Venice on your own?

[dancing]

How many people have done this and what experiences ( both good & bad ) did you have? It seems most cruise critic's do this city on their own and the cruise ships do not offer alot of different tours. We will be in the city for 3 days and wondering what to do each day. Also how much is an evening gondola ride cost? Not so sure we really want to go to Murano.

[agabbymama]

This is a really neat website with lots of info on Venice.

 

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/

 

I also like www.viator.com for tours. I plan on doing a walking tour with just a short gondola ride (I think it was $58 pp) rather than the 80 EUR they want for just a gondola ride. There are lots of tours available. Venice is easy to walk and see on your own too. It's not very big.

 

Another good site is www.venere.com for hotels, they have a map showing the location of the hotel in relation to others sights in Venice. Once I've found a hotel I like there, then I go to www.tripadvisor.com for reviews.

 

There is a Venice card for transportation, and a vaporetto pass just for the water buses. A company named Alilaguna offers the ticket from the airport to your hotel + a vaporetto pass.

 

Lots to research. Have fun!

[yldwest]

Rick Steve's has 3 walking tours detailed in his Venice book that we used & enjoyed...gave a good overview of the city. It also gave good details for guiding yourself thru St Peters Basilica & the Doges Palace.

 

We also took the "Secret Itineraries Tour" of the palace which we found interesting. It takes you through the back "hidden" passages & into the torture chamber, shows where Casa Nova was imprisoned & how he escaped. It was about 75 mins long then you end back in the main part of the palace & can continue to tour on your own from there.

[rebeccalouise]

That sounds like a neat tour. I may do that one myself!

[yldwest]

That sounds like a neat tour. I may do that one myself!

 

We found it interesting & had a very enthusiastic guide...FYI tho...you do need reservations in advance: 041-520-9070. Tours are limited to 25 people & last Oct there were 3 tours in English at 9:55, 10:45 & 11:35. It was 16 euro per person but as I stated above- you can stay after your tour & visit the rest of the palace.

[readboat]

Venice can easily be done on your own. Buy a good map. The Dodges palaces can be done alone. When we were there we did not have to wait in a line. If you decide to go to Burano or Murano you can catch a vaporetta and go there. Many people speak English in Venice, especially business owners. Do some reading as stated above and you will do fine.

It helps if you know a few words of Italian, greetings, numbers, hello, goodbye, Thanks you. Buy a small Italian book or just check on the net.

Water Taxis are very expensive.

[NAS-KARR]

Walk it~ ~ it's a piece of cake. Get yourself a street map, learn where the street names are posted at each corner and do it. That's all we did, from one end to the other & up and down~ ~ ~ my wife killed me with her walk'n but it's do-able. We spent 3 days post cruise in V town and loved it, even went to BURANO, ck it out.

 

CIAO, :D

[ncsongbird]

The best map for Venice is the "Streetwise Venice" map available from Barnes and Noble and probably Borders too. It's laminated, folds up neatly, and is very accurate. We used it extensively and never got lost.

[Paul S]

We go on frequent trips to Venice, and have never run out of things to do. Its one of the world's great cities, although of course it helps to like art.

 

Amongst things to consider are:

 

The Peggy Guggenheim museum - great surrealists and lots of Jackson Pollock.

 

The Accademia.

 

The Doges palace and the secret itinery tour.

 

St. Marks basilica including the horses and balcony.

 

The basilica campanile (bell tower).

 

The ghetto

 

The islands and lido - visit to a glass factory (interesting and you don't have to buy)

 

Rialto bridge and the adjacent market.

 

Just walking around and soaking up the atmosphere and character.

 

Gondola ride - 80 euros is for the whole gondola, not per person. Take some others with you and split the cost.

 

Shopping.

 

Over three days you'll have time to see things more leisurely than the usual rush of a day trip, and get the different feel of Venice at night when the day trippers have gone home.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Paul S

[Hlitner]

I would agree with the others that Venice is best seen on your own by simply walking (the only way to see Venice). As to the gondolas, the approximate 80 Euro cost is per gondola...not per person. Its possible to get 4 adults in a gondola (we have seen some with 6 squeezed in the boat). In reality the price is negotiable with the final price dependent on supply and demand and your ability to work out a deal. One suggestion I have is that you should buy a bottle of wine, have them pull the cork, and than take it along to sip as you cruise through the canals. Most of the gondoleers have some plastic cups, but its probably wise to grab some cups at the wine store.

 

Hank

[Liv4cruzin]

As you'll see everyone has their own personal favorite; & it varies. For me I love the D-K Eyewitness Guide Books; & there are map pages in the back. But I recently went exploring in B&N & came across the MapEasy Guidemap to VCE ($6.95). It is not laminated; but on glossy paper. It is enlarged much greater than any other I've found. And because of this they are able to label every street (which is rare).

[hajekfam]

We took our Nuvi and downloaded some audio book walking tours from audible.com. You can also download and print maps that follow along. (They can also be downloaded to an MP3 (not sure about i-pod) player. We did a walking tour with it and it was very interesting. Would definitely do that again.

[Hlitner]

We also love those Eyewitness Books, but the darn things are just too heavy :)

 

Hank