Worth getting out of bed for
Highlights the best Venice has to offer, from art and culture to fun-packed activities; we've even found the most inspiring place to enjoy the views from.
- Viewpoint
- Enjoy a 360-degree look across the city from the Campanile di San Marco.
- Arts and culture
- Venice is packed full of churches, museums and galleries. We love the Museum of Modern Art (San Stae waterbus stop) and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Dorsoduro (www.guggenheim-venice.it), right next to both hotels.
- Something for nothing
- Get a taste of what it feels like to be on a gondola for next to nothing: look for the yellow ‘Traghetto’ signs and follow them to the water. It’s a shuttle gondola service that costs 40c. If you want one to yourself, the average price is €100 an hour.
- Shopping
- You’ll find all the designer labels around San Marco, and especially on Calle Larga 22 Marzo. Boutiques and gift shops line the streets between Piazza San Marco and the Rialto. Don’t buy masks in the tourist area: close to the hotels is Ca’Macana on Calle delle Botteghe, which made the masks for Eyes Wide Shut. For something different, buy a forcole, the wooden oar rest on a gondola; Saverio Pastor’s workshop is on Fondamenta Soranzo in Dorsoduro (+39 041 522 5699). For Murano glass, try to get to the island of Murano itself.
- And...
- Visit the town of Asolo, among the cypress-covered Dolomite hills, or the island of Torcello, the site of the original main square. The fish market in Rialto runs Tuesdays to Saturdays. Venice has a beach: you can hire cabanas for the day, but they’re not cheap.
Diary
- February Venice Carnival for masked mayhem (www.carnivalofvenice.com). June The Biennale art-world extravaganza, every two years (www.labiennale. org). July Fiesta del Redentore: fireworks commemorating the end of the 16th-century plague. September Regatta Storica boat race, with magnificent gondolas and gondoliers in full regalia. Venice Film Festival on the beach (www.veneziafilmfestival.com).
