Explore the floating city of Venice in just 24 hours!

Venice was the 7th stop in our maiden foreign trip. We reached Venice by Italo Treno from Florence. From Venice we took another train to Milan, our final destination.

The tour of Italy would not be complete without visiting the canals of the port city of Venice. It’s amazing how the houses are built with water all around them and how a city can survive without roads and vehicles.

Day 1

The AirBNB prices on the main island of Venice are almost double than on the mainland (across the rail bridge over the sea). Due to paucity of time and to experience the Venetian lagoon, we booked our AirBNB in the main island. Our train reached Venice at 4pm (Venezia Santa Lucia). Then we had to pull our heavy luggage across 3 bridges to reach our AirBNB. Therefore, the 1st tip: pack light!

The house had the old Venetian feel but not adjacent to a canal (as we read reviews about the canals being smelly). That day we felt too lazy and tired to venture out. So we planned to sleep early and start exploring early morning next day. We had maggi with veggies and Italian cheese for dinner and dozed off.

Day 2

We woke up early (5am) and got ready for the day. Venice is crowded even in off season so it’s better to explore as early as possible. We got the canals, bridges and rare squares all to ourselves. We crossed the grand canal and had a lip smacking breakfast at a restaurant near the Vaporetto ticket counter in front of Venezia Santa Lucia. We took a 24 hour ticket as we were not sure about the routes.

We changed two Vaporettos to reach the colorful city of Burano. Believe me, pictures don’t do justice to the city’s vibrant coloring. As we reached early we got all the colorful alleys all to ourselves. Clicking endless pictures (in all locations and angles) will still not satisfy your quest. You can walk around the whole island in an hour.

We had lunch at a main square restaurant which had an open sitting. We again took the vaporetto back to Venice. We could not resist buying the unique mask fridge magnets from the street shops of Burano and Venice. We saw and crossed the famous Rialto Bridge. As it was past noon, all the streets and locations were quite crowded.

Then we booked a Gondola ride for half an hour. For a non-swimmer for me it was quite scary (after I knew the lagoons were 20m deep!) but the other 3 enjoyed it quite a lot. The Gondoliers, in their unique attire, will guide you through the mysterious water alleys of the island.

We had a train for Milan at 5 pm so had to hurry back to our Air BNB, pick up our luggage and rush (couldn’t rush due to all the trek over the bridges!) to the train station. So we missed some of the major attractions like: St. Mark’s Basilica and Piazza San Marco-and then we repented for being lazy the night before. But if you plan and execute right, then you can cover it all easily under 36 hours.

Tips & Highlights:

1. The train station on mainland id Venezia Mestre and that on the main island s Venezia Santa Lucia. Trains run every 30 minutes between the two.

2. Avoid the restaurants at Piazza San Marco and head for the ones in alleys and other islands. These will serve you more authentic cuisine at much lower price than the former.

3. The 24 hour ticket is the best to travel in Venice. Price: 30€

4. To get the real feel of the Venetian lagoon, ensure to get lost in the alleyways. You will surely discover something wonderful

5. Venice is crowded even in off season so utilize the early hours

6. Venice sometimes gets flooded (knee deep) in Aug-Sep, so plan accordingly unless you want to get that experience!

7. Add 3-4 hours to your itinerary if visiting glass making island of Murano