Venice, Italy has been one of my top places to visit for years. There’s simply no other place like it in the world, and particularly with the city experiencing devastating flooding in 2019 and the ongoing effects of climate change, I realized it wasn’t the kind of trip to put off forever.
We had the opportunity to visit Rome and Florence during our honeymoon in 2009, but it’s taken 14 years for us to get back to Italy. Thanks to a pandemic-instilled wanderlust and binge-watching Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy series on CNN, the desire to revisit the country was at an all-time high the last couple of years.
In Summer 2022, we decided to book our dream Venice trip for the following July, arriving on the 4th of all days, and staying for five nights. With a just under a year to plan, we consulted friends who’d visited before, scoured blogs and travel websites, and saved Instagram posts and reels with all of the must-dos.
I created a trusty Google Doc to plot out our days, which thankfully wouldn’t be as painstakingly packed as our previous trips to places like Paris and Hawaii. The benefit of a shorter trip in a smaller city — we knew we still wouldn’t be able to see everything, but overall it felt manageable, the perfect balance of locking in some meals and tours while leaving time to just get lost.
Now that the trip has come and gone, I’m still in my Aperol Spritz haze. Venice was everything I hoped and yet exceeded all expectations at the same time. From the kindness and pride of the Venetian people to the gems that can be found around every corner, Venice has my heart forever.
Here is a recap of our favorite sights, bites, and highlights during our trip to Venice.
Where we stayed
Thanks to my husband Zack’s affinity for using points and miles to score great deals on airfare and hotels, we were able to use Marriott points to stay at the beautiful JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa on Isola delle Rose, a private island across the lagoon from Venice. The resort provided a complimentary water shuttle to and from St. Mark’s Square every half hour; depending on time of day and traffic on the water, the ride took anywhere from 15-20 minutes.
We arrived by private water taxi from Marco Polo Airport, which was prearranged through the hotel. Upon seeing so many tourists dragging suitcases down the narrow streets and across bridges to get to their hotels and Airbnbs in the city, I realized how convenient it really was to hop off the boat and already be at our destination.
While we weren’t staying in the heart of Venice, the resort was truly an oasis, with gardens and greenspace across the island and a rooftop pool with an incredible view of the city across the water. After a long day of walking and exploring the city, the resort was a wonderful reprieve.
The resort was very family friendly; I could see how having a hotel with pools and all of the outdoor space to play would be attractive to those traveling to Venice with kids, compared to staying in the city itself.
While we had to be mindful of travel time and the shuttle boat schedule throughout our visit, the JW Marriott was a beautiful, peaceful resort and a great choice for experiencing Venice for the first time.
Tours/activities we booked
We’ve found that in traveling to a new city, planning at least a couple of guided tours gives such helpful context, historically and geographically. While it’s fun to explore and navigate on our own, we’ve always enjoyed balancing that free time with local tours.
One of the experiences I booked as a Father’s Day gift to Zack was an Airbnb Experience called Insta-Venice, which included a walking tour and photo shoot. We had such a fun time doing our Paris photos in 2019 that it felt like a great way to capture photos of the two of us in another picturesque city, while also learning about areas of Venice. Our guide and photographer was Devin, a Venice local who provided us with such a fun evening. We booked this experience for our first full day, which gave us a great lay of the land and the opportunity to get some delicious recommendations for places to eat. We’re still awaiting the photos, but I know we’ll treasure them.
We also booked a day trip to the islands of Murano and Burano through Viator, a company we’ve used for other guided tours on vacation. We only had about 20 people at most in our tour group, which included a private boat that would take us to the two islands.
Murano is known for its storied history of glassmaking, and we’d heard from many people that we needed to see a glassblowing demonstration during our trip.
The glassblowing demonstration was absolutely fascinating to watch and we had the opportunity to visit the gallery’s store. We purchased Murano glasses for ourselves and my mom, who was watching our girls for the week, as well as a Christmas ornament. Due to rainy weather that morning and limited time, we didn’t have the chance to explore Murano.
We then traveled by boat to Burano, where we visited one of the lace stores before getting about an hour to explore the island. Burano is known for its heritage of lacemaking and Instagram-worthy colorful buildings. I wish we’d had more time to enjoy Burano, and would plan to arrange a water taxi or take the vaporetto waterbus to the island next time. One of the fascinating things we learned about the lacemaking in Burano is that it is becoming a dying art, not just because of automation and technology, but because the young women of Burano have more opportunities to pursue their interests and education compared to the older generations of women.
While our time was limited for visiting both islands, ultimately I was thankful to have an organized tour to experience Murano and Burano and gain some of that historical context.
Finally, we booked what I would consider a must-do when visiting Venice: an after-hours tour of St. Mark’s Basilica and Doge’s Palace through Viator. There were a few factors that went into choosing this specific tour. Knowing that most people recommended a “skip the line” tour to avoid crowds and that we’d want to learn about the history of the buildings, going on our own didn’t sound like a great idea. And visiting St. Mark’s Basilica would require wearing pants/longer sleeves, which made going in the evening much more appealing, especially in July. This particular tour had excellent reviews, and I’m so glad we booked it.
