the walk across the Bridge of Sighs. Then through the lanes of Castello to Europe's oddest bookshop and finally to the Rialto Bridge.

St Mark's Square. Napoleon is said to have called it Europe's finest drawing room, and it is still the only square in Venice allowed to be called a piazza. All the others are merely campi. Arcades on three sides, the basilica on the fourth, the free-standing Campanile in between. Come early. Before 8 am you have it almost to yourself, from 10 am it is one big crowd. When the high water comes this is the first place to flood and everyone walks on narrow raised boards. A sight you won't forget. And when you leave the square through the lanes towards Rialto, a short detour to Campo Manin pays off. Hidden in a courtyard behind it is the Scala Contarini del Bovolo, a spiral staircase from around 1500 with a loggia above the rooftops.
St Mark's Basilica. St Mark's is no ordinary church but Byzantine splendour in stone, with five domes modelled on Constantinople and inside some 8,000 square metres of gold mosaic that start to glow in low light. The bones of the evangelist Mark were smuggled here from Alexandria in 828, hidden under pork, so the legend goes, so the customs men wouldn't look. Take the combined ticket with museum and loggia. Up there you stand beside the four bronze horses and look out over the whole square. Without a timed ticket you queue for a long time, and large backpacks have to be left at the depot.
St Mark's Campanile. The bell tower is just under 99 metres high and gives you the best all-round view in the city. By lift, no stairs. From the top you see the whole herringbone pattern of the rooftops, the lagoon and San Giorgio Maggiore on its own island opposite. Oddly enough you barely see the canals from up here, the houses hide almost all of them. In 1902 the tower collapsed completely and was rebuilt exactly as before by 1912, dov'era e com'era, where it was and how it was.
Doge's Palace. The pink and white palace was seat of government, court of law and prison of the Republic all at once. Inside, the state rooms lead to the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, where Tintoretto's Paradise fills an entire wall. One of the largest canvases in the world. From the palace you cross the Bridge of Sighs into the old cells and look out through the same barred windows the prisoners did. If you want more, the Itinerari Segreti tour takes you into interrogation rooms, the torture chamber and the lead-roofed cells Casanova escaped from.
Bridge of Sighs (from outside). From the Ponte della Paglia on the waterfront you see the white bridge head-on, slung between palace and prison. The romantic name was invented by Lord Byron in the 19th century. The sighs were supposed to be those of the condemned taking their last look at the lagoon through the small windows. In reality it was mostly petty criminals behind them, so the drama is largely literary. The photo spot is narrow and always crowded, so step up, take the shot and move on.
Libreria Acqua Alta. Probably the maddest bookshop in Europe. The books sit in gondolas, bathtubs and plastic tubs so they don't drown when the water rises. In the back courtyard the owner has built a staircase out of waterlogged volumes, and from it you look over the wall on to the canal. That is what everyone comes for. Cats wander between the shelves, and somewhere in there you do find an actual book. It's cramped and rarely empty, but a short stop is worth it.
Rialto Bridge. Until 1854 the Rialto was the only fixed crossing over the Grand Canal; before that a series of wooden bridges stood here. The stone bridge of 1591 was considered a gamble. Around 12,000 driven piles carry it and contemporaries openly bet on its collapse. Small shops line its back, so the top is packed. The better view is from below anyway, from the bank or the Fondamenta del Vin. If you want it empty, you have to be there at sunrise.

Rialto market, Accademia & Dorsoduro

Day two starts early at the Rialto fish market, crosses the Accademia bridge to the two great museums of Dorsoduro. Venetian painting with Bellini and Titian, modern art with Peggy Guggenheim. And ends at the white domed church of Santa Maria della Salute. To finish, you ride the length of the Grand Canal by vaporetto.

