Venice is a city of 118 small islands where everything moves on foot or by boat, and the planning starts with two questions: are you staying the night, and is your day one of the days when day trippers pay an access fee. The Italy page covers St Mark's Basilica, the Doge's Palace, a gondola ride, coffee at Caffè Florian, the vaporetto down the Grand Canal and Venice after midnight; this page is the rest of the city and the lagoon.
The historic centre is divided into six sestieri. San Marco and the Rialto are the crowded core. Dorsoduro, across the Accademia bridge, holds the big galleries; San Polo and Santa Croce the markets, the Frari and San Rocco; Cannaregio and Castello are the quieter residential ends. Out in the lagoon, Murano, Burano and Torcello each make a half-day trip, and they sit outside the access fee area.
Get your Venice access fee QR code before a day trip
Historic centre of Venice
5 minutes onlineBook ahead
On set days day trippers pay €5 or €10 for a QR code, while overnight guests register for a free one.
What it is
On set days Venice charges day trippers to enter the historic centre, and the rule decides how you plan. In 2026 the fee applied on 60 days between 3 April and 26 July, mostly weekends, holidays and long weekends, from 8:30 in the morning.
How to do it
It costs €5 if you pay at least four days ahead and €10 after that, on the city's site cda.veneziaunica.it, by WhatsApp or at authorised tobacconists, and you get a QR code to show at spot checks. You do not pay if you sleep anywhere in the comune, Mestre included, if you are under 14 or a Veneto resident, but overnight guests and many other exempt visitors must still register for a free code.
Good to know
The station, Piazzale Roma and lagoon islands such as Murano and Burano are outside the fee area. For 2027 the city has approved 72 days between March and mid August, at up to €10.
Time needed
5 minutes online
Best time
At least four days before your visit, for the €5 rate
Watch glass shaped at a furnace on the island where Venice moved its glassmakers, then trace the craft from Roman times.
What it is
Venice moved its glassmakers to Murano in the Middle Ages to keep fires away from the city, and the island still works glass along the Fondamenta dei Vetrai.
How to do it
Watch a furnace demonstration first; several factories sell them, usually lasting half an hour. Then go to the Museo del Vetro in Palazzo Giustinian, which traces the craft from Roman times: it opens daily from 10:00 to 18:00 from April to October and to 17:00 in winter, with last entry an hour before, and costs €15, or €20 with the lace museum on Burano and Torcello's museum, valid three months. Take vaporetto 4.1, 4.2 or 3 to the Museo stop.
Good to know
When buying, look for the Vetro Artistico Murano mark, a regional trademark that guarantees the piece was made on the island. Murano is outside the access fee area.
Take line 12 to Burano's colours and Torcello's mosaics
Burano and Torcello
Half a day to a dayNo booking needed
Houses painted in strong colours and needle lace, then a cathedral of 639 with a Last Judgement covering its west wall.
What it is
Burano is the fishing island of houses painted in strong colours, and of needle lace: the Museo del Merletto shows the craft, open 10:00 to 16:00 except Mondays, for €7.
How to do it
Vaporetto line 12 from Fondamente Nove, the quay on Venice's northern edge, crosses the lagoon to Burano, calling at Murano and Mazzorbo on the way. From Burano, the short line 9 shuttle goes on to Torcello, a few minutes away, the island where the lagoon's first settlers built a cathedral in 639. Santa Maria Assunta keeps a Byzantine mosaic of the Virgin on a gold ground over the apse and a vast Last Judgement covering the west wall, and its bell tower looks across the empty marshes.
Good to know
Go out early, see Torcello first while it is quiet, and eat on Burano. Both islands are outside the access fee area.
Walk the Rialto fish market, then eat cicchetti in a bacaro
Rialto, San Polo
2 to 3 hoursNo booking needed
Cuttlefish and pink scampi in a neo-Gothic hall on the Grand Canal, then cicchetti and an ombra standing at the counter.
What it is
On the San Polo side of the Rialto Bridge, the Pescheria, an arcaded neo-Gothic hall on the Grand Canal, is where Venice still buys its fish: cuttlefish, crabs, sardines and pink Venetian scampi. The fruit and vegetable stalls stand alongside.
