Venice Activities
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By Dion Protani
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Latest update: 10 September 2023
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A city built on the sea, the once mightiest maritime republic of them all and the jewel in the crown of Italy is the unmistakable Venice, (Venezia in Italian).
Capital of the Metropolitan City of Venice province and home to 260,525 inhabitants, it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and also the capital of the Veneto region. Venice's sights are famous all over the world, the image of a gondolier wearing a striped jersey and typical hat while punting his boat under the Ponte Rialto (Rialto Bridge), readily comes to mind. |
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Split into six areas known as "sestieri" (sixths), Venice is the central island of the Venetian Lagoon where there are more than a hundred smaller islands, some of which are inhabited. The six sestieri are San Marco, Dorsoduro, San Polo, Santa Croce, Cannaregio and Castello with the first of those, San Marco housing what can be considered the city centre.
In the San Marco area you'll find Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) which is home to the most important basilica in the city: the Basilica di San Marco. This is also the square where you'll find the huge bell tower which you can climb (well, take the lift) and get the best views of the city. From this vantage point you can also understand the layout of the lagoon.
San Marco is home to the Doge's Palace and the famous Bridge of Sighs, so called because it led to a dungeon and once you crossed the bridge you would sigh at the knowledge of not being let out again. In my case, the bridge of wails would have been a more appropriate name.
Whether you explore Venice on foot or via its canals, it's a place where you can get lost but happily so. You'll cross hundreds of tiny bridges, each one more evocative than the last, leading to another wonderful piazza. Not one for the children, but the Nicolas Roeg film "Don't Look Now" starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie captures Venice beautifully, particularly the scenes of the main character walking around the narrow streets in silence, sometimes getting lost. It's that feeling of losing yourself in another world which to me is the main attraction of Venice.
If you prefer to let somebody else take the strain of your visit then there are the omnipresent gondolas to take advantage of. The gondoliers will serenade you as you make your way around the main sights of the city from the Grand Canal to some of the smaller places you might not have known about.
A trip in a gondola is something of an extravagance and not something you're likely to do more than once; the main mode of transport in Venice are the water buses known as "vaporetti". There are dozens of stops all around the city, marked out in a complicated map with different colours for each line.
You can use the vaporetti to visit the other islands in the lagoon. My favourite is the festival of colour that is the island of Burano, famous for the production of lace. Slightly more popular is the similarly-named Murano where they make glass; you'll find a glass museum there and dozens of shops selling the products but let's just say, they're not cheap.
The island of Torcello with its cathedral is also worth a visit; as a contrast to the throngs of people on the main island, here you'll find some respite and you can get another great view from here by climbing up the cathedral's bell tower.
It takes a while to understand how the transport system works in Venice, it's a city built on the sea after all so that alone brings a unique set of challenges. From the mainland there's a bridge that you can drive across and leads to various parking options. One of those options is the man-made island of Tronchetto which lies just at the edge of the city itself. From there you can take a vaporetto to the centre.
Venice also has a train station called Santa Lucia; this is close to the city centre and also reachable via the vaporetti while the most convenient airport to use is Venice Marco Polo Airport, located twelve kilometres outside the city and best reached by bus. The bus ride to the airport takes twenty minutes but if you have time, you can take a water bus straight from the airport to the city centre and this I think, provides the best introduction to the city.
In the San Marco area you'll find Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) which is home to the most important basilica in the city: the Basilica di San Marco. This is also the square where you'll find the huge bell tower which you can climb (well, take the lift) and get the best views of the city. From this vantage point you can also understand the layout of the lagoon.
San Marco is home to the Doge's Palace and the famous Bridge of Sighs, so called because it led to a dungeon and once you crossed the bridge you would sigh at the knowledge of not being let out again. In my case, the bridge of wails would have been a more appropriate name.
Whether you explore Venice on foot or via its canals, it's a place where you can get lost but happily so. You'll cross hundreds of tiny bridges, each one more evocative than the last, leading to another wonderful piazza. Not one for the children, but the Nicolas Roeg film "Don't Look Now" starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie captures Venice beautifully, particularly the scenes of the main character walking around the narrow streets in silence, sometimes getting lost. It's that feeling of losing yourself in another world which to me is the main attraction of Venice.
If you prefer to let somebody else take the strain of your visit then there are the omnipresent gondolas to take advantage of. The gondoliers will serenade you as you make your way around the main sights of the city from the Grand Canal to some of the smaller places you might not have known about.
A trip in a gondola is something of an extravagance and not something you're likely to do more than once; the main mode of transport in Venice are the water buses known as "vaporetti". There are dozens of stops all around the city, marked out in a complicated map with different colours for each line.
You can use the vaporetti to visit the other islands in the lagoon. My favourite is the festival of colour that is the island of Burano, famous for the production of lace. Slightly more popular is the similarly-named Murano where they make glass; you'll find a glass museum there and dozens of shops selling the products but let's just say, they're not cheap.
The island of Torcello with its cathedral is also worth a visit; as a contrast to the throngs of people on the main island, here you'll find some respite and you can get another great view from here by climbing up the cathedral's bell tower.
It takes a while to understand how the transport system works in Venice, it's a city built on the sea after all so that alone brings a unique set of challenges. From the mainland there's a bridge that you can drive across and leads to various parking options. One of those options is the man-made island of Tronchetto which lies just at the edge of the city itself. From there you can take a vaporetto to the centre.
Venice also has a train station called Santa Lucia; this is close to the city centre and also reachable via the vaporetti while the most convenient airport to use is Venice Marco Polo Airport, located twelve kilometres outside the city and best reached by bus. The bus ride to the airport takes twenty minutes but if you have time, you can take a water bus straight from the airport to the city centre and this I think, provides the best introduction to the city.
Venice Sightseeing A to z Index
Each of the main sights in Venice is featured on the website with its own individual page, listed below in alphabetical order.
Basilica di San Marco
Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute
Burano
Bridge of Sighs
Doge's Palace
Gallerie dell'Accademia
Murano
Murano Glass Museum
Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Piazza San Marco
Ponte dell'Accademia
Ponte Rialto
Saint Mark's Bell Tower
San Francesco della Vigna Bell Tower
San Giorgio Maggiore
Scuola Grande di San Rocco
Six Sestieri of Venice
Teatro La Fenice
Torcello
Venetian Lagoon Islands
Venice Grand Canal
Venice Lagoon
Venice Lido
Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute
Burano
Bridge of Sighs
Doge's Palace
Gallerie dell'Accademia
Murano
Murano Glass Museum
Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Piazza San Marco
Ponte dell'Accademia
Ponte Rialto
Saint Mark's Bell Tower
San Francesco della Vigna Bell Tower
San Giorgio Maggiore
Scuola Grande di San Rocco
Six Sestieri of Venice
Teatro La Fenice
Torcello
Venetian Lagoon Islands
Venice Grand Canal
Venice Lagoon
Venice Lido
Venice Travel
Venice Santa Lucia Train Station
Santa Lucia Train Station, Venice
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Venice Waterbus Vaporetto Map
Venice Waterbus/Vaporetto Map
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