Venice: Not so Serenissima

Known as La Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia, contrasting the always busy streets of this Island and it being the venue of such important events make it hard to think of it as a quiet place...then the night comes and it all makes sense.

Quick Facts

Closest major cities: Venice has an airport, much bigger and more efficient than Florence's airport, with incoming flights from all continents.

The cheapest path to arrive: From both Florence and Milan, a train journey as fast as a 2-hour train - or up to 5 hours depending on the itinerary selected -and tickets go from 21 to about 60€ depending on the schedule and the route.

Currency: Euro

Venezia

When to visit?

It is built on a group of 126 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; 472 bridges link the portions of the city.

Venice hosts renowned events such as the Biennale, the Venice Film Festival, and the Carnival. Considering those events and the scorching hot summers in Italy, it is a good idea to evaluate what time works best for you to visit. While October through February might be the least busy times to visit, avoiding crowds, and the high temperatures. By avoiding the last week of August and the first week of September you would also avoid all the fuzz from media and paparazzi trying to get the best celebrity looks during the Venice Film Festival. If you are all about art and dream of attending La Biennale de Venezia - like I wish to do one time- you would be looking into the end of September until mid-October.

I would love to revisit Venice, and I would then aim to do so between mid-April and June.

Where to stay?

A good portion of the visitors only spend some hours of the day and then go back to their bus tours or Cruises, however, if you are interested in staying at the Island, the following and this section are of great value to you.

You can find different lodging options depending on your budget and preferences.

Given its land limitations and historical buildings, Venice offers a limited amount of accommodation options, and from what I saw in my hotel searches, it is common to find older hotels in which the washroom is shared with all the guests staying on the same floor.

As much as I enjoy ancient architecture and history, I would much rather stay in a simple room with a washroom that does not require me to carry around my makeup bag, towel, and shampoo each time I want to get ready... and to my joy, I found the perfect hotel: Comb0 Venezia.

Combo is located in an ex-Jesuit convent, Ex Conventi dei Crociferi, that keeps its original facade, patios, and main structures but underwent a very extensive renovation, giving it minimalistic, clean, bright, and quite functional rooms.

Combo offers hostel-like accommodations (shared rooms), twin and double rooms, apartments and lofts.

I chose an apartment and it was really worth it. They really made the most of the space, by including a kitchen, keeping the toilet and the shower in separate rooms, and using smart and efficient furniture allowing you to put away your bags, and keep a neat space.

Another perk from Combo is its very convenient location -less than a block from the Ferry stop Fondamenta Nove - from which you can travel to Murano, Burano, Lido, and the Santa Lucia train station.

It only takes a 5-minute walk to reach the closest Coop supermarket and about a 15 - 18 minute walk to the Piazza San Marco.

 Where to eat?

If you want to eat without worrying about the budget, the best is to stay away from the block of Piazza San Marco. We had a lovely dinner at the Osteria di Alex (Salizada S. Canzian, 5560, 30121 Venezia VE, Italy ). The portions were generous, the service was fast and friendly, and the food was tasty! Plus its location a bit further away from the busy streets allowed us to have the full Venetian experience since at that time most of the tourist who visit just for the day- or about 8 hours - are back to their tour buses and on the way to the next stop.

The Ristorante Hostaria al Cavallo Pizza e Cicchetti was the perfect location to have a pizza and good wine, while enjoying the view of the Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo and the nicest Hospital I have ever seen which share the name with the church, and its also a Medical Museum!

We found a nice and inexpensive cafeteria on our way to the Doge Museum, unfortunately, I am unable to trace our route back to it in Maps to figure out its name... Yup! It was a lucky find in one of those moments I decided to go with the flow of the streets of Venice and look into the Maps navigation!

Overall tips that several visitors seemed to have missed...

• 472 bridges remember? Though I have seen this mentioned on several travel sites, I was shocked to see how many visitors staying on Venice Island show up with large pieces of luggage. Regardless of a documented luggage having for wheels, after going up and down the stairs of a bridge, multiple times, bringing them to the ferry and the airport becomes more and more a Crossfit challenge. So unless you are paying for fancy taxi boats to get you from the airport to the doorstep of your hotel in Venice, do not bring more than one large piece of luggage if you are not comfortable with weightlifting.

• The Dove Mafia - Cities with ancient architecture have a common challenge beyond weather conditions and tourists, pigeons! About twenty years ago, when I visited Venice for the first time the pigeons were a big issue. Piazza San Marco would be equally crowded by tourists and pigeons looking for a nice place to eat. In the end of the 1990's it was illegal to feed the pigeons in Venice, allowing only the exception of Piazza San Marco, which eventually caused for this clever species to gather there daily looking for any crumbles the visitors would provide. In 2008, it was finally banned to feed doves in Piazza San Marco as well.

  The above leads us to my next 2 suggestions: first avoid feeding doves - or get 500 ready to pay up the fine if you do-, and second, do not leave your food unattended ended when eating in restaurant terraces.

