Venice Guide

As you explore, you encounter the views, sights, smells and sounds of this unique place - a feast in every sense. Prices tend to diminish in correlation with distance from the Piazza San Marco so it is worth remembering that if you can’t afford to stay or eat right there, you can still treat yourself to a cup of coffee and linger over the view. Venice can be very expensive but there are alternatives.

Check out trattoria in the side streets, where locals eat, for good traditional food at affordable prices. You can always try the ices, pastries and chocolate confections that Venetians love - and then walk it off. If you can’t afford a gondola trip, river buses run regular, quick, cheap services out and about to the islands in the lagoon, and you rub shoulders with the locals.

Be warned, you must be prepared for every view a Canaletto, at every turn. You can pay a lot to stay with windows over the Grand Canal - upwards of €200 a night for a double room in a four star hotel or €170 for three star accommodation. However, there are discount offers to be found, so it is always worth looking.

There are ‘pensione’, small hotels off the main tourist tracks, often overlooking the narrower canals, where you might pay about €50 per night for an en suite double room. These smaller places sometimes have meal deals with nearby cafes, rather than providing food, and this can lead to useful local intelligence for the visitor. Venice is a noisy city at times so be warned, they may make their bottle deliveries from canal boats at 6am and it’s almost impossible to sleep through the ringing clatter.

It can be chilly in Venice in the winter, with fog, and it is a good idea to check out high water warnings, but visitors arrive at any time of year. Cooler months are good for walking, and the shopping is good whatever the season, with shoes, bags, glass and decorative tiles that are especially and uniquely stylish and Italian. In the summer there are the beaches, of course, and in particular the golden sands of the Lido - which even have Blue Flag status these days to attest to the water quality.