All you need to know to enjoy Venice like a local
Some ancient cities will charm you with their faded grandeur - a myriad of scattered details telling a story of past glory and present pride. Some villages will enchant you with their character - old stone slabs paving pedestrian alleyways, colourful potted flowers growing on windowsills, and clean laundry merrily waving in the wind from clotheslines reminiscent of sails. Some art destinations will inspire you with their wide cultural offering - masterpieces leaving you speechless in the most unexpected places and a list of galleries and museums defying any visiting schedule. Some seaside towns will invigorate you - the salt in the humid breeze tangling your hair and crumbling the render on buildings’ corners. Some iconic places will humble you - natives smugly equating their origin to a royal pedigree while enduring countless trials in their everyday lives just to remain in their beloved hometown.
And then there is Venice, which will do all of the above.
There is something mythical about this city, whose stilts were probably never planted in the muddy bottom of the lagoon to endure centuries of saltwater, marine tides, and these days the waves of motorised water traffic. Not to mention the weight of stone, marble, and glass of hundreds of lavish palaces. Because, against all odds, this small collection of islands came to be the wealthiest and most powerful centre in Europe, a role it held for centuries.
It is the aura of magic and legend surrounding Venice that grants it a place in most people’s bucket list. It must be seen to be believed.
But its uniqueness also means that no one goes fully prepared for it, no matter the amount of research preceding the visit.
What makes me say it? The fact that I was born and raised just across the causeway that separates it from the mainland (and without which the world would be an island, according to Venetians), I resided there for various years while attending university and later working, I have family still calling it home, and I visit it on a regular basis... And yet I often come across something I had not factored.
All my life Venice has awed and challenged me at the same time, and I suspect it will have the same effect on you.
But the good news is that my long relationship with the city has resulted in a recipe of tricks and practices that can conjure a very satisfying visit. And I am here to share it with you.
Read on for my top tips to enjoy a visit to my Venezia and experience it like a local.
Contents
‣ Be aware of the tourist seasons and plan accordingly
‣ Explore before the rest and beyond the usual suspects
‣ Base yourself in the old city
‣ Eat like a local at bacaros
‣ Get lost
‣ Take advantage of the gondola traghetto (ferry gondola)
‣ Don’t litter and be aware of other forbidden behaviours to avoid hefty fines
‣ Understand the public bathroom situation
‣ Wear comfortable shoes
‣ Give some consideration to what you are wearing
Be aware of the tourist seasons and plan accordingly
We may not always be free to choose our travel dates, but it’s always a good idea to be aware of the tourist seasons and to arrive prepared to avoid disappointment.
The peak tourist season in Venice stretches between June and September, while November to February tend to be the quietest months of the year.
PEAK SEASON
Between June and September Venice receives the majority of its visitors.
Around such time, the weather is hot and humid, with average high temperatures ranging between 30 and 35 degrees Celsius (between 86 and 95 Fahrenheit). Light, loose clothes will be your best friends along with hats and plenty of water. Keep in mind that shade and green spaces are scarce in the city, so make sure you mix outside wanders with museum, gallery, and shop visits. Mosquito repellent is also a good ally at dusk, especially if you plan to enjoy an alfresco dinner; perhaps try to apply it before you are surrounded by fellow diners.
Another peak season window opens around the Carnival, an annual festival during which people are traditionally allowed to wear masks and costumes for the two weeks preceding lent. The Carnival's most happening (and busy) days are Sundays, the final Thursday, and Shrove Tuesday. The weather is highly dependent on what month the celebrations fall into, but it tends to be on the cooler side. You can check the current dates on the official event website.
It goes without saying that high season means crowds. In the summer, you will often find yourself literally rubbing shoulders with hundreds of other sweaty bodies (90% of which are other visitors), competing with you for a corner of shade, the iconic views, or a slice of pizza. Expect long queues at tourist attractions, standstills in the narrower passages, and often picture frenzies at the Instagram spots.
