Venice Review

Overall 4.62 of 5 view all 8 reviews

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kellyrome3
Cicero, NY

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No Place Like Venice!

love to travel

Pros

beautiful city, walking city, vapretto transportation is easy

Cons

Expensive, cruise ships overcrowd in the summer, Food is hit and miss

FEB

2008

I have been to Venice four times, and it is a wonderful place to visit. The best part is just wandering around and finding beautiful canals everywhere. The further you get off the tourist paths, the more interesting places you can find. You will get lost, but enjoy it!

A visit to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) is a great way to start a trip. The people holding the pigeons is a little gross, but the atmosphere is wonderful. If you have lots of money, it is probably nice to sit in the square and people watch (sitting will probably cost you 20 euros for one person). Basilica di San Marco is chaotic with people, but it is beautiful. Make sure to pay the 3 euros to go upstairs to the museum. There is a great lookout of Piazza San Marco, and if you follow the museum to the back, you get a great close up of the mosiacs in the dome and down into the church below. Palazzo Ducale has a nice audio guide to get a history of Venice and some good descriptions of the palace, courts and prisons. If there is a line for tickets, go over to the Museo Correr (or something like that - it is opposite the church in the square). Buy your ticket and then skip the entrance line to the palace.

There are tons of other churches to visit in Venice. Personally, I enjoyed Chiesa Santa Maria della Salute and Basilica di San Giorgio. Also, the Rialto bridge, Accademia, and wandering around Dosodoro are all interesting things to do .

If you like Murano glass, don't miss a boat ride out there. You can take the vapretto (water bus), and there are tons of shops out there. Skip the Glass Museum unless you are really into old pieces of glass.

Burano is a really nice island if you want a change of pace. The vaprettos also go out there, and it has beautiful buildings and a brighter style. They also hand make lace there.

We have found that restaurants are very hit and miss. We had some fantastic food, but also some of the worst meals I have ever had. Get way out of the tourist areas and hope for the best. Be aware that all restaurants add in 10-12% service in Venice. It isn't necessary to leave anything else.

Also, if you are there in summer (and more now in the spring/fall), be ready for ridiculous crowds. You have the typical crowds, but the cruise ships bring in thousands of additional tourists. Sometimes you can't even walk in the main areas.

And yes, Venice is expensive. They bring in everything by boat, so food is expensive. I have stayed at three different B&Bs and the prices were average for Italy. The quality of the rooms was suprisingly good at all three places.

Venice is really a great place, and I will be back again someday!