Around & About

How do I get there?

By Air:

Venice’s Marco Polo airport is Europe’s third most trafficked airport in Italy. 12 kilometres outside the city, the airport is well connected to the city by both canals and road. In conditions of fog, planes are redirected to nearby Verona or Treviso. Venice receives much of its traffic from important cities and business centres of Europe. Most international airlines link Venice with major cities across the globe.

Most people who choose to “do it right” make their way into the city on motoscafi i.e. motorboats, which ferry passengers till St. Mark’s Square. It takes a while getting in, about an hour and is a trifle expensive, around EUR 9. The other way to get to town by water is by water taxi, which being fairly exclusive, is for only the non-budget category of travellers.

By road you can either hire one of the taxis that stand outside the terminus. Or you can take the cheapest and fastest option; by bus it takes a mere 20 minutes and EUR 2.50 to get to Piazzale Roma.

 

By Rail:

Venice’s Santa Lucia Station is linked by rail to Bologna, Florence, Milan, Rome, Padua and Verona. It is also a popular point of departure into other countries like neighbouring Germany and Austria, besides you can savour the legendary pleasures of the Orient Express and get to London or Paris while you’re at it. All three intra-Italy services, Diretto, Intercity and Inter-regionale make their way into Santa Lucia.

Most visitors hop a ride on the vaporettos that zip around in Venice’s Grand Canal to get their first taste of commuting over the delicious undulations of water quickly. Others walk the 30-minute route to St. Mark’s Square. You can also take a bus or hire a taxi.

 

By Road:

The main route to Venice is the Autostrada 4. It runs through the north of Italy connecting Venice to Turin and Padua. The A13 connects the arterial north-south route A1 to A4, so actually one can get to Venice from Rome, Florence and Naples too. The slower and thus less crowded SS 11 connects Padua to Venice. Parking in Italy is expensive and restricted to the Piazzale Roma or the island of Tronchetto. Alternatively you can park a small distance outside the city and make your way in by public transport.

Getting Around

If you are visiting Venice for the first time, you will find it quite disconcerting. The city with its islands – more than 100 of them, is a complexity and to try and manouvre from one to the other requires wit and persuasion. The houses seem to be marked in a haphazardly fashion and the city’s transportation through waterways are other muddling issues. The best way to circumvent this is to take your eyes off your map and get lost!

Take a gondola ride preferably in the quiet of the evening, when the rest of Venice has returned home. Ask the gondolier to show you the smaller canals or rii, as also the Grand Canal.

A traghetto is a 2-man gondola and it ferries people across the Grand Canal. It saves you a lot of walking and is reasonably priced.

Vaporetto will take you to major and minor islands of Venice. These are ACTV water- buses. ACTV information is available at the following number: 041/5287886.

Motoscafi, or motorboats, are slightly less expensive than the exclusive water taxis. Contact the Cooperativa San Marco on telephone: 041/5222303. 

The best way to see Venice is on your own feet. Wear really comfortable footwear and head out to get lost in the maze of Venice.

Tourist Offices

APT (Tel. 0415208964) is opposite the Basilica. It has its branches at the train station and in the Lido. Rolling Venice (Tel. 0412747650) is on Corte Contarina and it sells the Youth Discount Card. It also has a branch at the train station. Enjoy Venice (Tel. 800274819 or 064451843) provides walking tours information.

When to Go

Most visitors travel to Venice in the summer. While there’s no time in the year that this ‘sublime’ city is completely free of tourist traffic, there is a substantial decrease in wintertime. Between November and February though, many hotel owners and pensione patriarchs close shop for an annual vacation. This is the low season and if you’ve booked right and in advance, venturing out to Venice is a good idea. 

Where do I Stay?

Accommodation in Venice is rather more expensive than other big cities of Italy, and rather more difficult to get. Venice gets about 200 times its resident population in annual visitors; the result is a sellers’ market. Without reservation, you could probably get a bed in hostel dormitories, which are numerous, but single rooms require at least a month’s notice.

Tourist organisations like the AVA in the train station and at Ple.Roma at the bus station will help reserve rooms for you. 

San Marco has luxury hotels and is also close to Venice’s main sights. Reasonably priced accommodation is available at Cannaregio. Between the Accademia and the Frari church, Dorsoduro is another good location for lodging. In pensiones, always make sure of what you have to pay before you take a room.  

Castello, near the Rialto and the main town area, also provides lodging that is quite good and is a bit far from the madding tourist crowds. You can also opt to stay at Guidecca, which is across the Canale della Giudecca, south of Dorsoduro.

Camping is an expensive option at Venice. You can try Camping Miramare (Tel. 041966150, Fax 0415301150) or Campeggio Fusina (Tel.0415470055).

