Venice is one of those places that is on many people's “must-visit” list. I have visited the legendary Italian city twice - once on a cold, wet day in December when it appeared that the city was closed, and again in the height of summer. Both offered up vastly different experiences of the city allowing me to give you my top tips for surviving the warren that is Venice.
Wear your comfiest shoes
It doesn’t matter whether they’re trainers, sandals, or boots, just make sure you’re comfy. Venice is a maze of alleys, bridges and canals so it’s extremely easy to clock up the kilometres without realising. In just a few hours I had covered 10km and without a comfy pair of trainers, the rest of my time in the city would have been a write-off.
Remember, aside from boats, Venice is a vehicle-free city so you won’t be able to jump on a bus or hail a taxi when your feet start to ache and you want to go back to your accommodation.
Astoundingly, I saw people walking in flip-flops - I'm not sure whether they were brave or foolish! With the thousands of people milling around the city daily, popular areas can become very busy - I feared for their toes!
Be prepared to be stepped on
Thousands of tourists descend on Venice every day by plane, train or cruise ship and understandably so, it’s a beautiful city. But with so many people around, it does make visiting popular sites a bit of a squeeze.
When I first visited Venice, it was on a cold, wet day in December and I was amazed to find St Mark's Square empty (aside from a handful of pigeons). Returning in the summer was the complete opposite. I arrived at St Mark’s Square at 9.30 am, just as the cruise ship passengers disembarked. While I managed to wander around the Square with relative ease, by 10 am I was battling against the tide! However, the further from the Square you get, the fewer tourists there are.
Aside from the busy tourist spots, it’s worth noting that the alleyways can be quite tight. As you wander through it feels like the buildings seem to lean closer and closer - a bit like you’re walking through Diagon Alley! For the most part, everyone seems to weave in and out with relative ease, that is unless you come face-to-face with a tour group or someone wielding a wheely case - mind your toes!
Venture out of the centre
Venice is notorious for being an expensive city so I’m sure it’ll come to no-one's surprise that I paid €4.50 for a can of Sprite - yes, a single can of Sprite! While this wasn’t in the main tourist area, the cafe faced the lagoon and had a rather lovely view of the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, so I was paying more for the view than for the drink.
To my surprise, I found Burano - one of the small islands off the coast of the city - very reasonably priced. After taking the 45-minute journey across the lagoon and wandering through the picture-perfect streets it was time to grab something to eat. To my surprise, I only paid around €11 for a pizza and an Aperol Spritz at a cafe outside the boat stop. At the time I visited, the time pre-covid, Aperol Spritz were genuinely cheaper than water!
Go without a map
It’s easy to keep your gaze firmly fixed on your phone when you’re trying to follow a map through the winding streets of Venice, but it’s amazing just how much you miss when you do. Allow yourself to get lost and you’ll stumble across several places that you wouldn’t have found before. One on wander I found a more rundown area of Venice with a huge tower leaning ominously over the square - I would tell you where it was, or what it was called, but for the life of me I have no idea!
For the most part, Venice is built on a series of squares making it fairly easy to navigate so if you do miss a turning, take the next one and you’re almost certainly going to end up in the right place.
As you navigate the streets you’ll notice there are yellow signs on the sides of buildings pointing you in the direction of famous landmarks, while these are helpful they do tend to disappear. One minute you’re following the yellow signs then you come to a square and you can’t see them anywhere. Helpfully, some people have graffitied additional arrows on walls, and if in doubt follow the crowds as they’re probably going to the same sites you want to see too.
If you’re looking to take the stress out of organising your trip to Venice, TourRadar offers a variety of enchanting tours that can enhance your experience.
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