VENICE · ITALY
Built on water, made for art.
The Doge’s Palace and St Mark’s golden mosaics, the gondola on the Grand Canal, the glass furnaces of Murano and the painted houses of the lagoon. The whole of Venice, sight by sight.
Only here
What only Venice has.
Every old city has churches and boat trips. A palace that ran a maritime empire, a boat rowed standing for a thousand years, and an island that has made glass since 1291 belong to this lagoon and nowhere else.
Seat of the Republic
The Doge's Palace
For a thousand years this was the seat of the Venetian Republic: the doge's apartments, the vast Chamber of the Great Council under Tintoretto's Paradise, and the covered Bridge of Sighs that carried the condemned straight to the cells. The secret-itinerary routes through the interrogation rooms are the part people talk about after.
- 1 Venice: Doge’s Palace Reserved Entry Ticket
- 2 Doge’s Palace & St. Mark’s Basilica with Terrace Access Tour
- 3 Legendary Venice: Doge’s Palace, St Mark’s & VIP Terrace Access
Rowed standing since the 11th century
The Gondola
The gondola belongs to Venice alone. It is built slightly lopsided on purpose, so one oarsman can row it standing against the pull of the lagoon, and still made by hand in a handful of boatyards. Eight metres of black-lacquered wood, and the only way to see the Grand Canal the way the city was meant to be seen.
- 1 Venice: Grand Canal Gondola Ride with App Commentary
- 2 Venice: Grand Canal by Gondola with Live Commentary
- 3 Venice: Shared Gondola Ride Across the Grand Canal
Fire on the water since 1291
Murano Glass
In 1291 Venice moved its furnaces out to Murano to keep the fires, and the secrets, off the main islands. Seven centuries on, the masters still gather molten glass on a steel rod and turn it, by breath and tongs, into something alive in under a minute. The craft was once guarded as a state secret, and the demonstrations show you why.
- 1 Venice: Burano, Torcello & Murano Boat Tour w/Glassblowing
- 2 Venice: Murano and Burano Boat Tour with Glass Factory Visit
- 3 Venice: Murano & Burano Panoramic Boat Tour w/ Glassblowing
Start here
The one ticket everyone books.
If you do a single thing in Venice, this is where most travellers begin.
The essentials
Venice's Most Popular Experiences
The Doge’s Palace, the Grand Canal by gondola, the lagoon islands and St Mark’s. The experiences most travellers come to Venice for.
Where to begin
The experiences a Venice trip is built around.
The palace and the basilica, the gondola and the Grand Canal, the glass furnaces of Murano and the painted islands beyond. The handful of things most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
Out on the lagoon
Three ways to take the islands.
Murano, Burano and Torcello sit a short boat ride north of the city, and how you string them together depends on the time you have. Three ways out into the lagoon, from a quick loop to the full day.
Five centuries of art
The whole city is the gallery.
Venice spent the wealth of a maritime empire on paint, marble and gold. Titian and Tintoretto still hang on the walls they were painted for, Bellini above the altars, the doge’s state rooms in full gilt and the basilica roofed in golden mosaic, with the Accademia and the Peggy Guggenheim collection strung along the Grand Canal.
Read the guide: Venice’s museums & palaces →The main street is water
The Grand Canal.
Four kilometres of water curl through the city in a reversed S, lined by five hundred years of palace facades built to be reached, then as now, by boat. Take it by gondola for the romance, by the public vaporetto for the everyday, or by private launch at dusk as the palazzo lamps come on.
Gondola rides & canal cruises →The island of fire
Made by breath and fire.
On Murano the furnaces never fully cool. A master gathers a glowing ball of molten glass on a steel rod and, with tongs, breath and a few practised turns, pulls out a horse, a goblet, a chandelier arm in under a minute. The demonstrations are free to watch; the workshops put the rod in your own hands.
See the glassblowing experiences →Cicchetti & ombre
Eat the way Venice eats.
Venetian food is a bar-counter tradition: cicchetti, small plates of baccalà, polpette and crostini, taken standing with an ombra of wine in a bacaro. Add the Rialto market at dawn, a lagoon-to-plate seafood lunch and the Prosecco hills an hour inland.
- 1 Eat Like a Local: Venice 3-Hour Small-Group Food Tasting Tour
- 2 Venice Like a Local: Food, Wine & Spritz Tour with Traghetto Ride
- 3 Venice Bacaro Food Tour: Eat and Drink like a Venetian
By place
Where Venice takes you.
The historic centre for the art and the palaces. St Mark’s for the mosaics. The Grand Canal for the gondola. The lagoon islands for glass and colour, and the Dolomites or the Prosecco hills when you want the mainland.
By experience
Pick how to spend the day.
A gondola if you want the postcard. A walking tour if you want the back lanes. The furnaces of Murano, a Venetian cooking class, an opera at La Fenice, or a mask workshop before Carnival.
Plan it
Three perfect days.
First time in Venice? A long weekend that takes in the art, the water and the islands without a wasted hour.
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