Venice, Italy Travel Guide

I’m starting to wonder if I should consider myself a “travel blogger.” I love to travel and a lot of my posts do revolve around travel, so does that make me a travel blogger? Haha! Anywho, today I have a Venice, Italy travel guide for you! As my first destination on my Europe trip, we went to Venice, Italy. Last year, I did a blog post for everyday that I was in Europe, just telling y’all what I did and all, but this year, I decided to just do some travel guides with all of my favorite things to do. Hopefully these travel guides will be helpful for you!

 

How to get there

 First and foremost, if you live outside of the country of Italy, you will need to arrange a flight or train or cruise to get to the actual country of Italy. My family and I flew into Venice via airplane. From the airport, we took a bus to the waterport, waited seven stops, and got off at the Arsenale exit. From there, we went to our apartment! 

Where to stay

 We ended up just renting an apartment in Italy, so I recommend doing an AirBnB while you stay here. There are hotels and such, too, but we loved our apartment and it was nice being able to unpack and have a “home base.”

 

What to do

The first day, we just walked around and saw all of the sights and canals. Venice is known for their canals… Have you ever seen the gondolas in movies? Yeah, those are all over Venice! In Venice, there is plenty of shopping, too! While I was there, we went inside Basilicas, went to museums, and shopped. For a reference, we spent 2.5 days in Venice, and it was a perfect amount of time. Venice is an awesome city because you can just wander around the city to see the beauty!

Another thing to do is to go to museums! We went to the Peggy Guggenheim museum, which had some awesome Picasso paintings! 

A must-do in Venice is a trip on the Gondola. It was so relaxing and fun! For one boat ride, it should cost you about 80 Euros, no matter how many people are on the gondola. That’s how it was for us. You can also hire someone to sing on your boat ride for some extra money, too!

One of my favorite things that we did while we were here was climb the tall tower, the San Marco Campanile, in San Marco Square. We just took an elevator up to the very top and had some phenomenal views! It costs money to go up, though. I’m pretty sure students get a discounted price.

Where to eat: Ah, the best part! Of course, when in Italy, you always have to get your pasta and pizza fix! We did not skimp on our carb intake on this trip! One of our favorite restaurants was Spaghetteria Pizzeria (6342 A La Tole). They are definitely known for their pizza, but like a true Italian restaurant, they have homemade spaghetti along with other dishes. The best part about this restaurant is that it is very affordable. With the cost of water included (water typically costs money in Europe), each of our meals ended up being 12 Euros, with tip included. This is a really great price!

While you are in Venice, you must go to Harry’s Bar (if you’re 21 or older). They are famous for their Bellinis and back in the day, Ernest Hemingway frequented here.

When in Venice, the restaurants fill up really quickly. I recommend you to either get to your restaurant of choice really early or to make reservations in advance. We lucked out and got tables even though we didn’t have any reservations made.

We kind of struck out with restaurants in Venice. While we had some good food, we didn’t have any food that was out of this world. We came to the conclusion that all of the food was very similar in taste… I mean, it is all Italian food!

If you want a good chocolate shop, head over to Venchi. They have really good chocolates that you can buy individually.

 

What to wear

When I was in Venice (middle of May), it was hot during the days when I was directly in the sun, but it was really nice in the shade. At night, the temperatures would drop and there would be a cool breeze. The first day, I wore leggings and a tank top and although, during the heat of the day, I was warm, I was perfect at night and when I was in the shade. The only downside to wearing a tanktop is that I couldn’t go into the churches because my shoulders weren’t covered. You also can’t bring a backpack into churches, so keep that in mind. If you need some help on what to pack, I made a vlog where I show y’all everything that I packed for this whole Europe trip! For shoes, I wore some slide-on Vans, and I was really happy with this decision. You might want to break your shoes in before walking all over Europe in them, though.

Check out my Venice outfit posts here and here.

Y’all, Venice is a dream. Before going to Venice, I had no idea what to expect besides gondolas. The colors here are so vibrant, the food is amazing, and the buildings are so charming! When it hits 7 or 8 PM, the colors in the atmosphere begin to soften and everything seems to turn to a pastel color! It is absolutely beautiful! While you are in Venice, make sure to wake up early one morning to go explore and get pictures before anyone else is up. Since we were there right around summer time, all of the cruise ships docked here during the day, so it was super busy during the afternoons. It was dinner time when the crowds started to subside.

If you ever have a chance to go to Venice, I would really recommend it. It is a must-see city, at least in my opinion, and the colors alone of the buildings and the sea are enough to make me want to go back!