How to do it
Then do what Venetians do at the end of the market and go into a bacaro, a wine bar with a counter of cicchetti, small bites such as baccalà mantecato on toasted bread, sarde in saor and meatballs, with an ombra, a small glass of wine. The lanes by the Rialto hold Cantina Do Mori, said to be the oldest in the city, and All'Arco.
Good to know
The market runs Tuesday to Saturday in the morning and is closed on Sundays and Mondays; most stalls shut by midday or soon after, so come early. Bacari have few seats, so expect to eat standing at the counter.
See Giorgione's Tempest at the Gallerie dell'Accademia
Campo della Carità, Dorsoduro
2 hoursBook ahead
A feast more than 12 metres wide that Veronese renamed after the Inquisition objected to its rowdy guests.
What it is
The Accademia, at the Dorsoduro foot of the wooden Accademia bridge, is the great collection of Venetian painting, from gold-ground altarpieces to Tiepolo. Go with a short list: Giorgione's small, puzzling Tempest, Titian's dark late Pietà, Carpaccio's cycle of the Legend of Saint Ursula, and Veronese's Feast in the House of Levi, more than 12 metres wide, which he renamed after the Inquisition objected to its rowdy guests. Leonardo's Vitruvian Man belongs to the museum but is shown only on rare occasions.
How to do it
Tickets cost €20, and booking online gives priority entry. Vaporetto lines 1 and 2 stop at Accademia.
Good to know
Since January 2026 the gallery is closed on Mondays; it opens Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 19:00, with ticket sales ending at 18:00.
Picasso, Pollock and Magritte in rooms built for living, and a terrace right at the edge of the Grand Canal.
What it is
Peggy Guggenheim bought the unfinished, one-storey Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in 1949 and lived there with her collection until her death in 1979, and the house is still the point: Picasso, Magritte, Pollock, Ernst and Brancusi hang in rooms built for living, and the terrace on the Grand Canal, guarded by Marino Marini's horse and rider, is one of the few places you can stand right at the water's edge. Behind, the sculpture garden holds her grave and her dogs'.
How to do it
Tickets cost €17, and booking a time slot online is advised in busy months. It is a few minutes' walk from the Accademia bridge, or take vaporetto 1 to Salute.
Good to know
The museum opens 10:00 to 18:00, last entry 17:00, and closes on Tuesdays and 25 December.
See Tintoretto's San Rocco and Titian's Assunta at the Frari
Campo San Rocco, San Polo
2 hours for bothNo booking needed
More than 60 canvases still where Tintoretto put them, and next door a Titian over the high altar beside his own tomb.
What it is
Two of Venice's greatest interiors stand side by side in San Polo. The Scuola Grande di San Rocco is a confraternity hall that Tintoretto spent from 1564 to the late 1580s filling with more than 60 canvases that are still where he put them; crane your neck for the ceiling of the upper hall, and his huge Crucifixion of 1565, in the Sala dell'Albergo, includes his self-portrait. Next door, the Gothic Frari basilica holds Titian's Assunta of 1516 to 1518 over the high altar and his own tomb.
How to do it
The Scuola opens daily 9:30 to 17:30, the ticket office closes at 17:00, and tickets, €12 or €14 with the church, are sold only at the door. The Frari charges €8 at the door.
Good to know
The Frari closes for weddings, funerals and concerts; on Sundays it opens only at 13:00.
Time needed
2 hours for both
Best time
Weekday morning; the Frari opens at 13:00 on Sundays
Cross the Grand Canal standing up, on a €2 traghetto
Grand Canal crossings
A few minutesNo booking needed
Plain gondolas rowed by two gondoliers across the Grand Canal for €2 in cash, the cheapest gondola ride in the city.
What it is
The Grand Canal has only four bridges along almost four kilometres, so for centuries Venetians have crossed it on traghetti: plain gondolas rowed by two gondoliers back and forth between fixed landings. It is the cheapest gondola ride in the city, and the most Venetian.
How to do it
A crossing costs €2 for visitors, in cash, and takes a couple of minutes. In 2026 the stations in service include Santa Sofia, between the Ca' d'Oro and the Rialto market, San Tomà, Santa Maria del Giglio and Punta della Dogana, running from early morning to early evening, some with a lunch break.
Good to know
Venetians traditionally ride standing up; visitors usually sit, and the gondolier may ask you to. The service exists for residents, so let them board first and keep the crossing quick.
