Lonely Planet Pocket Venice: Top Experiences - Local Life (Pocket Guide)

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Another great Venetian celebration that's also free to enjoy is the Festa del Redentore. Each third Sunday of July the city gets together to commemorate the end of the terrible 16th-century plague epidemic with spectacular fireworks that light up the canals – especially around the area of the island of Giudecca. This is another Italy-wide rule but it comes into sharper relief in Venice: drink your coffee or eat your croissant at the bar to avoid paying a seating supplement. If you’re happy to stand, you can get a drink at fancy Piazza San Marco cafes like Florian or Quadri for a few euros – while those sitting outside are paying double figures, and that’s before the additional fee if an orchestra is playing in the square. 19. Watch your step on the vaporetto

Vaporettos are one of the staples of the Lagoon. Where "normal" cities have buses (Venice included – in its mainland area), the Serenissima has what are essentially floating buses. The vaporetto service is run by Venice’s municipal public transport system, ACTV, and it connects all main points of interest in both the six sestieri and the other islands of the Lagoon. If you’ve followed the advice above, you might not need to use the vaporetto unless you’re going out to the islands. But if you’ll be using it several times or more during your trip it could be worth buying a timed pass, which gets cheaper the longer you stay. Just as Padova is overshadowed by Venice, Vicenza is the often overlooked sibling of nearby Verona. It wasn’t like this 500 years ago, when the local dignitaries were building palazzos, each grander than the last along what was the Roman decumanus (main drag) and is now called Corso Palladio, after Renaissance starchitect and adopted vicentino, Andrea Palladio.

Venice has long discussed implementing an entry fee for visitors but the specifics haven't always been clear. However, city officials recently unveiled a comprehensive plan, shedding light on when and how the much-debated tourist tax will be introduced. Discover the world's most intriguing experiences with our weekly newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

For obvious reasons, Venice isn’t the most accessible city, but don’t assume that it’s a no-go if you have mobility issues. The bridges along the Riva degli Schiavoni – the main waterfront leading off from Piazza San Marco – have ramps, and the same goes for the Zattere waterfront, which also enjoys spectacular views. There are blue flags flying everywhere around the lagoon and you'll find one of the best Blue Flag-certified beaches right at the lagoon's southern end. Sottomarina – part of the municipality of Chioggia and much more easily reached by car than by water-bound public transport – is a much-loved beach escape with a huge variety of water activities to keep everyone entertained, and decent accommodation nearby. Walking among the stalls of the centuries-old Rialto market is definitely a unique and quintessentially Venetian (and Italian) experience. Divided into two sections, one for fruits and vegetables (in Piazza delle Erbe) and the other for fresh seafood (in Loggia della Pescheria), the market is located in the area around the Rialto bridge, in the sestiere San Polo. The same area turns into a wonderland of Christmas stalls and little shops if you happen to visit during the holidays. There are several lines of vaporettos divided into four main categories, the most relevant to tourists being the "city center lines" 1 and 2, which sail along the Grand Canal.

You’re going to be taking a lot of boats in Venice – here’s how to know which one to take. From the airport, if you want to arrive by water, take the Alilaguna ferry – a private company that has different routes and stops around the city. Alilaguna also has a couple of tourist lines out to the islands. Where climate change does come in, is that a long period of high pressure over Italy is currently causing a drought — droughts are being seen around Europe and causing concern in numerous regions. In the case of Venice's canals: “[the high pressure has] been over us for so long that it eventually coincided with a low lunar tide, causing the exceptionally low water,” says Cairns.

Plenty – our list of the best things to do in Venice does not include a gondola ride. Leaving aside the museums and galleries, there are other ways to experience the city on water, too. Take a vaporetto (waterbus) to one of Venice’s outer islands: Murano is world-famous for its glass, and Burano is the gateway to the wild north lagoon. Or take the vaporetto to the beach at the Lido. How else might it affect my trip? The wider region around Venice, Veneto, tends to be pretty flat except where the landscape rears up towards the Dolomites. This is one of the exceptions – a group of cone-like volcanic hills, 81 of them to be precise, rearing up from the plains south of Padova. A prime mistake visitors make (and I should know – I did this even when I first moved here) is seeing Venice through its vaporetto map, and calculating the nearest stop to places you’re going. It’s understandable – this is famously a city to get lost in – but unnecessary.It’s true that what most people think of when they imagine Venice is only the part of the city that’s floating on the Lagoon, but the mainland is only a bridge away and very much a part of the greater Venice area. So if you’re intrigued by a location outside of the usual city centre routes, you could take the day off and head to Parco San Giuliano in Mestre, the last city on the mainland before the bridge to Venice. A huge 74-hectare (183-acre) green space meant first and foremost as a flora and fauna preservation area, the Parco San Giuliano is also well-equipped for outdoor activities like skating, biking and football. If you want to organise a day out with family and friends, then this is definitely a place you should keep in mind. With the exceptions of Christmas and New Year’s Eve, the colder months are as empty as they can be in a city like Venice – with school and work in full swing, tourist numbers are much lower than they are in June and July. Yes, a beach in Venice – in fact the Lido is one long beach, kilometer after kilometer of perfect sugary sand. If you need a rest from the sightseeing, don’t sit at a bar and shell out for a spritz – just take the vaporetto across to the Lido and lie down. Avoid the icons One of the world's most spectacular destinations, Venice dazzles all ages – nobody is immune from that instantaneous and unparalelled love-at-first-sight moment when uninitiated eyes spy the city for the first time. The city's radical deviation from the typical urban landscape is, in and of itself, an attraction for kids. The endless maze of footbridges and staircases, traversing a web of intertwined waterways, is one giant playground for the little ones. The coach drops you at Piazzale Roma, the vehicle terminus on the very outskirts of the city; from there you’ll likely have to get a vaporetto to your hotel, which costs €9.50 for a single (other options are available – see below).