However, do not despair, you can buy entry tickets to museums and galleries on Tiquets to skip the queues. So make a plan of what you would like to see, and book all your entrances accordingly; I particularly recommend this strategy for magnets like St Mark's Basilica and Doge's Palace. There are cumulative passes that can simplify your life, but you can otherwise book tickets in advance for individual attractions.
Also, crowds tend to be at their worst around the big famous sights, but once you have ticked those off your list, there are always pockets of peace to be found if you know where to look. Read on to the next tip for some suggestions on how to enjoy the high season.
One final aspect to be aware of if you are planning to be in Venice between May and September, is the recently introduced €5 entry fee for day visitors accessing the city between 8:30am to 4pm on some of the peak season weekends. Those with booked accommodation within the municipality (which includes mainland cities like Mestre and Marghera) are exempt from the payment, but still need to apply for an exemption from the Venezia Unica website.
If you are planning to be based further out, you can check if you are required to pay and start the procedure for the payment from the same website here.
LOW SEASON
Most of the difficulties of the high season disappear in winter, which comes with a lot of perks and just a few downsides. I won’t hide that this is my favourite time to visit the city: Venezia in the cold season is a romantic dream tinted with a touch of nostalgia that’s almost too easy to fall in love with. Distant bell tower silhouettes mysteriously emerge from the low morning and evening fog, golden streetlamp halo reflections quietly wave on the canal surfaces, and the solid pavement stones and the old marble walls glitter in the drizzle. It may be cold and it will be humid, but with no need to reserve restaurants or book tickets for museums and galleries in advance, you will be free to decide where to find shelter at your own pace. Plus, no winter blues can’t be cured at a cosy bacaro (more about this later).
Without the crowds you can see Venice for what it really is, a masterpiece of human ingenuity with an intriguing story at every corner. You can notice details, make spontaneous decisions, and even see Venetians enjoying their city, temporarily reclaimed from the masses.
If you can cope with cooler temperatures, you just cannot regret seeing Venice in winter.
Explore before the rest and beyond the usual suspects
Venice is a feeling, an atmosphere, not a set of famous views to tick off a list. You will deprive yourself of a chance to truly understand its soul if you limit your wanders to St Mark’s square, Rialto bridge, and the main city arteries. This is particularly true between June and September, when the notorious spots are guaranteed to be crowded and noisy – conditions hardly conducive to an immersive experience.
To really feel in touch with Venice, I recommend two strategies:
- unless it’s low season, wake up early before the hordes of day trippers (which apparently make up two thirds of visitors) arrive. That can mean VERY early in the summer, enough to be out of the door just after sunrise or even earlier. This may sound excessive but if you manage to get past the initial struggles of an early rise, I guarantee you will see the best side of the city and will be probably surprised at how lively it already is. It’s an enchanting and civilised time of the day: quieter, cooler, cleaner.
- extend your explorations to the whole city. The further you venture beyond the touristy enclaves around St Mark’s Square and Rialto Bridge, the closer you will get to authentic Venice. Not only will you find some respite from the commercial pastiche that taints some of the iconic sights, but also thinner crowds will bring you a little peace, a slower pace, and a sharper focus on what count: the uniqueness of the place, its details, sounds, and energy. And you will get a glimpse of the real everyday life in what is still, despite appearances, an inhabited city.
In the main residential areas of Cannaregio, Castello, and to some extent Dorsoduro, you may witness local ladies gossiping from window to window, rowboats quietly negotiating the canals, students drinking spritz at rickety outdoor metal tables, children playing football in the squares, Venetian old timers discussing current affairs over a coffee or a wine at bar counters, mothers pushing strollers up and down bridges, and grandmas shopping at small bakeries and delis. Sure, in some parts the palaces aren’t as opulent and the architecture not as monumental as elsewhere, but restaurants are more authentic and better priced, museums and galleries are refreshingly quiet, and locals are friendly and helpful.