  During our stay in Combo, we enjoyed the inclusive breakfast in one of their lovely patios. Even though there was a warning message taped to the door not to do so, we witnessed people leaving their full to the top plates to grab something else, and in a matter of second the pigeons enjoyed a feast. No attempts to scare them away from my end helped, while one of the pigeons kept guard of any possible humans taking back the food, the rest of the gang enjoyed the freshly baked bread, drank orange juice, stood all over scramble eggs while, and by the time the clueless guest was back the food was all gone, and so the pigeons.

• Make sure to have enough gigabites before showing up to Venice, or that you are wizard reading printed maps. If you manage to visit and find your way around the city without getting lost at least once, please drop a comment in this post so that we can give you a round of applauses.

• If you are looking to the make the most out of your time and enjoy some of the nice Museums Venice has to offer, plan in advance your itinerary and your times. And of course, purchasing the tickets online before your trip is the best you can do.

  • If you are short on time, I highly recommend the Doge Museum. A building complex so complete, that has lots of art works, you will get to tour the different halls used by the Goverment, the Catholic church, and the jail. When purchasing the ticket online, you will pay around 30 euros per person, and you will skip the ticket lines, and it includes a visit to the Corre Museum, which can be booked for the same day , or within the next 2 days.

• If you are thinking you might spontaneously decide to hop on a Gondola, just don't. Better show up with a reservation, especially if you want to find a good deal such as the ones offered by Get your Guide, that include lower prices for shared-Gondola rides.

Lido

Where to stay? Where to eat? What to do?

Lido is way more chilled back than Venice, and its visitors mainly show up to enjoy the beach, the sun and the convenience of taking one day or two to visit the islands.

Since our main goal was to enjoy the hot weather, lay on the beach and get a nice tan next to a nice swimming pool, the best option was Venezia 2000.

This hotel has a privileged location, since it only requires for one to cross the street to make it to the beach, beach bars, and balneary. And it is about a 15 minute walk to downtown where you can find a variety of shops, restaurants, and the ferry station to reach Venice, Murano, Burano and the Marco Polo airport.

Lido has a public beach, where you will have to bring your own umbrella, towels and something to sit on, although there is also the option of renting umbrellas without a reserved spot or chairs. There is also the paid public beach, where you can rent an umbrella with two lounge chairs, which also gives you access to an exclusive bar.

It is best to reserve a spot in advance... and no, I am not referring to the “reservations” that the Germans make in Mallorca, who get up at 6 am to go to the beach to reserve a bunk bed and leave their towel as a form of reservation.

It is best to reserve a spot in advance... and no, I am not referring to the “reservations” that the Germans make in Mallorca, who get up at 6 am to go to the beach to reserve a bunk bed and leave their towel as a form of reservation.

Reservations can be made directly on the Venezia Spiagge website.

The public pool, Blue Pool, works the same way, you have to make a reservation (or risk arriving early and ask if there are still places available on the same day). While €40 per person may not sound very attractive at first, you'll know it's worth it when you see that places are limited, ensuring that the pool, children's area and Jacuzzis won't be overcrowded. In addition to two lounge chairs, the umbrella, access to the pool and jacuzzis, the entrance ticket allows access to the changing rooms with lockers, bathrooms and showers... all squeaky clean! You also have access to the private bar and restaurant-lounge.

If you are looking for the local experience, excellent service, an inexpensive and delicious meal, La Taverna is the best place to go. Luckily it is about 7 minutes away from the hotel Venezia 2000. One night after a day at the beach we went there to get takeout pizza and wine, and we were hooked! The next day, we enjoyed the Blue Pool and then got a table at La Taverna. It was so nice, and their service is incredibly good. Pizzas were super fast and absolutely delicious.

If you are looking for a fancier romantic dinner, I highly recommend the restaurant Parco delle Rose, however, if you are visiting in summer make sure to make a reservation - unlike yours truly who decided to show up "spontan" like German people say. They have a lovely garden that you don't want to miss out on for not making a reservation. In our case the friendly staff gave us a good spot inside, which was amazing considering the amount of people waiting to go in.

We enjoyed a Pizza with one of their specialties, a Tuna fish sauce, that was delicious!

Murano and Burano

You can book a tour to the Islands of Murano and Burano, to watch their most emblematic sight, their local artisans blowing glass and creating intricate lace. Though you may shop for Murano glass in Venice as well, it is best to visit the glass factory in Murano and enjoy the relaxing and mesmerising work of the artigiani.

A good tip if you have time and want to have more than some decent looking selfies, is to book a photo shooting session with the talented team from Click Toscana, who are based on Florence but also offer sessions in Venice, Pisa, San Gimignano, Siena and Rome. The husband and I had a lovely photo shooting with them in Florence, and had a blast! Plus we love the results! You can read more about it here.

Share this article with the person you would like to visit Venice with. Enjoy your stay!

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