What to bring

Carry your walking shoes and preferably they should be ones that are well worn or at least ones that you’ve broken into. Countless travellers have to deal with the woes of shoe bite and don’t underestimate how big that can be!

Pack your clothes according to the season and purpose of your visit. Business travellers should pack formal clothing. Carry a light jacket even if you’re visiting in the summer. And of course, don’t forget the camera. Venice is one big photo-op, and every single moment has a potential photograph in it!

Things to Do

Dining & Entertainment

Venice is packed with osterie, trattorie and bacaro. Venice’s cuisine is slightly different from that of the rest of Italy in that it includes a lot more seafood. You’ll find many a menu sporting polpo, a suitably squishy word that means octopus.

Dining is an expensive proposition in Venice. The restaurants are state of the art and serve world-class food and in hushed exclusivity. The food is invariably delicately flavoured with the goodness of sweet smelling herbs and the wine list never disappoints. Budget travellers find that they can make a meal out of the many inexpensive yet delicious types of bread and salads on offer at supermarkets and snack counters. 

The focal points of the city’s nightlife are Campo Santa Margherita in Dorsodura and in the vicinity of Fondamenta della Misericordia where the city’s 23,000 students gather for cool beer and cooler dancing. Venice’s nightlife isn’t exactly that of Amsterdam or London or even Milan but there are enough ‘spirits’ to keep anyone going.

Gondola rides are expensive indulgences and must be undertaken as a form of ‘entertainment’; budget travellers will find one heavy on the pocket and those who are not affected by budgetary restrictions will find that it does take a while to get from point A to point B in a leisurely swaying gondola trip.

Shopping

Shopping in Venice will yield many colourful experiences and purchases; the range extends from the sublime to the ridiculous. There is the famous hand blown Murano glass, which is moulded into vases, necklace pendants and earrings and tumblers with equal beauty. Lace, which comes from the nearby island of Burano, hand painted carnival masks and fabric, designer apparel and accessories by all the big Italian names add to the variety. At the other end of the spectrum are such quirky indulgences like gondolier couture and gondola shaped pasta. Another favourite with tourists is the fish market (closed Sunday and Monday) that sits early mornings along the Rialto Bridge where restaurateurs and housewives jostle for the fresh catch against the spreading pink glow of the Venetian sun.  

The road from Santa Lucia Station to St. Mark’s Square is the haunt of the designer stores. Murano glass entices many visitors into making a short trip to the nearby island but it is also available at stores in San Marco and San Polo. Arty knickknacks like exquisitely crafted masks and painted fabric can be bought in the San Marco area. Pick up your stock of gondola memories at San Polo if you’re going for the clothes and at Cannaregio if it’s the pasta you’ve decided on. The flea market at Campo San Maurizio sits infrequently, but try your luck if you’re looking for a bargain buy.  

Most food shops are closed on Wednesday afternoons and clothes stores on Monday mornings. Small boutiques take siesta time off between 1:00 and 4 pm. Otherwise shops are mostly open from 9 am to 7:30 pm. Sales tax varies from 12% to 14 %. Non-EU members should save up the receipts for purchases over EUR 155 to get their VAT refunds.

City Getaways

A half-day’s trip to Padua, La Dotta or The Learned, will take you to the city of Italy’s second oldest university and the alma mater of Dante, Galileo, Petrarch and Levy. Padua is often treated only as the budget traveller’s accommodation alternative to Venice, but that’s a rather reductive role for it. Padua’s attractions include medieval streets that converge on bustling markets, the Basilica of San Antonio, which betrays Byzantine influences and houses the embalmed body of St. Anthony, and the Scrovegni Chapel. The Scrovegni Chapel was designed by Giotto at the peak of his genius. The frescoes in the Chapel stand testimony to the great master’s prowess. The streets of Padua were the setting for Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew; the happy madness of the tale is present in the town even today.

Padua is a 20-minute train ride from Venice. 

Verona, the city of the ‘Gentleman’, the Capulets and the Montagues is a day’s trip from Venice. Besides the legacy of Shakespeare’s dramas, the attractions of Verona are a fabulous amphitheatre, Romanesque churches and lively pubs and bars. Juliet’s balcony, the Teatro Romano, a museum of archaeology and the ramparts of the fort Castel San Pietro are only some of Verona’s attractions. Verona also hosts a hectic opera season in July and August with performances in the Arena (the ancient amphitheatre).

Verona is 1 ½ hours train journey from Venice. Accommodation in mid-size hotels is plentiful. The local tourist office is on Via del Allpini near the Arena. Telephone: (045) 8068680. Fax: (045) 8003638.
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