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The perfect day in Venice
How to spend your time if you have only one day in Venice and you've just arrived in Italy
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Note: This is the itinerary to follow if you are arriving in Venice in the morning, either by air or by train. In other words, this is the quickie "half-a-day" itinerary because you don't actually have a full day to spend here.
Much of the morning will be spent arriving by train or driving into town (or arriving by plane, which also involves clearing customs and passport control then getting into town) and checking into your hotel. Essentially, you only have lunch and the afternoon free.
(On this separate page is the itinerary if Venice is just another stop on your journey and you genuinely have a full day to spend.)
Day 1
Take a tour
If you prefer an expert guide for your sightseeing in Venice, here are some walking tours from our partners at Viator.com that cover many of the top sights in Venice:
San Marco:
• Skip the Line: Venice Walking Tour with St Mark's Basilica
• Skip the Line: St Mark's Square Highlights Tour
• Skip the Line: Venice in One Day
Palazzo Ducale:
• Skip the Line: Venice Walking Tour with Doges Palace
Gondola rides:
• Venice Gondola Ride and Serenade
• Venice Gondola Ride and Serenade with Dinner
• Venice Walking Tour and Gondola Ride
Check into your hotel as quickly as possible. There are several ways to play this, depending on how early in the day you can ht the ground sightseeing:
- If you can be checked into your hotel and out on the streets by 11:15am at the latest: Scramble to be sure you are at the Doge's Palace by 11:35pm to take your (pre-booked) "Secret Itineraries" tour, 75 minutes during which you get an amazing insider's glimpse into the hidden offices, courtrooms, archives, and prisons from which the true Venetian Republic ruled for 900 years.
Afterward the tour, head next-door to Basilica di San Marco (St. Marks' Cathedral) to see its treasures and the thousands of square feet of glittering mosaics swathing its interior (to avoid the long lines, have booked an entry time in advance). - If your day in Venice must start later than 11:30pm: If it's still late morning or midday, grab a quick snack for lunch. If you arrive after about 1:30pm, plan ahead and have already eaten something on the train or plane.
Head directly to see the glittering mosaics in the Basilica di San Marco (St. Marks' Cathedral)—again, avoiding the long lines by booking an entry time in advance.
Don't dawdle too long, however, so you can take a peek at the grand, art-clad public rooms of the Doge's Palace next-door (sadly, the last "Secret Itineraries" tour in English, described above, leaves at 11:35am—though if you're gung-ho, for an extra €31 per group you can schedule a private "Secret Itineraries" tour at any time after 1pm; unfortunately, these private tours are suspended in July and August).
OK, no matter in which order you've seen the top two sights, afterward continue on across the Grand Canal to tour the Accademia, the major painting gallery in town, packed with Old Masters.
If you have time, do try to squeeze in my favorite sight in Venice (after the "Secret Itineraries" tour), the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, decorated with dozens of Tintoretto paintings.
Spend the evening before dinner just wandering aimlessly around Venice's labyrinth of alleyways. After dinner, sit on Piazza San Marco to listen to the dueling trios playing for the tables in front of competing chichi cafes.
Oh, and at some point—either when you arrive or as you are preparing to leave—be sure to hop aboard the no. 1 or no. 2 vaporetto line to for a poor man's cruise of the Grand Canal between Piazza San Marco and the Ferrovia (train station) or Piazzale Roma (car park).
tip
If your day in Venice happens to be a Sunday, skip San Marco during the day and return for the 6:345pm mass in the Cathedral of St. Mark's—the only time they throw on all the light switches to illuminate all of those amazing gold mosaics.Or, of course, you can take a gondola ride. Yes, they're touristy, yes they're overpriced, and yes they're hackneyed, but if you can put all that out of your mind, they're also pretty cool, relaxing, and romantic—and who wants to go all the way to Venice and not ride in a gondola anyway?
Tips
- This is merely a blueprint. You really should spend your time on whatever catches your own interest. Some people would rather get a root canal than spend several hours in the Accademia, but for others an afternoon of Old Masters would rank as the highlight of their trip. Same goes for shopping, or gondola rides, or cramming a dozen churches and museums into a single day: heaven for some, hell on earth for others. For some less-famous sights to visit, check out Reid's List: Venice.
- Keep in mind that you may have to adjust these itineraries in case one of the days you're in town happens to fall on a Monday (when most museums are closed) or a Sunday (when many things are closed, and those that remain open tend to operate on shorter hours).
- Also keep in mind that these are maximal itineraries, designed to cram as much a reasonably possible into the time allotted. There's no down-time built in for relaxation—which you really should have. You're on vacation, after all. I suggest using these but maybe dropping a sight which interests you less (or curtailing your time at a couple of sights) in order to carve out from some free time to just sit at a cafe, writing postcards and watching the carnival of Italian life swirl past.
- Consider daily tours: Prefer to leave some of the planning and information-providing to a professional? Consider signing up for a guided tour—doesn't have to be a standard bus tour; our partners at Viator.com offer loads of neighborhood and thematic walking tours, private guides, and other fun ways to explore the capital as well.
Related pages
- Full-day itineraries for one, two, or three days in Venice
- "Arriving" itineraries for one, two, or three days in Venice
- Top sights in Venice
- Venice layout
- Venice tours
- Italy itineraries
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This material was last updated February 2011. All information was accurate at the time.
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