Spend a day at the Biennale in the Giardini and Arsenale
Giardini and Arsenale, Castello
A full day for both venuesBook ahead
National pavilions in a park and a central show in 300-metre rope works, ten minutes apart at the east end of Venice.
What it is
Every year from spring to late November, the Biennale fills the east end of Venice: the Art exhibition in even years and Architecture in odd ones. It has two main venues ten minutes apart in Castello: the Giardini, a park of national pavilions from the early 20th century onwards, and the Arsenale, the old naval shipyard, whose 300-metre rope works hold the central show. The 2026 Biennale Arte, In Minor Keys, conceived by the late curator Koyo Kouoh, runs from 9 May to 22 November.
How to do it
Tickets are sold online, from €30 for one entry to each venue, with 3-day and weekly passes. Vaporetto line 1 stops at both Arsenale and Giardini.
Good to know
In its autumn weeks the Biennale opens 10:00 to 18:00 and closes on Mondays. Give each venue at least half a day.
Walk Venice after midnight, from Cannaregio to Castello
Venice
2 to 3 hoursFree
After midnight the day crowds have gone back to the mainland and Venice is just stone, water and your own footsteps.
What it is
Start in Cannaregio, where the bars along Fondamenta de la Misericordia keep a few lights on, then drift east through quiet campi towards Castello, the residential end of the city, and down to the empty Riva by the Arsenale.
How to do it
Getting lost is the point, but the yellow wall signs marked Per Rialto, Per S. Marco and Per Ferrovia will always point you back, and the city is surrounded by lagoon, so you cannot stray far. For the ride home, the night vaporetto line N runs every 20 minutes along the Grand Canal between Piazzale Roma and Lido until after 4:00.
Good to know
In winter, listen for the high water sirens: they warn of acqua alta a few hours before it floods the low squares.
Take a gondola through the small canals, fare agreed first
Venice
30 to 40 minutesNo booking needed
Glide through Venice's narrow rii by gondola, fare agreed first, or cross the Grand Canal on a traghetto for small change.
What it is
A gondola is priced per boat, not per person, so it costs the same for two passengers as for a full boat. A ride usually lasts 30 to 40 minutes; evening rides cost more and singing is extra. For the feel of a gondola for small change, cross the Grand Canal on a traghetto, the ferry gondola, for example from the Pescheria fish market to Santa Sofia. Locals ride it standing up.
How to do it
Venice's few hundred licensed gondoliers expect you to agree the fare and the length of the ride before you step in. Board at an official gondola station rather than through a tout, and ask for a route through the narrow rii, not just the Grand Canal, where vaporetto wash rocks the boat.
Good to know
Stations by the Rialto and San Marco are the busiest; one in a quieter district buys you more canal for the money.
Have a coffee at Caffè Florian, knowing the bill first
Venice
45 minutesNo booking needed
Italy's oldest coffee house in continuous operation, open since 1720 on St Mark's Square: come for the small mirrored and painted rooms.
What it is
Caffè Florian opened under the arcades of the Procuratie Nuove on St Mark's Square on 29 December 1720, and it is the oldest coffee house in continuous operation in Italy. Sit inside if you can: the small mirrored and painted rooms are the reason to come, more than the coffee.
How to do it
It opens every day from 9:00 to 23:00. Read the menu before you order, because every price is printed and none is low. Evening concerts can be booked on Florian's own site.
Good to know
A 2026 bill that made the Italian press listed €17 for an Aperol Spritz, €11 for mineral water and a €7 music supplement per person, charged while musicians were playing. That supplement is the one to plan around: come in the morning before the music starts, or treat it as the ticket for the show.
1 hour, 2 with the Pala d'Oro and the LoggiaBook ahead
Gold-ground mosaics cover the walls and domes of St Mark's; book a slot and give the nave time before the side chapels.
What it is
Inside, the walls and domes are covered in gold-ground mosaics, so give the nave time before the side chapels. The Pala d'Oro, the jewelled altarpiece behind the high altar, is a separate ticket on the same hours. Upstairs, the Museum keeps the original bronze horses, and the Loggia outside gives you the view over the square.
How to do it
Book a time on tickets.basilicasanmarco.it, the basilica's own shop: the booking carries a QR code, and entry is only allowed within about five minutes of your slot. The church admits visitors Monday to Saturday from 9:30, last entry 16:45, and on Sundays and holy days only from 14:00, because Mass fills the morning; that is when to visit the Museum and the Loggia dei Cavalli instead.
