15 Things to Do in Venice

Venice packs more into a small, car-free maze than almost anywhere in Europe. Here are fifteen things worth your time, ordered so you can string several together in a day without doubling back.

  1. Stand in Piazza San Marco early. Get to the square before 9am and it is calm, the mosaics of St Mark’s Basilica catching the low light before the tour groups arrive.

  2. Go inside St Mark’s Basilica. The nave is free, but it is an active church with a dress code (shoulders and knees covered). Pay a few euro extra for the Pala d’Oro altarpiece and the Loggia dei Cavalli terrace over the square.

  3. Tour the Doge’s Palace. About EUR30 to 35 (verify on site), this ran the Venetian Republic for a thousand years; Tintoretto’s vast Paradise fills one wall of the council chamber.

  4. Book the Secret Itineraries tour. Around EUR67, it walks the palace’s interrogation rooms and prison cells, ending at the Bridge of Sighs from the inside. English slots are limited, so book ahead.

  5. Ride the lift up the Campanile. About EUR10 for the best rooftop view in the city, from a 1912 reconstruction of the tower that collapsed in 1902.

  6. Take vaporetto Line 1 down the Grand Canal. A single EUR9.50 fare buys about 40 minutes past palazzi from Santa Lucia to San Marco, better value than any gondola.

  7. Cross on a traghetto. For about EUR2 you can ride a stripped-down standing gondola straight across the Grand Canal where there is no nearby bridge.

  8. Do a cicchetti crawl. Hop between bacari for small bites (EUR1 to 3) and an ombra of wine; a full evening runs EUR12 to 18.

  9. Shop the Rialto market. The fish and produce halls run Tuesday to Saturday morning; arrive by 8am before the crowds and before stalls pack up.

  10. Walk the Jewish Ghetto in Cannaregio. Established in 1516, it gave the word “ghetto” to the world and still holds working synagogues around a quiet campo.

  11. See the art in Dorsoduro. The Accademia for Bellini, Titian and Tintoretto, the Peggy Guggenheim for 20th-century work with a canal terrace.

  12. Walk the Zattere at sunset. Dorsoduro’s long southern waterfront gives you room to breathe that San Marco never will.

  13. Hop to Murano and Burano. From Fondamente Nove, Murano for a live glass demonstration, Burano for the painted houses and lace.

  14. Add Torcello for quiet. Nearly empty on a weekday, with the lagoon’s oldest cathedral and its Byzantine mosaics.

  15. Time it for an event. Carnevale in late winter, the Biennale art and architecture shows, or the Regata Storica on the Grand Canal in early September.

Two rules make all of this better: see the marquee sights before 9am, and eat away from the laminated photo menus near San Marco.

Read more: pair this with the Venice travel guide for prices and logistics, and the where to eat guide for the cicchetti detail.