For an even higher sense of novelty, you can hop on a waterbus for the motorised island of Lido, where iconic grand hotels still attest to the island’s past as an aristocratic seaside destination. These days the long sandy beaches offer some relief from the summer heat, while Hollywood royalty hangs out at the old hotels during the annual Film Festival.
It always pays off to join an off-the-beaten-path or secret Venice kind of tour, where knowledgeable guides introduce you to some fascinating corners of the city, give you an insight into its ancient customs, and share the intriguing stories behind details that could easily go unnoticed. And if you are a lover of mysteries and dark tales, you will find plenty of tours to satisfy your inclinations too. I am always awed by the local folklore in Venice. After all these years, I am still learning about all sorts of legends and traditions.
Base yourself in the old city
As prices for accommodation and visitor numbers have soared in the old historical centre of Venice, so have bookings on the mainland just off the city. Towns like Mestre and Marghera, both located just before the causeway to Venice, offer economical options albeit in far less picturesque settings.
I was born in Mestre, my parents still live there, and I have some advice for you: don’t do it. Day trippers to Venice, even if they repeat the visit a number of days in a row, miss out on the real deal.
If overnighting on the mainland, you would start your day with a bus or a train journey that gets to the outskirts of the historical city. You would deprive yourself of the joy of walking out of your hotel and stepping on the old stone pavement in the fresh morning air, the aroma of brewing coffee spilling out of bars, and seagull cries replacing street traffic noise. Another experience you don't want to miss is Venice at night, when crowds are thinner, and the city shimmers with the gentle glow of lampposts and the merry warm lights of restaurants.
Finally, if staying on the mainland, your daily explorations will always start at one remote end of the old town, either Piazzale Roma, the terminus of all buses, or the railway station. That will result in time-consuming jogs or expensive waterbus rides to reach neighbourhoods like iconic St Mark’s or authentic Castello. Instead, if your accommodation is in Venice proper, you will be already at the centre of the action and will have the opportunity to take different exploratory directions every day for a more varied and interesting visit.
Eat like a local at bacaros
Forget the old formula of perusing menus during the day to select a single restaurant for dinner. In Venice you can fill your belly all day long with cicchetti, tapas-style portions of very flavourful food that are available throughout the city in rustic but welcoming eating joints generally called bacaro. Most bars and numerous restaurants offer various kinds of snacks too. And, despite some joints trying to glamourise this type of food by using exotic ingredients and pricing them accordingly, authentic cicchetti are always reasonably priced at around €2 each.
Eating at a bacaro is one of the most genuine and delectable ways to experience Venice. In fact, if you don’t try at least one of these typical nibbles, you will miss out on a major local cultural staple.
The most common type of cicchetti is a slice of bread garnished with one of a variety of toppings, usually featuring fish (a quintessential cicchetto is a slice of bread topped with buttery whipped cod - baccalà mantecato) but often coming with vegetarian or meat options. Alternatively, you may find tramezzini (triangular all-white bread sandwiches with mayo and a wide choice of filling combinations), fish or meat balls, mini sandwiches with cold cuts, and smaller portions of traditional dishes such as deep-fried sardines on a bed of marinated onion (sarde in saor), stuffed grilled squid, or polenta accompanying either a slice of traditional sticky pork sausage or small prawns in tomato sauce. The options are vast and all equally delicious. Vegetarians will have a little less choice but the majority of good bacaros will have something catering for them too. I am one and never go hungry.
What I usually do is pick a bacaro to start and then eat my way through the city, stopping at various other locations throughout the afternoon or the early evening. However, sometimes I end up settling in a spot where there are enough cicchetti options and seating space for me to comfortably end my rambles there.
But you don’t need to necessarily make it a full meal. If you are feeling a little hungry, just try a cicchetto that tickles your fancy, and that will refuel you for a little longer along your day.
