Venice must see?

[waughie]

I'm going to be in venice for two days in august, it will be mine and my girlfriends first time there and I would like some advice!

Obviously the Basilica Di San Marco has to be seen, but what are the other must sees and dos?

I will be on a bit of a budget so the wild and extravagant ideas are a no go unfortunately, but any advice will be greatly received.

And if anyone knows any good cheap accomodation for one night that would be good too!!

[tontoro]

dont bother waiting in the massive queue to go up st mark's tower. instead go up the tower at san giorgio maggiore which has a better view and no (or much less) queue.

also, this place does GREAT ice cream

http://www.grom.it/eng/gelaterie.php

it's on St Barnabas Sq

have fun

[whirly]

For accommodation, I recommend Mestre, which is the land side of the causeway. Couldn't be easier to get to venice, pretty much every bus goes or comes from there. Also it is much better in the evening than venice itself, which closes in the evening.

For things to do, if you can prebook the doges secret itinery tour, it is worth doing, and you jump the queue. It is held in English quite regularly throughout the day.

Otherwise, just get lost in the streets, it is the best part, better than any of the particular sights.

[Mobile Chicane]

whirly said:

Just get lost in the streets, it is the best part, better than any of the particular sights.

St. Mark's Square, gondola rides and the like are tourist traps and a complete rip-off.

Just get lost, and take your camera. There's something of interest around almost every corner.

[Asterix]

We toured Northern Italy last year for our honeymoon and Venice was a high point. We only gave it 2 days as we thought it was going to be too touristy and a bit crap - we were very wrong. Absolutely loved the place. As said, always something around the next corner.

You might think it cheesy (and expensive) but do take a gondola tour - once in a lifetime experience if you don't plan going back anytime soon - we were pleased we did it. (ETA - just realised you're on a bit of a budget - don't bother, it was expensive and we were on a bit of a 'money no object' jaunt).

One other thing we did was a trip out to Murano to have a glass blowing demonstration and a wander round the factory and show room - bad mistake! Ended up spending over £3k on a bit of glass... that is absoultely stunning, unique, has pride of place in our house, is always commented on by visitors and the base is engraved by the guy that made it congratulating us on our wedding - we looked at it as a wedding present to ourselves. Leave your wallet at home! They also shipped it out to Dubai for us and was very well packed etc... Way too large and heavy for us to bring back.

Good thing was I made quite a bit of it back in the Casino later that evening

Edited by Asterix on Saturday 10th July 08:53

[waughie]

All briliant suggestions so far!

Does anyone know how much the Gondola rides are at the minute roughly??

When I said two days, we will be arriving at about 10:30 in the morning and leaving about 4 the next day.

Are place still open on sundays?

[tuskkev]

We were in venice for 5 days in april for the wifes birthday and it was amazing.
Gondola rides vary and there is also alot of haggling to be done, the cheapest we got offered was 60 euros for 45mins this was late afternoon, time does play a factor as once the cruise ships have gone there are less people to tout for business so prices come down. Most start at 100 euros but aim to pay between 70-80 euros for 45mins for a sunset ride. Finally use the gondolas on the small back canals as they will be cheaper than the ones based on the grand canal and to be honest you don't really want to be on the grand canal on a gondola, you want to be on the pretty back canals with no one around, much more romantic and gorgeous as the sun goes down.
You can see the grand canal on one of the water buses for a few £ each.
If you want a amazing and romantic meal then try Ai Mercanti just off san marc's square. It was as good if not better than most 2* michelin restaurants I've been too but a fraction of the cost. The tasting menu was out of this world.
kev

Edited by tuskkev on Saturday 10th July 15:18

[whirly]

waughie said:

All briliant suggestions so far!

Does anyone know how much the Gondola rides are at the minute roughly??

When I said two days, we will be arriving at about 10:30 in the morning and leaving about 4 the next day.

Are place still open on sundays?

Something fun but cool is to take a tragetto across the grand canal. It is a large gondola, and you don't sit down, but it only costs 50cents and is quite amusing. They don't run all the time, but are worthwhile.

[Road Pest]

Guggenheim is always worth a visit.

[squicky]

whirly said:

Something fun but cool is to take a tragetto across the grand canal. It is a large gondola, and you don't sit down, but it only costs 50cents and is quite amusing. They don't run all the time, but are worthwhile.

^ This; we did this on our trip and it's a pretty cool and cheap way of getting a gondola ride.

(Though if we end up going back; we'd definitely go for a proper gondola ride even though they're not cheap).

3rd'ing the just wander and get lost. We ended up finding a really cool external spiral stone staircase on a building whilst doing this.

[S. Gonzales Esq.]

Apologies for posting these again, but here's what I'd recommend:


1. Get up early - better light, and it'll be just you and the street sweepers - you can always sleep on the plane home.







2. Use the middle of the day to wander and explore the less touristy areas - observe the locals, eat pizza:







3. Most tourists go home early, so evenings are good too:





4. Explore a bit and you can find new perspectives on familiar areas:







5. You can walk almost everywhere, but for bigger distances the Vaporetto is best. Don't go too fast on the Grand Canal though:

[waughie]

many thanks all. And them photos are brilliant. I'm really excited about going!