Good to know
Dress as for any working church, with shoulders and knees covered, and travel light.
About 45 minutes, Ferrovia to San MarcoNo booking needed
The slow boat down the Grand Canal, under the Rialto Bridge and past the palaces to San Marco, from an open seat at the bow.
What it is
Line 1 is the slow boat: from Piazzale Roma and the station (Ferrovia) it stops at almost every pier along the Grand Canal, under the Rialto Bridge and past the palaces, before San Marco and San Zaccaria, then carries on to the Lido. Line 2 covers the same canal with fewer stops and loops back round via the Giudecca Canal, which makes it the quicker choice when you just need to get somewhere.
How to do it
Boats leave every 10 minutes for most of the day. A single ticket costs €9.50 and lasts 75 minutes from validation, so if you plan more than two rides a day, a timed pass from ACTV or Venezia Unica pays for itself. Tap your ticket on the reader at the pier before boarding.
Good to know
Ride from the station towards San Marco and try for the open seats at the bow or stern.
Trains stop at Venezia Santa Lucia, on the Grand Canal itself; check that yours does not end at Mestre on the mainland. From Marco Polo airport, buses run to Piazzale Roma, the last point reachable by car, and Alilaguna water buses cross the lagoon to the centre. Cars stay in the garages at Piazzale Roma or Tronchetto.
Getting around
Walk, and accept getting lost: the yellow signs to Rialto, San Marco and Ferrovia always bring you back. ACTV vaporetti cover the Grand Canal and the lagoon islands; a single ticket is expensive, so buy a time pass if you will take more than a few boats. To cross the Grand Canal between bridges, use a traghetto, a gondola ferry.
How many days
In must30's view, three: one for San Marco, the Doge's Palace and the basilica, one for Dorsoduro and San Polo with the Accademia, San Rocco and the Rialto market, and one for Murano, Burano and Torcello. Staying overnight also exempts you from the day-tripper fee and lets you see the city after the crowds leave.
When to go
Spring and autumn, out of the summer heat. In 2026 day trippers paid the access fee on 60 days from 3 April to 26 July, mostly weekends and holidays; in 2027 the fee will apply on 72 days from Good Friday, 26 March, to mid August. The Art Biennale runs from May to November in even years. From autumn to spring, high tides can flood low areas such as San Marco.
Where to base yourself
Cannaregio and Castello are residential and quieter, with bacari and canalside walks. Dorsoduro suits gallery-goers and has the Zattere promenade. San Marco is central but crowded and expensive. Mestre, on the mainland, is cheaper and ten minutes by train or bus, and guests staying anywhere in the comune, Mestre included, are exempt from the access fee.
Questions travellers ask
Do I have to pay to enter Venice?
Only as a day tripper, on fee days, in the historic centre. The fee is €5 if paid at least four days ahead and €10 otherwise, paid online in exchange for a QR code. Overnight guests anywhere in the comune, children under 14 and Veneto residents are exempt, though most exempt visitors still register for a free code. Murano, Burano, Torcello and the Lido are outside the fee area.
How many days do you need in Venice?
Three in must30's view: two for the city and one for the lagoon islands. Two days cover the main sights if you book St Mark's and the Doge's Palace ahead; a day trip shows you only San Marco and the Rialto at their most crowded.
Are Murano and Burano worth it?
Yes, as a half day or a full day with Torcello. Murano is about glass, with the Glass Museum and furnaces; Burano is about colour and lace; Torcello, the quietest, has Venice's oldest mosaics. Vaporetto line 12 from Fondamente Nove links Murano, Burano and Torcello.
What is a traghetto in Venice?
A gondola ferry that crosses the Grand Canal where there is no bridge, rowed by two gondoliers. A crossing costs €2 for visitors, paid in cash, and takes a couple of minutes. It is the cheapest way to ride in a gondola.
Is the Venice Biennale on every year?
Yes, alternating. The Art Biennale is held in even years, in 2026 from 9 May to 22 November, and architecture takes the same venues, the Giardini and the Arsenale, in odd years.
_Gallerie_dell%27Accademia_-_Interior_(sala_3).jpg){kind=link}
_-_Il_Salone_Maggiore.jpg){kind=link}
.JPG){kind=link}