Venice Activities

Worth getting out of bed for

Venice itinerary

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Viewpoint

Piazza San Marco, aka St Mark’s Square, is the heart of the city; get a 360-degree sunset-enhanced panorama from the top of the Campanile di San Marco (www.basilicasanmarco.it).

Arts and culture

Venice is packed full of churches, museums and galleries, with the famous Accademia (+39 041 522 2247; www.gallerieaccademia.org), Basilica di San Marco and Doges’ Palace (+39 041 271 5911; www.museiciviciveneziani.it) being top of every tourist’s hit list. We love the International Gallery of Modern Art at Ca’ Pesaro (San Stae waterbus stop; +39 041 721 127) and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Dorsoduro (+39 041 240 5411; www.guggenheim-venice.it).

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 (short) shuttle gondola service that costs just 50c. If you want one to yourself, the average price is €100 an hour – more if they sing.

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: in Dorsoduro is Ca’Macana on Calle delle Botteghe (+39 041 277 6142), which made the masks for Eyes Wide Shut. For something different, buy a forcole, the wooden oar rest from a gondola; Saverio Pastor’s workshop is on Fondamenta Soranzo in Dorsoduro (+39 041 522 5699; www.forcole.com). For Murano glass, try to get to the workshops on the island of the same name; the same goes for Burano lace.

Daytripper

Visit the town of Asolo (www.asolo.it), spectacularly set among the cypress-covered Dolomite hills, or the island of Torcello, the classic place to head for an afternoon of peace and quiet when La Serenissima is less than serene. Now largely deserted, it was as much a contender as Venice back in the day, until plague and invasions took their toll. For calm upon calm, spend five minutes sitting in its 11th-century cathedral, Santa Maria Assunta. To get there, take the LN vaporetto line to Burano, then the T to Torchello.

Best beach

Venice has its own beach, the Lido: you can hire cabanas and umbrellas for the day on the private stretches of sand, but they ain’t cheap. There are public beaches at either end of the island; hire bikes along the Gran Viale and explore, or head out to Sant’Erasmo near Burano for quieter, cleaner shores.

Walks

Unplanned meanders and peeking round corners is best in Venice, but if you like treasure hunts, you’ll love The Ruyi – Venice Act (www.theruyi.com), an interactive mystery tour of the city based on a coded book. You have to SMS the hidden codes you find at each historic location to be sent the next destination clue.

Activities

Take a speedboat out across the lagoon – contact Consorzio Motoscafi Venezia (+39 041 522 2303; www.venezianmotoscafi.it) – or fly a figure of eight above in a helicopter (+39 041 526 0215; www.heliair.it). See the real, everyday Venice on an early-morning stroll through the Rialto Fish Market (open Tuesday–Saturday mornings). Once a grand bazaar for treasures from the Orient, it now sells fresh everything-from-the-sea to some of the canniest shoppers on the planet. Have a private cooking lesson in an art deco villa on the Lido, or taste wines in a palazzo, with Venice Gourmet (www.venicevenetogourmet.com). Listen to baroque music played on period instruments at the Scuola di San Rocco (+39 041 523 4864; www.musicinvenice.com). Journey into a romantic otherworld on a gondola ride – negotiate your price first though.

And...

Visit the town of Asolo, among the cypress-covered Dolomite hills, or the island of Torcello, the site of the original main square. Venice has a beach: you can hire cabanas for the day, but they’re not cheap.