A great way to properly experience this unique food culture is by joining a tour where a local guide will take you to some of the most authentic spots and relieve you from the burden of the bacaro choice and from the potential indecision on what to order.
I will prepare dedicated guides of all Venetian neighbourhoods and indicate my favourite bacaros in each of them. But until I get around to doing it, a guided tour through the world of cicchetti could be a perfect introduction to this Venetian culinary tradition. Also please feel free to drop me a direct message using the 'Get in touch' button at the foot of the page or ask me any questions via the ‘Comments’ space below.
Get lost
“We’ve been here before!” cried my friend Delia with a hopeless expression. It was a very late Saturday night and half an hour earlier we had disembarked on the shore by St Mark’s square from a friend’s boat, after attending a party on one of the small islands. We were going home to Cannaregio, or better, trying to. As Delia realised a second before me, rather than advancing towards our destination, we had just completed a loop and returned somewhere we had already been. We were going in circles in an unfamiliar area. The dim light of the lampposts didn’t help us much in finding our way, and neither did the lack of open shops and restaurants that could have been used for reference. But I found the moment exhilarating: the old city was playing tricks on us and turning our walk home into an adventure. We eventually made it home, but having to proceed with a heightened awareness of our surroundings made us appreciate the journey and the atmospheric setting a lot more than if we had just mindlessly walked through it.
Getting lost is a quintessential Venetian experience, one that nobody is exempt from. With its dense maze of irregularly shaped alleyways looking confusingly like one another, Venice can get the better of locals too, as my little anecdote demonstrates.
Unless there are time restrictions, the best thing to do is surrender to the city and let her lead you through her maze. And you can do so with the most carefree mindset as Venice is extremely safe. There are a couple of perks in adopting this strategy:
If you don’t get lost, you will only see what you were planning to see, while wandering off-path can lead to precious discoveries such as an unexpected vista, a hidden restaurant, a fortuitous encounter, or a little gem only locals are aware of. And other times, you may even end up somewhere you were hoping to see, only by a completely improvised route. Leave the door open for the unplanned and let the magic unfold.
Let’s be pragmatic here: since you could get lost whether you like it or not, you may as well try to enjoy it. It’s all fine and well when you follow the main pedestrian traffic, but turning into a small side street or even trusting Google Maps to find the best way to a particular address could easily toss you into the cunning maze. Yes, you read that right: Google Maps is not to be trusted in Venice.
Tip | If you are lost and need to ask directions back to your hotel, don’t even try to give the street address. Unless you are a mailman in Venice, city addresses are meaningless. They are usually formed by the name of the neighbourhood followed by a house number but, without the indication of a street, the way these numbers are assigned around a whole neighbourhood is a bit of a mystery. Venetians navigate their city by remembering names of alleys, bridges, squares, and businesses. I recommend you do the same and memorise the names of a few calles, shops, and restaurants that look prominent in the area around your accommodation. Locals should be able to direct you there.
Take advantage of the gondola traghetto (ferry gondola)
With a surface of merely 7.6 square kilometres (less than 3 square miles) Venice is not a large city by any account, and even wandering aimlessly you will never end up in the middle of nowhere. There just isn't a middle of nowhere in the city.
However, the city doesn’t really do straight lines, and connecting spots is usually done in a meandering way that can make a short distance feel a lot longer. Plus, none of us fancies stepping inside a museum or a restaurant feeling tired or frustrated from the jog there or the crowds slowing the pace. So, when you have a destination in mind across the city, an appointment to make (like a pre-booked entry to a museum), or you simply can’t bear the thought of another bridge climb, some knowledge of public transport can make your life easier.
