Is Venice Worth It? What’s Special, What Disappoints and How to Make It Work

Venice is worth it for a trip built around St. Mark’s Square, its museums and the lagoon islands, and it’s a harder sell for anyone who arrives on a peak day with no plan.

At a glance

• Verdict: yes for a museum-and-lagoon trip, harder on peak crowd days
• Main drawback: crowds, with daily peaks of about 150,000 people during the 18-day busy stretch
• Top things to see: Doge’s Palace, the Basilica with the Pala d’Oro, the Campanile, Murano and Burano
• Where to stay: the historic centre, the islands or the mainland
• Day trip by bus: Cortina d’Ampezzo, about two hours from Piazzale Roma

What makes Venice worth visiting?

The St. Mark’s Square Museums single ticket covers the Doge’s Palace, Museum Correr, the National Archaeological Museum and the Monumental Rooms of the Marciana National Library. The basilica visit adds the Pala d’Oro and the museum and loggia for the Horses of Saint Mark. The Doge’s Palace is at San Marco 1, and visitors enter through the Porta del Frumento on Piazzetta San Marco.

For views, take the Campanile elevator, which gives wide, quiet views. For a break from the stone, the Giardini Reali are right at Piazza San Marco, and the Redentore convent garden sits on Giudecca. Castello Est is the largest green area in the whole city. Beyond the square, the Museum Pass also opens Ca’ Rezzonico, Carlo Goldoni’s House, the Glass Museum on Murano, the Lace Museum on Burano and the Palazzo Mocenigo, which is devoted to textile, costume and perfume history.

What disappoints in Venice?

Crowds are the letdown. The load is expected to concentrate on the three weekends, on Giovedì Grasso and on Shrove Tuesday, and the daily peaks run to about 150,000 people. Piazza San Marco is managed accordingly: stewards count people inside and the entrances close at the capacity limit. In 2018 that operation involved about 690 staff, including 200 to 250 local police officers, 100 stewards and 60 firefighters.

The city’s access fee aims to regulate the excursionist phenomenon and to discourage unplanned day visits. It applies only to the historic city, not to the minor islands. ## Who is Venice best for?

Venice serves visitors who plan their days around a few sites and book lodging early. It serves walk-in day trippers less well, since they run into the closed entrances and the access fee. Lodging comes as hotels, apartments, bed and breakfasts and farm holidays, and the tourist tax rate depends on the area.

• Couples: yes · Duodo Palace has junior suites with canal view, some with a balcony
• Families: yes · Hotel Tintoretto offers triple and quadruple rooms, and La Fenice has apartments
• Budget: yes, if you stay on the mainland (Mestre and surroundings) or the lagoon islands · both carry reduced tourist tax rates
• Museum lovers: yes · one Museum Pass covers the Doge’s Palace and many other museums across the city and the islands

When should you visit Venice to enjoy it?

Skip the three weekends, Giovedì Grasso and Shrove Tuesday if you can. Even then, go to Piazza San Marco early in the day, since entrances close once the limit is reached.

Each fix answers a letdown named above. A weekday beats a weekend for the crowd. A visit outside the 18 days avoids the daily peaks of about 150,000. For the day-visitor fee, a planned stay avoids the unplanned day visit the fee is meant to discourage.

Is one day in Venice enough?

Water buses make the islands easy: ACTV lagoon routes connect Murano, Burano and Torcello, and city centre routes 1 and 2 run along the Grand Canal and the Giudecca Canal.

• One day: the St. Mark’s Square Museums ticket, the basilica with the Pala d’Oro and the Campanile elevator · first-time visitors
• Two to three days: add Ca’ Rezzonico, the Palazzo Mocenigo and Carlo Goldoni’s House (one ticket valid 3 months, one entry per museum), then Murano and Burano · museum lovers and repeat visitors
• A day away: the ATVO bus from Piazzale Roma reaches Cortina d’Ampezzo in about two hours with no change.

On Dolomiti Bus line 72, Venice to Cortina leaves at 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Cortina to Venice at 7:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. For a round trip in one day, those times set the plan.