Rialto Market. Trade has gone on here for about a thousand years, and the fish market under the arcades is still the Venetians' real market rather than a backdrop for it. On the ice lie things you rarely see anywhere else, among them spider crabs, cuttlefish with their ink, tiny moleche, the crabs caught mid-moult. Come early, they pack up around midday, and the fish market is closed all day Sunday and Monday. Next door are the fruit and vegetable stalls and a few bacari where the first glass of wine at nine in the morning is entirely normal.
Accademia Gallery. The Accademia covers Venetian painting from its beginnings to the 18th century, and it is far more than a museum duty. Bellini, Carpaccio, Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese hang here in a density you find nowhere else. The famous one is Veronese's huge Feast in the House of Levi, originally a Last Supper. The Inquisition objected to the dwarfs, dogs and drunks in it, so he simply renamed the painting. Leonardo's Vitruvian Man belongs to the collection too, but is rarely on show. Allow at least an hour and a half; Mondays are closed. Afterwards it's only a few steps south to the Zattere, the long sunny promenade on the Giudecca canal. In the afternoon the light is just right here.
Peggy Guggenheim Collection. In 1949 Peggy Guggenheim bought the never-finished Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on the Grand Canal and lived there with her collection for thirty years. Today Pollock, Picasso, Ernst, Magritte, Kandinsky and Dalí hang in living-room-sized spaces instead of museum halls. One of the best collections of classic modern art in Europe. In the sculpture garden she is buried herself, right beside her dogs. On the terrace facing the canal stands Marino Marini's rider, and the view over the water comes free.
Santa Maria della Salute. The white domed church at the tip of Dorsoduro is the city's thank-you to the Madonna after the plague of 1630 killed about a third of the population. It stands on some 100,000 driven wooden piles, otherwise the soft ground could never carry the weight. Inside it is surprisingly bright and plain; the sacristy holds works by Titian and Tintoretto's Wedding at Cana. Every 21 November the city builds a pontoon bridge across the Grand Canal and Venetians walk over. The Festa della Salute, one of the few days when the church really belongs to them.
Vaporetto line 1 (Grand Canal). Instead of a pricey gondola ride, line 1 chugs the entire length of the Grand Canal and stops almost everywhere. You pass around 170 palaces, all of them turning their show façade to the water, because for centuries the canal was the main street. Stand at the open stern, where you see both banks and nobody blocks your shot. The ride is loveliest just before sunset when the façades turn warm. And with a day pass it costs you nothing extra.

Planning your visit

Two days fit well. The first route from San Marco runs 2.5 kilometres and stays with the basilica, the campanile, the Doge's Palace and the Rialto Bridge. The second covers three kilometres from the Rialto market to the Accademia, the Peggy Guggenheim collection and Santa Maria della Salute, ending with a vaporetto down the Grand Canal. Getting lost is part of it, the network of lanes is older than any map. Five evening tips are ready, and Burano and Murano fill a third day.

Going out & nightlife

Rooftop bars

Skyline Rooftop Bar. Eighth floor on the Giudecca, on top of the Hilton Molino Stucky, and the best sunset spot in town. All of Venice lies opposite you, with the Campanile and the Salute in the skyline. Drinks are priced accordingly, but honestly you are paying for the view. Booking is worth it, and in winter the glass fronts are up, which means a lot of reflections.

Nightlife quarters

Campo Santa Margherita. The student square in Dorsoduro and one of the few places where evenings feel alive instead of full of day trippers. Bars line the long campo, a spritz costs next to nothing, and everyone just stands outside on the square. Not a slick nightlife district but everyday Venice. Which is exactly why it works for an evening.

Food & restaurants

Osteria alle Testiere. A tiny fish restaurant in Castello with just a handful of tables. The menu follows whatever was on the Rialto market that morning, and the wine list is excellent. Without a reservation weeks ahead you won't get in. With so few seats there is simply no other way.

Bars & clubs

Il Mercante. A cocktail bar on the canal near the Frari, a cafe by day and one of the city's most ambitious bars at night. The menu changes by theme and is completely redesigned each time. Small, dark, very good. And usually packed, so don't turn up too late.

Stage & concerts

Teatro La Fenice. Burnt down twice, rebuilt twice. The phoenix in the name is the whole story of this opera house. It is one of Italy's most beautiful, and you don't even need a performance. By day you get into the auditorium and the boxes with an audio guide. Mornings are quietest, and opera tickets are best booked early.

See all stops for Venice in the app →

Practical information for Venice

Public transport

Operator. The vehicles and boats belong to the municipal holding company AVM, the operating company is called Actv. Sales run through Venezia Unica, the City of Venice's ticket distribution, with its own counters, machines, and a web shop. The network area is the entire municipality of Venice, meaning the historic center, the mainland around Mestre and Marghera, the islands of Lido and Pellestrina, and the lagoon lines out to the terminals of Chioggia Vigo, Punta Sabbioni, and Treporti Ricevitoria. What matters for travelers is the boundary outward. Alilaguna's boat lines to the airport and ATVO's express buses aren't part of it, they're private operators with their own fares. An Actv ticket or an Actv multi-day ticket isn't valid there, nor on lines 16 and 19 or on the Casinò line.

