VENICE | City Guide - 1 day in Venice 🇮🇹
Venice is part of an 8 days trip through northern Italy!
If you want to know more about the complete trip, click here.
I will start this post with a conflict of interest statement: Venice is my absolute city in Europe I have visited so far! If you are visiting this fantastic city, hope you have such an amazing experience as I have in the few moments I had the opportunity to go there and learn something new between the channels.
“It is the city of mirrors, the city of mirages, at once solid and liquid, at once air and stone.”
Erica Jon
As the capital of the Veneto Region of Northern Italy, Venice lies on 117 small islands that are connected by a series of bridges and separated by a network of canals. It is one of the most visited tourist destinations in Italy. Venice is a city surrounded by beauty and historical buildings. You have so much to see and walk when visiting Venice, you can have a hard time choosing what to see: from the wide variety of museums, churches, palaces and villas, to the famous islands of Murano and Burano, you can have a day full of experiences without any doubt.
Where to go? What to see? What to eat? In this city guide, we present you the route we did in the Summer of 2019, a trip we absolutely loved and think its a must for young couples.
Tip 1: Transportation around Venice can be very expensive. This way, arriving in Venice, start your day buying the Vaporetto travel card ticket, the easiest and simplest way to travel between stops and islands. From the Chanel boats, you can also get a pretty stunning view of the city.
1. Ponte degli Scalzi & Grand Canal
Time: 30 min | ★★★★✩
Venice has hundreds of canals (literally!), that connect the various islands that make up the city. The largest of those is the Grand Canal, that resembles a river and passes from one side of Venice to the other in a large S bend shape.
Only four bridges span the grand canal. The Ponte degli Scalzi (literally, "bridge of the barefoot"), is one of only those four bridges, and will give you the best view to the Grand Canal.
2. Ponte di Rialto
Time: 30 min | ★★★★★
This is the most iconic and breathtaking bridge you will find walking through Venice. Crossing the Ponte di Rialto, you will feel like you’re in a Hollywood movie.
Tip 2: On your way between places, you will find so many beautiful places to take some pictures you won't have enought poses to strike.
3. Piazza di San Marco
Three of Venice’s major sites are located in this undoubtedly most famous and visited square:
• the Basilica di San Marco;
• the Torre dell’Orologio;
• the Doge’s Palace.
Time: 90 min | ★★★★★
Take your tome to visit all the three monuments and maybe have a coffee or lunch in the few stores located around the piazza. Here, you can also enjoy to buy some souvenirs.
4. Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute
Time: 60 min | ★★★★✩
Get ready to have a nice and long walk to the next destination: the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. This Basilica sits on the opposite side of the grand canal, but gives you a quite remarkable view of Venice.
5. Ride a Vaporetto through the Grand Canal
Time: 60 min | ★★★★★
It’s time for you to take advantage of the Vaporetto ticket you bought. Take one of the boats that heads thought the grand canal to the Ponte degli Scalzi: you will love the trip!
6. Venetian Islands (Murano, Burano and Torcello)
Time: 60 min | ★★★✩✩
Get ready for a long journey sailing as you take the long trip to visit Murano, Burano and Torcello. You can visit all of the three, as all of them are connected by Vapporeto, however I you are on a narrow schedule, we recommend you to visit Murano, famous for its glass blowing factories that are established here, and Burano, that resembles a cute mini-replica of Venice.
7. The Bridge of Sighs
Time: 15 min | ★★★★✩
The Bridge of Sighs, known as the Ponte dei Sospiri in Italian, passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the Dogi's Palace to the Prigioni, the prisons that were built across the canal in the late 16th century. It is one of the most famous bridges in the world. It is interesting to know where it’s name comes from: once convicts received their sentence, they had to cross this bridge to go from the interrogation rooms to the prison, so this was the last thing they saw before their incarceration, and many sighs could be heard as they walked through the bridge.
8. Venetian Ghetto (Cannaregio)
Time: 60 min | ★★★✩✩
Filled with numerous Jewish restaurants, a museum and synagogues, this area remains a fascinating source of culture and history, as it was the world’s first ghetto.
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If you want to know more about the complete trip, click here.