Venice is built on one hundred and seventeen small islands, and holds one hundred and fifty canals, connected by an amazing four hundred and nine bridges, of which only three cross the main canal. The area it covers is a mere 284 miles (458 kilometres). Although the city appears small, it is really quite extensive for its size with a fair number of Venice restaurants and Venice hotels (off peak) to choose from. While most tour guides don’t recommend getting lost in the majority of cities during your Venice vacation, Venice is the place to get hopelessly lost for a day. However, Venice isn’t all cities and crowded streets. Through the mysterious alleyways leading off from the city, endless mazes of backstreets and deserted squares, on your Venice trip, you’ll find that this city is a perfect place to walk for hours on end, pretending to know where you are.
The unique Venice activities you’ll discover during a walk around town are plentiful. The now-famous watery villages on rafts of wooden posts driven into the soil, laid the foundations for the floating palaces of today.
The best way to explore the city during your Venice vacation is by foot and the second best way is also by foot. Besides giving you the opportunity to roam the narrow streets and the piazzas, it is the quickest way too: you can walk across the city in one hour. Sometimes it might be quicker to take a shortcut across the water instead of following the bends of the bridges and alleys.
If you feel like doing the canals the touristy way, you can hire a gondola for 50 minutes for the price of €60 ($94US). Prices go up after sunset and make sure you confirm the price before sitting back and watching the gondoliere do all the work for you. A little bargaining might help.
The Vaporetto (water bus) is most amazing method of getting around during your Venice trip; you won’t find too many public transport routes as unforgettable as vaporetto. No 1′s trip along the Grand Canal. Get yourself a travel pass to ride the elusive vaporetto – single tickets don’t come cheap, and are less economical if you plan to spend days travelling Venice and travelling every nook and cranny. The Vaporetto leaves frequently and cover important parts of the city. The tickets, which can be purchased at the landing stages and at shops which show the ACTV sign, costs about € 5 ($7US)(valid for one hour) . If you plan to use the “vaporetto” more often, it might be an idea to buy a 24-hour ticket € 10,50 ($16US) or a three-day pass € 22 ($34US).
While the classic gondola ride with the opera-warbling operator is pretty touristy and expensive, the traghetto is a commuter gondola that crosses the Grand Canal at strategic points. It is the cheapest way to get into a gondola (40 cents only!). It’s quite a balance test for newbies, as you have to stand. The tragehetto is marked with a green signpost.
Water taxis (motorboats) are almost as expensive as gondolas, but their pilots don’t wear stripy shirts and bellow out ‘O Sole Mio’.
Regular buses (yes, they do exist) run from one place to another, but it’s probably the least exciting way to get around the city. Obviously, don’t bring the rental car to Venice – you’ll just be paying to leave it in a car park for the duration, and in a few car parks you’ll find yourself with a large fine afterwards.
