Planning a day in Venice

I am going on a Mediterranean cruise with my daughter at the end of August, and am currently in the process of planning what to do at each port.

We have never been to Venice before and don't know whether to book an excursion or visit places independently. We would like to see the main sites and will have a whole day in Venice (arriving in the morning and departing in the evening).

Any suggestions from people who have been to Venice before would be greatly appreciated, including where we might dock (we will be on Aurora).

Mary

You will dock at the cruise terminal which is at the northwest corner of Venice. The best way to get around is to buy an all day ticket for the waterbus (vaporetto) which costs €20.

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/venice-vaporetto-fares.htm

From the cruise terminal take the people mover (€1.50) to Piazzale Roma. From there you can take a waterbus to anywhere in Venice including the islands.

Familiarise yourself with the waterbus map to decide where you want to go.

http://www.actv.it/sites/default/files/ultimamappa.pdf

You should include at least one trip down the Grand Canal on either No1 waterbus (stops at every stop) or No 2 waterbus which has limited stops.

Brian

Charming place, never tire visiting this wonderful city. Be prepared for crowds though. We have only ever done the ships tender to St Mark's Square and back - but in between done our own thing. It is possible to pre book on-line for St Mark's Cathedral, saves the long queues. You will not see everything in one visit, not enough time to do the many Art Galleries etc.

You can find reasonable places to eat, just have to look. It will be hot - so prepare for this - and places to sit are very limited, except of course for stone steps covered in bird droppings. I am sure you will enjoy this marvellous place,

Excellent advice offered by Brian1 which is almost exactly what I did in my recent visit the only difference being I walked to Piazazale Roma (15 minutes) and the route is well sign posted. However it will be very hot and so the People Mover might be the sensible option. I enjoyed the walk though :)

two more thoughts....

Make sure your shoes have good soles on them. Walking over cobbles all day can make your feet sore.

If you don't want to spend the time or money on a proper gondola ride, there are a couple of places along the Canal where you can hop on one simply to cross over to the other side. The cost was 50cents (half a euro) a couple of years ago. Look at the waterbus map to see where the stops are.

Thank you very much for all of your replies!

We are planning on buying two €20 vaporetto all-day tickets, as Brian suggested, so we can visit the Grand Canal, Doge's Palace, the Bridge of Sighs, St Mark's Basilica, and St Mark's Square on our own. Hopefully we will have enough time to do all of this - I believe we will have roughly 12 hours in Venice. We are also considering booking a P&O excursion in the evening, which would include a gondola ride and a musical serenade.

Again thank you for your replies - if there any other places that we must visit whilst in Venice, or any further suggestions, please let me know!

Just check the water bus #1 goes all the way down the Grand Canal to St Mark's. We got on one once which stopped at the Rialto Bridge! Fortunately we'd done the trip all the way through previously but I'd always ask in future to avoid disappointment. It is one the the things to do in Venice though as you don't get those views anywhere else but from the water.

We actually walked back as getting 'lost' in all the back streets is part of the fun and you get immersed in the atmosphere of Venice. You never really get lost though as if you look up at first floor height there are frequent directional signs to 'Rialto' ' San Marco' or 'Accademia' etc which give you your bearings. You might not know which little canal you're on but you know which way to go to get to a landmark! I use one of those PopOut maps which I find very useful.

Unless you want to pay an arm and a leg for coffee and cake (our friends paid €40!) avoid the cafés in St Mark's Square where they have the musicians. Of course you may want to experience that as our friends did but go knowing what to expect. Just off the main sites you can find much more reasonably priced cafes. We've been to a couple in St Stephano Piazza where we weren't ripped off and it's always good to make use of the toilets in the cafés too as they are few and far between in the city and payable!

We like to make our way to the Accademia Bridge for one of the classic Venice photostops. Also if in this area turn onto the Guidecca Canal and go to Nico's Gelataria for superb icecreams at a good price. Google to see where it is but it's easy to find - in fact you go past it on the way in down the Guidecca Canal. We even went to it in the pouring rain and stood under the canopy enjoying our icecreams last time we were there as we were so determined to have our treat!!

Whatever you do, have a wonderful time - it really is a magical place to visit.

As Brian says get yourself to Piazzale Roma and get the Waterbus down the Grand Canal to St Marks on the No 1 - must be one of the best value things to do anywhere. If you get the ship shuttle to St Marks you miss this.

All the things you have said that you want to do are ideal for a first visit and will take up much of your day. Another good thing to do which will take up about an hour is to walk from St Marks square back to the Rialto Bridge and cross over as there is an interesting area just the other side of the Bridge. You don't need to remember the way back as all the little roads lead back to St Marks. If you want to splash out have a coffee in Florian in St Marks Square or a Bellini in Harrys Bar which is just off St Marks on the Waterfront.

If you ever go back visit the Islands of Murano and Burano.

Leave plenty of time to get back to the ship. The waterbus sometimes takes a lot longer than you expect. We went out to Burano which involved a couple of changes and it took up most of the day.

Thanks for the superb info BrianI. We have walked round Venice before but will definitely take the Grand Canal trip this time.

We booked timed tickets for St Mary's Basilica in advance through venetoinside.com for 2 Euro per head. Definitely worth it to avoid queuing for an hour. We walked past all the lines and went straight in...

I've no idea which ship you will be on but try and find some place up high and forward for the sail into Venice as it's outstanding sailing into the heart of one of the worlds most amazing cities.

And make sure you have a camera with you.

Thank you for all of your suggestions! We will be on Aurora, which we have never sailed on before.

Auto correct changed St Mark's to St Mary's on my post yesterday!

You don't need to remember the way back as all the little roads lead back to St Marks.

We still managed to get lost...ish! But then my sense of direction is terrible. :)

It didn't matter anyway as Venice is small and with enough time we found our way back to the grand canal from where we re-oriented ourselves. All good fun.

We walked to St Marks Square from the ship through the small lanes, all well signposted and busy, then caught the waterbus back through the Grand Canal. Would have liked an overnight stay however, would imagine Venice is magical in the dark. Maybe another time!