Italy From The Inside

Posts Tagged ‘venice’

If you have read our eBook Italy from the Inside you probably know that our goal is to give practical tips and insights about your vacation in Italy. We don’t really deal with places to stay and/or see, because there are already many wonderful guides out there that can provide this kind of information. This time, however, we will make a little exception, due to the fact that we are going to talk about how much is it worth staying closer to the heart of Venice (and maybe spending a little more money) versus staying in the outskirts.

One of the best things that can happen to you as a tourist in Venice is… getting lost. Walking in Venice is such a great experience because each calle (pedestrian street) is different and it may lead you to a bridge (ponte), a church (chiesa), an interesting store and so one. However, walking in Venice may be also exhausting, especially if you visit it during summer time. I still remember when I was a student and I used to do some research at the Biblioteca Marciana in Piazza San Marco;  I always underestimated the time it takes to walk from Saint Mark’s Square to the train station (if you wonder: it was a 25 minutes fast/anxious/”oh my God, I’ll miss the train” walk).

When two years ago we decided to spend a couple of days in Venice I had no doubts: I wanted to stay as close as possible to the center. So, I went online and found the Bed and Breakfast Zaguri which is in a super-duper convenient location:

As you can see it is only 5 minutes from Piazza San Marco and 8 minutes from the Rialto bridge. Plus, prices were very reasonable, the breakfast was delicious, the owners very gracious and it is thanks to them that I was able to make one of my long wished dreams come true: walking in the water during the high tide, because they lent me and my daughter a pair of rain boots!

Silvia and Francesca Tosolini enjoying a unique view of the Basilica di San Marco

Now, how can you beat this??

As you can learn from our eBook Italy from the inside there are many possibilities to reach Venice from the airport: you can either take the bus to Piazzale Venezia, or to Mestre train station and then take a 10 minute train ride to Venice train station. These two options are definitely the cheapest ones, but they surely don’t make you save in terms of time.

So, you may prefer to spend €15 per person and catch the public boat from the airport to the city, which, in my opinion, offers a more interesting experience for tourists. However, there’s one more option that sometimes is not taken into consideration, I think mainly for its cost, and that’s the water taxi.

The privately ran water taxi company charges €100 for a ride, which may sounds like a lot of money if you consider yourself a budget traveler. However, this price is for rides for up to 5 people which, by doing some math, translates into €20 per person. Not too bad if you consider that you don’t have to share the ride with anyone else and that you are going to be dropped to your destination (or to the closest vicinity). Besides, isn’t it better to add a great memory to your life rather than to have 50 more bucks in the bank? Well, at least this is my new philosophy…

What I’ve always loved about Venice is to get lost in its calli (narrow pedestrian streets) and find out unusual things on the way as a result.

This great example of Renaissance architecture makes you think that in Venice everything, and I really mean everything, is art.

Upon a recent visit in Murano (the island located in the Venetian lagoon, which is famous for the production of glass artifacts) we went to see a factory where the maestro del vetro was showing us his extraordinary ability to make glass items (he made a small horse in about 3 minutes, including the time he took to smoke his cigarette between one procedure and the other…).
At the end of the performance the store manager, who in the meantime explained the whole process, kindly suggested for either a monetary donation or… a beer. But even without his invitation, the sign would have been very explicit and clear.

VeniceHotel.org offers an interesting online service: the crowd forecast. If you plan to visit Venice and your dates are flexible, then it’s best to choose a time when the city is least crowded. The rooms cost less; there are shorter queues for the museums; and the city will be more enjoyable. The chart only forecasts the crowd for the next 20 days.

In our February trip to Italy, we had the opportunity to spend a day in Venice during Carnevale. I’m always fascinated by the beauty of the costumes that make their appearance in a very crowded Piazza San Marco. Children and adults line up to have their pictures taken with these wonderful ‘walking artistic expressions’. Animation, popular music and dancing bring together locals and visitors.

This short 3-mins video captures some of the spirit of this year’s Venice Carnival.

- Can’t see the video? Watch it from YouTube
- iPod version (MP4 – 13Mb)
- Zune version (WMV – 10Mb)

Napoleon called the Piazza San Marco “the finest drawing room in Europe.” Imagine to be part of this enchanted picture, sitting right in front of the cathedral, ordering a coffee while listening to a live orchestra. The Caffe’ Florian is all that. Opened in 1720, this is Italy’s oldest Cafe’. If you are traveling on a budget, you may wish to hold off on this unique experience. A simple coffee with whipped cream is $12, and the ‘music supplement’ is $6 more. That’s what I call a memorable Venetian coffee…

Venice is like no other city in the world. There are no cars to be found, because it’s build on water and the canali are its streets. Venice airport (Marco Polo) is about 8 miles far from the city. The easiest, fastest and most expensive way to reach downtown is to use a water-taxi (up to 6 people). 30 mins and Euro 100 later you’ll be at your destination.

However, if you want to save some money, you are better off taking the public transportation boat to San Marco square, or take a bus to Mestre train station (and then the train to Venice), or the bus to Venice bus station (Piazzale Roma).

Our suggestion? Take one of the cheaper transportations and save your money for your souvenir shopping. The public boat will still give you a good thrill when you’ll enter the Gran Canal.