Venice has a waterbus and ferry network that connects most points of the lagoon. This is your only public transport option to reach islands such as Murano, Burano, Torcello, Lido, and Giudecca. With leisurely speeds of up to 15km/h (but the Grand Canal speed limit is 7km - 4.35 miles - per hour, so sit back and relax) journeys on vaporettos (waterbuses) can feel more like a casual boat trip than a fast connection to your destination. If you have a deadline for your arrival, make sure you budget plenty of time for the boat to take you there. Also, be prepared to dish out €9.50 for a standard one-way ticket valid for 75 minutes. There are a few cumulative passes for 24 hours and for 2, 3, and 7 days that work out a little cheaper if you are planning to use waterbuses regularly.
However, my favourite way to shorten walking journeys in Venice is the gondola traghetto (ferry gondola), which very efficiently connects spots on opposite sides of the Grand Canal and thus overcomes one of the main constraints to the ‘freedom to roam’ in Venice: the existence of only four bridges across the biggest city waterway. Usually, visiting neighbourhoods on opposite sides of the canal requires to first find a way to the nearest of these four bridges, but the gondola traghetto adds four additional crossing spots. And it only costs €2.00 per person, which doesn’t even come close to covering the fun of the experience. Manoeuvred by a team of two real gondoliers, these larger versions of the classic Venetian boat load passengers (usually up to ten people) at either side of the Grand Canal and deliver them directly across. Once on the other side, passengers dismount and are replaced by a returning bunch. And so on. I am always entertained by the show put up by these skilled rowers as they negotiate the traffic of larger boats on the canal and, in the process, even find the opportunity for a chit chat with other passing captains.
This map shows all four gondola docks:
‣ Santa Sofia (Cannaregio district) ↹ Rialto Market (San Polo district)
8:30am – 7pm Mon-Fri
9am – 6pm Sat, Sun and holidays
‣ Riva del Carbon (St Mark’s district) ↹ Riva del Vin (San Polo district)
9am – 12pm Mon-Fri
Closed on Sat-Sun and holidays
‣ San Tomà (San Polo district) ↹ Calle del Traghetto (St Mark’s district)
8.30am – 7pm Mon-Fri
9am – 6:30pm Sat-Sun and holidays
‣ Santa Maria del Giglio (St Mark’s district) ↹ Salute (Dorsoduro district)
9am - 6pm Mon-Sun
Please take the working hours with a pinch of salt. I have always found the San Tomà and the Santa Maria del Giglio gondolas operative within the official hours, but the other two can have erratic opening times.
You can zoom in and out using the + and - buttons in the bottom-left corner of the map or with your mouse wheel. Clicking on any of the pins will open a side panel with the name and working hours of the gondola on that location.
You can also click on the rectangle button on the top-right corner to view the map in Google Maps as a separate tab of your browser or in the relevant app if you are using a smartphone.
Don’t litter and be aware of other forbidden behaviours to avoid hefty fines
I am sure you will have once or twice (or a hundred times) heard Venice being compared to an open-air museum; well, the comparison really isn’t so farfetched. This complex of unique architecture, canals, bridges, wells, fountains, squares is an extraordinary work of art that has survived for hundreds of years, but that is also constantly threatened by overtourism and climate change.
It shouldn’t therefore come as a surprise that the city council compiled a list of behaviours considered harmful to Venice and its delicate heritage. These behaviours are punishable with fines and can even result in a ban from the area.
Overall, there is nothing groundbreaking in the list, and if you appeal to your civic sense you shouldn’t get in trouble.
For example, if you’re not at the beach, then why should you go around in your beachwear or bare-chested and risk a fine of €250? Also, some Venetians (my dad is one of them) may reminisce fondly of their childhood days when they would dive from the bridges into the clean water of the canals, but no local has intentionally swum in the canals for at least fifty years, so there is no reason for you to do so. That is unless you want to befriend the healthy rat population and, if caught, pay €350.
The ban on littering comes with a €350 fine attached. While I hope none of us is shocked at this ban, respecting it can require some planning. It is always a good idea to carry around a plastic bag (they are recyclable in Italy) to collect all your trash and recycling throughout the day, especially because garbage bins are widespread in the main public areas but disperse quickly as you venture into the smaller side alleyways. If you have any recycling with you, please make the effort to take it back to your room or apartment and follow the disposal rules of the hotel or landlord.