Network. Vaporetti instead of buses. Tickets are time-based and day passes almost always pay off.

Modes of transport. Vaporetto (scheduled boat) · Vehicle ferry (lines 11 and 17) · Bus · Tram (Mestre only, lines T1 and T2) · People Mover (Tronchetto–Piazzale Roma)

Operating hours. Actv doesn't publish a single network-wide operating window, every line has its own timetable as a PDF. As a benchmark, line 1 serves, the main line through the Grand Canal. It starts from Piazzale Roma at 5.01 am, initially running every 20 minutes, from late morning every twelve minutes, from around 8 pm at wider intervals again, and leaves Piazzale Roma for the last time at 11.55 pm. The last trip reaches the terminal after midnight. From 11.30 pm the N night line runs in parallel, so no gap forms between daytime and night service. Timetables for all navigation lines are available individually as PDFs on the AVM website, and there's also real-time information at oraritemporeale.actv.it.

Night service. Night service has existed since 1996 and is a fully planned network, not an emergency service. Actv states the window as midnight to 5 am, in practice the N boat line already starts at 11.30 pm from San Marco San Zaccaria and ends at 5.26 am at the Lido. It connects Lido, Giardini, San Marco, Rialto, Ca d'Oro, Ferrovia, Piazzale Roma, Tronchetto, Sacca Fisola, Giudecca, and Zattere, running the full length of the Grand Canal. From Tronchetto it departs every 20 minutes until 1 am, then every 30 minutes until 5 am. There's also the NMU boat line between Fondamente Nove and Murano and the NLN line into the northern lagoon toward Burano, Torcello, and Punta Sabbioni. On land, night buses N1 and N2 in Mestre and Marghera and line 11N toward Lido, Pellestrina, and Chioggia round things out. The connections are coordinated with each other, transfer points are Piazzale Roma and Piazzale Santa Maria Elisabetta at the Lido.

Buying tickets. The most convenient way is the machines right at the landing stages and the Venezia Unica counters at Piazzale Roma, Ferrovia, and other hubs, plus partner sales points and advance purchase on veneziaunica.it. Buying on board follows two opposite rules. On the boat, the ticket must be requested from staff when boarding, it's paid for exclusively via the card reader, cash isn't accepted, and it's already validated. On the bus, by contrast, only cash is accepted, the amount must be exact, the on-board ticket costs 3.00 euros instead of 1.50 euros and must be validated on board. On the tram and People Mover, buying on board isn't possible at all. Validation is required at every boarding and every vehicle change, at the landing stages and in the People Mover stations at the posts, and on board on the bus and tram. Anyone buying via the app instead keeps the ticket ready on the bus and activates it three minutes before boarding.

App and payment. The official app is called AVM Venezia Official App and covers purchase, activation, and validation, it reads the QR code at the readers on the landing stages. There's also Chat&Go by muoversivenezia, a sales channel via WhatsApp offering three tickets, the 75-minute ticket for bus, tram, and People Mover at 1.50 euros, the Aerobus ticket at 10.00 euros, and the 75-minute ticket for the entire city network including boats at 9.50 euros. Cardholders can additionally use Tap to pay, tapping the contactless bank card directly on the validator, the system works to the EMV standard. Cash is only accepted on the bus from the driver. On the boat, cash has been excluded since July 2024. Reserved tickets and passes run through the Venezia Unica chip card, which can also be registered in the app.

Which ticket. The standard ticket for the entire city network including boats costs 9.50 euros and is valid 75 minutes from first validation, transfers included. Anyone traveling only on land, meaning bus, tram, and People Mover without the boat, pays 1.50 euros for the same 75 minutes, a book of ten costs 14.00 euros. The time-based tickets are officially called the Venezia Daily Pass and Biglietti 2, 3 e 7 giorni and cost 25.00 euros for 24 hours, 35.00 euros for 48 hours, 45.00 euros for 72 hours, and 65.00 euros for 168 hours, each from first validation. Converted, the 24-hour ticket equals 2.6 single rides, the 48-hour ticket 3.7, the 72-hour ticket 4.7, and the weekly ticket 6.8 single rides. The Venezia Daily Pass also includes Trenitalia regional trains within the municipality, meaning Santa Lucia, Porto Marghera, Mestre, Carpenedo, and Mestre Ospedale. Travelers aged 6 to 29 get a 72-hour ticket for 27.00 euros, for which the Rolling Venice card is needed, costing 6.00 euros and available at Venezia Unica counters. All day and multi-day tickets exclude trips to and from the airport. Anyone wanting to use them there anyway buys a surcharge at the same time, 7.00 euros for one direction or 13.00 euros for round trip, adding it afterward isn't possible.

