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Venice

TRAVEL GUIDE

GALLERY

The Fodor's Five

The five things you need to know before traveling to Venice

# 1

Venice is more than one island. You can’t see St. Mark’s and Murano in one day.

The main island of Venice is a pleasantly walkable size, but there’s a lot packed into its narrow streets. Most visitors make a beeline for St. Mark’s Square, the city’s grandiose piazza with a 900-year-old church. Just down the waterfront, you'll find the melancholy Bridge of Sighs. These sights are must-sees, but they are a minute part of what there is to experience in Venice. Try splitting your itinerary using the city’s six sestieri, or neighborhoods, plus another day or two for the outlying islands like Murano, Burano, and Torcello.

# 2

Don’t eat pizza in Venice. Venice has its own unique cuisine.

When in Venice, eat like the Venetians. Take a raincheck on pizza—best eaten in its birthplace Naples—and explore some island specialities. Venice’s larder is its lagoon, filled with marine life that thrives on the mix of fresh and salty water. Have a wander around the historic fish market to see the products on offer from clams to cuttlefish. Prior to diving into dinner, make sure you partake in the aperitivo ritual of spritz and a few cicchetti, like bread topped with creamy baccalà cod mousse or mini squid in a rich tomato sauce. Vegetarians won’t go hungry either—the island of Sant’Erasmo in the lagoon is famed for its flavor-packed vegetables.

Read More: The 15 Best Restaurants in Venice

# 3

Remember that tourist numbers dwarf Venice’s resident population.

A local campaign group released statistics in 2023 that showed beds for tourists outnumbered the resident population for the first time. There are now under 50,000 inhabitants in Venice but some days see double that number of visitors. It is imperative for tourists to behave responsibly and respect residents, from walking on the right to keeping noise down at night. Bridges are not picnic spots and swimming in the canals is strictly forbidden—not to mention thoroughly unhygienic.

# 4

If you don’t see Venice from the water, you miss half the city

Gondola rides aren’t generally your best use of time or money—usually, you find yourself in a traffic jam with other tourists along waterways you can see on foot—but you should board a boat at some point in Venice. The vaporetti, or waterbuses, get you from A to B and are the standard form of transport in the city, so worth experiencing just for that. Better yet: book a ride with a local company that will take you around the backstreets or out into the lagoon on a small boat. Best, however, is to try punting a traditional boat yourself with a rowing lesson. You’ll slow down and see the city from a whole new angle.

# 5

Masks and Murano glass aren’t the only souvenirs from Venice.

Masks and Murano glass are two of the most famous products from Venice, so they’ve also spawned a whole business of knock-offs. There are places where you can purchase high-quality hand-made versions of these crafts, but there are also hundreds of small-scale artisans hidden around the city creating other exquisite products. You can find historic papermaking shops, glass bead jewellery, and sumptuous woven fabrics or contemporary art galleries, sculptures from canal detritus, and candles mimicking iconic architectural motifs.