Tip | A great way to reduce plastic waste and save a penny is to carry a refillable bottle and take advantage of the numerous public fountains providing clean potable water all around the city. The water is safe to drink, and it is always refreshingly cool in the summer, no matter the outside temperature. At this link you can find an official map of all these fountains.
Other forbidden behaviours include feeding pigeons (that cliché picture in St Mark’s square could cost you between €25 and €500), riding bikes unless led by hand from Piazzale Roma to the train station, and camping in public areas (the €200 fine is way higher than a campsite spot, so best not risk it).
Last but not least, please do not consume food or drinks sitting on bridges, wells, church steps, or canal banks. That’s not what they are there for and could end up stained or damaged. There are a few parks with shaded benches where you can take your snacks and enjoy a picnic without risking of being fined. But please dispose of your rubbish responsibly.
Good public garden options are:
- in Cannaregio district: Savorgnan Park and Villa Groggia Park
- in Santa Croce district: Papadopoli Gardens
- in St Mark's district: Royal Gardens
- in Castello district: Marinaressa Gardens, Castello Gardens, and Saint Elena's pine forest (Parco delle Rimembranze)
Understand the public bathroom situation
For a small ancient city, in recent years Venice has made significant improvements to provide its population and visitors with public hygienic facilities.
At long last, the uncomfortable days of ordering something at a bar just to dart to their restrooms are over. For most of my years living in Venice, that was the only available option, and it sure wasn’t cheap; plus, by ordering a drink at a bar I was creating the conditions for another bathroom stop not too long after that, in a diabolical self-feeding spiral of drinks and pees.
Thankfully, the council has put in place a system of attended public bathrooms that are regularly cleaned and can be found scattered all over the city.
The only caveat is that they can be a little tricky to find, so it’s helpful to familiarise yourself with their locations beforehand. Veritas, the public body that manages sanitation services in Venice, has a very helpful page with a map of all the public restroom locations and their opening hours. You may want to pin these locations to your Maps app.
One final thing: to access these facilities you will need €1.50 in change to release the turnstiles at the entrance - if you don't have exact change the bathroom staff can often help. This could sound like a steep price, but back in the day you would have had to pay for a drink at a bar to use their bathrooms, and that was way more expensive.
Wear comfortable shoes
Sore feet or joints spell disaster in a walking city like Venice.
I cannot stress this enough: you will be on your feet a lot. Not only will you be walking and standing on a hard stone pavement for most of your time, but you will also be climbing up and down bridges of all sizes and hopping in and out of vessels.
It will be a performance test for your shoes, I guarantee it. I happened to get blisters and sore knees after a day walking in Venice despite wearing the same shoes I wore comfortably in other circumstances.
In fact, it may not be a bad idea to bring a couple of pairs, just in case one fails to work as you expected. Make sure at least one is waterproof, especially if visiting in fall or spring. Trainers are not a bad idea, but I would recommend also packing a less sporty pair if you are planning to eat out in elegant restaurants. Ladies, feel free to bring your stilettos but reserve them for classy dinners only.
Give some consideration to what you are wearing
Although there’s a lot to be said for a great personality or a sharp mind, we Italians also pay some attention at how we present ourselves. It’s part of our culture, and we consider it a form of respect towards others. So, if you want to fit in with the local population, give some consideration to what you wear.
No one expects you to be dressed for a gala (in fact that could produce the opposite effect of being seen as extravagant), and in a walking city you should always prioritise comfortable outfits. But smart casual is the style you should err towards rather than sporty. I strongly advise all genders against skimpy tops and dresses (bare shoulders and knees can also deny you admission to any church), and no matter how hot it is, never EVER walk around bare-chested or in a swimsuit – as stated earlier, it is illegal, and you could be fined €250.