Fare zones. No zones. A single price applies across the whole city area out to Lido, Pellestrina, Punta Sabbioni, and Chioggia Vigo. Excluded are all trips to and from the airport as well as lines 16, 19, Casinò, and all Alilaguna boats.

Tip. Line 1 runs the length of the Grand Canal and is the cheapest city tour.

Getting there

Main station

Location. The station sits directly on the Grand Canal. Venezia Mestre is on the mainland and cheaper.

Long-distance trains. The terminus station on the Grand Canal is the endpoint of all lines, every train turns around here. High-speed service runs largely on an hourly frequency. To Roma Termini and Napoli Centrale, a Frecciarossa departs each hour at 26 minutes past, to Milano Centrale at 48 or 22 minutes past, plus individual trains to Torino Porta Nuova and a long-haul train to Lecce. Across the border, a EuroCity runs at 9.52 am to the Brenner Pass with a connection toward Austria and Germany. At night an Intercity Notte runs at 10.05 pm to Rome, in the opposite direction an Intercity Notte to Trieste departs at 6.35 am. Regional service is dense and serves Padua, Verona, Bologna, Treviso, Udine, Trieste, Bassano del Grappa, Conegliano, Portogruaro, and Adria. To Venezia Mestre on the mainland, regional trains run continuously, and this route is included in the Venezia Daily Pass. A rail station at Marco Polo Airport is set up in the timetable system but isn't served by any train.

Opening hours. First departure 4.51 am toward Verona, the first Frecciarossa at 5.26 am to Rome. In the evening the last trains leave shortly after 11 pm, on Sundays as late as 0.13 am to Treviso.

Airports

VCE

Into the city. ATVO express bus in 20 minutes to Mestre FS. Alilaguna blue line in around 80 minutes to San Zaccaria and around 115 minutes to Santa Lucia. Orange line in just over an hour to Rialto.

Frequency. ATVO from the airport 6.10 am to 1.10 am, opposite direction 4.20 am to 12.40 am. Alilaguna blue 5.20 am to 12.20 am at least hourly, orange 8.35 am to 11.05 pm hourly.

TSF

Into the city. ATVO line 351 in 40 minutes between Venezia Piazzale Roma and the airport, with a stop at Mestre FS after 25 minutes.

Frequency. From Venezia Piazzale Roma from 4.20 am, then mostly every 30 to 60 minutes until early evening.

Local quirks

Day fee for visitors. On certain days, day visitors have to pay an entry fee, booked online. Overnight guests are exempt.
High water rewrites the timetable. In fog, or when the tide exceeds 95 centimeters above sea level, AVM/Actv switches boat service to a special plan agreed with the city. Lines are shortened, rerouted, or canceled. Changes are posted on the information boards at the landing stages, via the call center 041 041, and via the @muoversivenezia channels. Anyone planning to take a specific line in the morning should check there in advance if high water has been announced.
Every landing stage has letters. Large stops like San Zaccaria, Piazzale Roma, or Rialto consist of several floating pontoons, numbered with letters A, B, C, and onward. In the timetable, the letter appears right after the name, for example Rialto D or San Marco San Zaccaria B. Anyone waiting at the wrong pontoon will see their boat pass by at another one. AVM publishes dedicated landing stage maps as PDFs for eleven major stops. At several of these pontoons there's also priority boarding for regular customers and for people with reduced mobility.

Good to know

Currency: EUR €
Emergency number: 112
Plug type: C · F · L
Time zone: Europe/Rome
Driving: right

Speed limits. built-up areas 50 km/h, outside towns 90 km/h, 110 km/h on expressways, motorway 130 km/h

In rain, the motorway limit is 110 km/h instead of 130, and 90 instead of 110 on expressways. Drivers who have held their license for less than three years may drive at most 100 km/h on the motorway and 90 km/h on expressways. Within built-up areas, 50 km/h is the rule, though signposted city roads allow up to 70 km/h.

Tipping. Not expected. Bills often carry a coperto or servizio. If you were happy, round up.

Tolls. Most motorways are tolled. Take a ticket on entry, pay on exit. No vignette.

Access restrictions. Many historic centres are closed to non-residents. Cameras read the plate and the fine arrives home months later. Hours and boundaries differ from city to city.