Our guide Elena was a marvelous storyteller and gave us so many great details throughout the tour; I found this interview with her on the Rick Steves website. She’s wonderful! For the tour, our group size was about 25 people. We started in the Doge’s Palace, which was nearly cleared out of tourists by the time we began walking through at around 6:15pm. We visited several areas of the palace, walked through the Bridge of Sighs, and saw some of the prison cells.
We were given an hour break to grab dinner before entering St. Mark’s Basilica around 9:30pm. Along with the other small groups from the tour company, there were only about 100 of us in the entire church. The most spiritual experience came when we had the chance to sit down in the church while security guards cut out all of the lights, then re-lit the church from complete darkness. The lights danced along the gold of the domed ceilings. It was truly breathtaking, quiet, and unique. No other tour or visit of St. Mark’s would provide this type of experience. We also had the opportunity to visit the crypt and see parts of the church others don’t see. The entire tour lasted nearly 4.5 hours, including our dinner break, and it was one of our favorite parts of the trip. I can’t recommend it enough.
While we didn’t book a tour, we also visited the Peggy Guggenheim Collection on our first full day. The museum is set in Peggy’s former home, a gorgeous palazzo on the Grand Canal, and features several notable works including pieces from Picasso, Warhol, and Calder.
A free experience we booked for the trip was visiting the rooftop terrace of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi building, which is a beautiful department store on the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge. Visiting the rooftop terrace requires a free online reservation, which gives visitors a 15-minute window to take in the incredible views of the Grand Canal and a 360-view of the city. Bookings open up 21 days prior to the desired visit date. We captured some beautiful photos from this spot, and is definitely worth the effort to get such a great view.
And finally, let me talk about our gondola ride. This, of course, is a MUST in Venice. Gondola rides cost 80 euros before 7pm and 100 euros after, and the gondoliers take cash. Make sure to stop at the ATM! Gondola rides can be found throughout Venice, from the Grand Canal to the smaller canals. I read different advice about the gondola rides before the trip. The smaller canals were picturesque and romantic, but there could be traffic backups depending on the location and time of day.
Thankfully, I read a great recommendation in a Venice Facebook group about where to get on a gondola, and we were so happy with our gondolier and route that I’d recommend it to anyone. We got onto our gondola at a gondola stand on the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge, just down from the Hard Rock Café Souvenir Shop. We got in line around 6:30pm so that our ride wouldn’t be during the hottest part of the day, and only had to wait about 15 minutes.
The gondola ride took us under the Rialto Bridge along the Grand Canal before turning down one of the side canals. Our gondolier navigated us under bridges and between buildings before returning to the Grand Canal at the end of the ride. When we arrived back at the dock, our gondolier took several photos for us with the Grand Canal as our backdrop. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience and not to be missed!
What we ate
During our visit, we kept a mix between making reservations, stumbling upon places that piqued our interests, and gathering recommendations from our guides. Venice is known for its seafood; as someone with a shellfish allergy, I had to be really careful. Thankfully, all of our servers helped me navigate the menus, especially when they were in Italian.
Our favorite meals/restaurants of the trip were:
- Ai Mercanti, which is tucked between alleys and offers a seasonal menu. We loved the small, sophisticated space and menu, with items like sous-vide chicken with fennel, spaghetti with fondue cheese, and a caramel flan with apricots and cookie crumbles. This place came recommended online and from a friend, and required a reservation. I would absolutely recommend this spot to anyone visiting Venice and looking for a special meal.
- La Zucca, which features a vegetarian-forward menu but also offers some amazing meat options — we loved the beef cheeks and duck, and Zack’s moussaka appetizer was one of the best things he ate and my pumpkin flan (one of their signature dishes) was a revelation. I read about this place on a list from Conde Nast Traveler and booked a reservation for our last dinner of the trip. It ended up being one of our best meals! The restaurant has two seatings for dinner and it was a full house right at 7pm. Booking a reservation required calling the restaurant during a specific time of day, which felt a little intimidating to my OpenTable-loving self, but couldn’t have been easier.
- Fluffy Brunch, a spot that offers classic brunch foods with an Asian fusion style. I’d read about this place before our trip but figured we’d stick with our traditional Italian breakfast of coffee and a pastry throughout our stay. As it turns out, we happened upon this place on our first full morning of the trip when we were walking aimlessly around the city. The interior is absolutely adorable and whimsical, and the dishes were delicious. We ordered the pancakes and avocado toast to share; the pancakes truly were fluffy pieces of heaven!
Some of our other memorable meals included Paradiso Perduto, which came highly recommended by two separate guides, including Devin, during the trip. It’s located in the Cannaregio district in the northern part of the island, and felt like a place beloved by local Venetians. It was very lively and busy — we were able to walk in, but reservations would be recommended.
Devin also recommended Taverna al Remer, a romantic little spot tucked in between palazzos off the Grand Canal in the Cannaregio district. We went here right after our photo shoot and enjoyed delicious pastas and wine. Conde Nast Traveler noted this is also a great spot for cocktails.
One of the first reservations I made for the trip was at Ai Barbacani, known across Instagram for its unbelievable window seat for two along a canal.
