Before your tips for Venice, if you want to read about out week in Italy, where we visited Venice, Florence, Tuscany, Pisa and Rome read all about it here. https://drakesescape.com/tour-around-italy-in-7-days-visiting-the-most-popular-places/
TIP Number 1
GET LOST
This is the best thing you can do in Venice, it is made out of narrow streets and what feels like millions of bridges. Most bridges and streets look the same, and finding your way around is very hard. The best way to find your way around is just to keep walking. You will get the odd signpost here and there but nothing like we are used to in the UK. The best part of my day was getting lost as we would stubble into cute little cafes or places selling gelato. We would see viewpoints that we hadn’t planned or expected. It is also a lot of fun as you know you cant get far as your on an island. We just kept saying if we come across a road with cars than we would panic, obviously this never happened. Getting lost is an absolute must!
TIP Number 2
GONDOLA RIDE
Save your money and time, do not pay 80-100 euro for a gondola ride to just cruise the same way as everyone else. The small canals were full of gondolas and in some places were nearly touching the one in front, not the romantic experience you would be expecting! Instead go to the Grand Canal and find an area where they are training the gondoliers, here you can get across the Grand Canal for a couple of euro. We were glad we had the experience but the boat rocked so much that I didn’t really feel safe. Glad we didn’t pay the high price to be disappointed.
TIP Number 3
PEOPLE WATCH
We do this everywhere we go, the best place to people watch is sitting on the edge of Piazza San Marco. We sat here for a long time watching the people selling things in the middle of the square, the line to get inside the Cathedral and the people eating and drinking in the surrounding restaurants. Easy way to kill a couple of hours and have fun.
TIP Number 4
SAN MARCO CAMPANILE
Go up this tower to enjoy the most beautiful view of Venice from 99 meters up. The Cathedral looks amazing from up here and you can truly see how big it is. It is a very strange view without roads as all the houses and buildings look so close together. You can also see the Grand Canal and a great view of Piazza San Marco. We highly recommend going up for sunset to see the colours of the city change. Also make sure you go up just before the hour to hear the bell ring.
TIP Number 5
GET DIRECTIONS
Before arriving in Venice make sure you have directions from your accommodation. These directions need to have lots of detail and include points of interest. Make sure you look at what is close to your accommodation, if we did this before we left we would know that our hotel was close to the Rialto Bridge. Also write the address down and have the phone number handy.