Reserving the window seat required a deposit, which I unfortunately didn’t realize meant there was a minimum spend on our meal. We went for our last lunch, and probably could have hit the minimum with an extra glass of wine, dessert or larger entrée. While this wasn’t the best meal we had on the trip, it was certainly the most picturesque and memorable place we ate. Watching people on gondola rides and boats from our table was a lot of fun, and we definitely got a lot of attention in our window seat.
We also visited Caffe Florian in St. Mark’s Square for breakfast before our tour to Murano and Burano. Open since 1720, this Venetian coffee house is the oldest in Italy and one of the oldest in the world, and was a must-visit on our list. It worked out to stop in for breakfast, where I had a delicious coffee and almond croissant. Everything was served on an elegant tray and we enjoyed the views of the square from our outside table. I wish we’d had another chance to visit and have an afternoon drink here inside, but we’ll have to wait for next time. Along with the other cafes around the square, Caffe Florian featured an orchestra playing outside, which added to the ambiance and experience.
Saving the best for last, let’s talk GELATO!
During our tour with Devin, we asked him about his favorite place for gelato and he steered us toward Gelateria Gallonetto. We tried the pistachio and hazelnut flavors, and both were delicious. It was definitely a popular spot with a decently long line in the late evening, but worth the wait.
The other gelato spot I’d seen online prior to the trip was Suso Gelatoteca, which is an extremely popular place based on the lines we’d see throughout the day. At Suso, I ordered the mimosa flavor, which featured lemon cream and butter crust pastry, and Zack tried the pistachio. I have to give the edge to Suso! This was a delicious gelato and hit the spot on a hot afternoon.
Where we shopped
Ahead of our trip, I’d taken note of some of notable places to shop around Venice, and they definitely didn’t disappoint. We also stumbled upon some great shops during our walking adventures. We tried being mindful of items that could only be found in Venice.
Here are our favorite shops!
- Piedàterre Venezia, famous for its colorful array of classic Venetian slippers. This shop was on my list and we just so happened to pass it on our way to the Guggenheim museum. I tried on several pairs of the velvet slippers, but was shown a pair of their summer Mary Jane style in denim and pink that I couldn’t resist.
- Kartaruga, a famous mask shop that provided pieces for movies like “Eyes Wide Shut” and “Casanova.” There are hundreds of shops around Venice that sell Carnival masks and many didn’t seem that authentic, so I was thrilled when we stumbled upon this store after one of our lunches. I fell in love with a papier-mâché fox mask in the window and had to take it home. If you’re wanting to buy a mask as a souvenir, this is the place.
- Scriba, a lovely paper shop that also sells quills and ink as well as wax stamps. This shop is right next door to the Gallonetto gelato place, and we knew it would have the perfect souvenir for our daughter Stella. In addition to feather quills, they sell Murano glass quills. We were able to pick out the exact color we liked along with a bottle of ink, and the gift was packaged together in a beautiful box.
- Libreria Acqua Alta, the self-proclaimed “most beautiful bookstore in the world,” was a must-visit in Venice. Tucked away in one of Venice’s side streets, this shop is known for its wall-to-wall books in basins and even a full-size gondola in the middle of the store. There’s a spot outside in the back along the canal with books stacked into a staircase — this was a big photo-op spot. It was really crowded so we didn’t end up staying long, but I can imagine spending an hour there exploring every little treasure inside.
- Antica Legatoria Ofer is an exquisite paper shop I read about before our trip and was also a highlight. There are beautiful cards, prints, notebooks, and other marbling and ebru-printed items. I found several gifts in this shop, and loved supporting a place that featured this special Venetian tradition. Highly recommend!
Final Venice musings and recommendations
- Venice is truly unlike any other place in the world, and I feel so lucky that we had the opportunity to spend several days there. In talking about the trip to others, I can’t help but compare it to the feeling of being on Mackinac Island. As wildly different as these places are, the lack of cars, the beautiful water, and the feeling of going back in time are so much a part of the experience.
- One of the best things we did was wander around aimlessly when we first got into the city from our shuttle boat. If we passed by an interesting store, bar, or place of interest that we didn’t want to forget about, I would snap a photo of it so we could look it up later.
- Wear comfortable walking shoes! On our first day when we did the most exploring, we walked over 26,000 steps.
- Google Maps is your friend! I used it constantly to navigate the alleys and paths around the city, and it was invaluable. Not to mention the ETAs were accurate because there’s no need to factor in traffic, and even the busiest thoroughfares could be avoided by ducking into a different alley.
- Bring a portable charger for your phone. Between using Google Maps to navigate and taking photos, my phone battery would drain pretty quickly.
- Mosquito spray was one of the top items people recommended packing, and I’d agree! After all, Venice is in the middle of a lagoon.
- Everyone we met spoke English and was very kind in helping us in stores and restaurants. We enjoyed trying to use little bits of Italian where we could. My favorite phrase? Grazie mille, or “a thousand thanks.”
I’ll leave you with this great video I found of our St. Mark’s Basilica and Doge’s Palace guide Elena, who shares so much information about Venice:
Ciao!