Talk To Me about Venice Please

c - 13

Hey all,
Just booked a weekend in venice for myself and the girlfriend for the first weekend in Febuary.
We'll be flying into the Trevisco Airport

Could anyone whose been before give us some pointers on -

1. Getting To/From Airport
2. Places To Stay
3. Things To See
4. Rough Price Wise Analysis

As always, any help greatly appreciated.
Thanks all.

mikedragon32

Don't know about transfers from Treviso Airport, as I flew AL to Marco Polo, but being a Ryanair destination, there's bound to be a coach service to Venice.

I stayed in the Carlton & Grand Canal hotel, directly opposite the Train Station and close to the bus terminal. It was handy in that you could easily get the Vaporetti down to St. Mark's Square and it was a lovely walk if you decide to go on foot. The hotel was nice, comfortable room and decent breakfast. The bar was lovely too and was a nice place to relax after a day of sightseeing.

Things to see: Obviously St. Marks Sq. and the cathedral. Beautiful. The Doge's palace is pretty nice too. Head up to the top of the clock tower for a lovely view over Venice, espcially if it's a sunny day. Try to walk around, there's jems around almost every corner and you'll find some lovely piazzas. The food market at Rialto bridge is nice to have a wander around and is open mornings only. Two minutes walk from St. Mark's Sq. is Harry's Bar, home of the Bellini Cocktail. A Bellini will set you back €15approx (I can't remember how much my rum and coke was, but I do remember nearly choking when I got the bill), and you'll be sat at a cramped table, but it's interesting to see Venicians interact with each other there. They serve (very expensive) food too.

Won't go into a price analysis as it's almost two years since I was there, but here's some tips: Don't buy the fake gear on the streets, it's pure rubbish and doesn't even vaguely resemble the authentic article. If you're into buying all the obvious tourist tat, like Glassware and masks, don't be afraid to haggle and definitely shop around. Paper is a great buy in Venice, if you like that kind of thing. As for getting coffees/drinks, it is always cheaper to be inside than outside (particularly true in Mark's Sq), and it's cheaper still to stand at the counter like the locals do. Generally, if you do stand at the bar, try your hand at ordering in Italian, they'll really appreciate it and will definitely be a lot more receptive to you. Only the tourists sit outside in winter! At the counter you shouldn't pay any more than €1 for an expresso with a small glass of water on the side. At a table outside, you'll pay at least €3 for the same order. There are plenty of great restaurants, try avoid eating at the tourist traps and explore for some great little trattorias. 2 Courses with wine shouldn't cost any more than €15 - €20 a head and you'll be well fed.

c - 13

Thanks mikedragon32, thats great ! Very informative.

I'm after sending a reservatio request to this hotel/B&B, it seems to be very central and has very good reviews.

According to the airports website there should be a transfer bus alright, and if that fails theres a train station in the town nearby. So all is looking good at the moment !

Thanks again !

conical

Your B&B looks great, very well located too. We went more budget when we visited and stayed here which was in a great location too (from memory it was €140 per night (in september) for the apartment which slept 3 of us).

We flew to Marco Polo, so can't help there, but would recommend that one of you goes and buys the ticket while the other waits for the bags -avoid a queue when everyone pours out.
Would definitely recommend buying a 3day(or more if your staying) pass for the bus and waterbus (€25) as otherwise it's €3/€5 a go afaik --sometimes you'll need to take the waterbus just across the 'road'. The pass covered our trip back to the airport too.

Most museums are €10-€12 in, wouldn't bother with the guggenheim tbh. Wouldn't bother going to murano island unless your big into the glass or want to see a glass workshop, nothing to see in the mestre (on the mainland) either. The Lido is nice for a walk in the suburbs and has a beach to walk too.

Gondola's are €90+ but we nabbed a gondolier who was standing around for €60, don't know if we got a shorter trip at that price, but we were more than happy.


Enjoy


-C

Overall an amazing place -very romantic city too

killbillvol2

There's a bus from the airport to Venice. Link

I didn't like the place so I won't add anything further!

c - 13

Thanks all some good advice there, anyone anything further to add ?
Just looking at the link KillBill supplied for the busses, seems trains leave for venice every 30 mins and are very cheap, whats the train service like around that area (i presume its as good as the rest of europe) ?As I would much rather do that than have to take a bus.

killbillvol2

It's a pretty short bus journey (less than an hour). You'd probably be in Venice by the time you got to the station and changed to the train.

That said, Italian trains are ecellent.

Cake Fiend

Be sure to get the times for the buses, as last time I was there, there were only a few per day to the airport. The first time I was over, I missed the only bus that would get me to the airport in time and had to fumble my way (with the help of my trusty Italian phrasebook) onto a bus to Treviso town - which I subsequently wandered around for two hours in summer sun (11am to 1pm :eek:) trying to find my way to the airport!

As well as the usual touristy things like Piazza San Marco etc, I'd recommend just spending a day wandering around getting lost (a very easy thing to do in Venice!) if you can spare the time. Just see the real city, with all its inhabitants going about their daily stuff, as well as the trinket shops, leather boutiques, touristy restaurants, etc. Venice is small enough that you can walk around the entire city in a day.

If it's your first time to Venice, there will be some disappointments. The place stinks (the water I think, particularly bad in the summer), there's litter everywhere in some areas, the prices are worse than Dublin (until you find the places the natives eat/drink) and the buildings are all decrepit with damp. Not the romantic city I was brought to believe in from books etc. Having said that, it's well worth a visit, even for the pure surreality of it! I laughed my pants off the first time I saw the floating garbage-compactor doing its morning rounds (it makes logical sense of course, but seeing it was comically surreal).

mikedragon32

FWIW, when I was there it was March and the place didn't smell at all. Would agree with Cake Fiend on the litter and the state of some of the buildings, but it's Venice. It's unique.

Also while we were there, it chucked down snow and it really made the place spectacular.

Here's two pics!

c - 13

Good stuff all, thanks.
A little dissapointed to find out about the rubbish/smell comments but I'm sure I can deal with it, Venice is one of those places I always wanted to visit !

One last question for you all, whats the level of english spoken in Venice ? Ill be trying to pick up a bit of Italian before I go and ill obviously equip myself with a phrase book, but I cant see my Italian improving too drastically in two weeks.

Funkstard

I was there back in October. I had the same first impressions re. the damp buildings and the appearance of the streets, but after a day there I realised that these blemishes enhance your experience of the city. The damp is an inevitable effect from the city being built on wooden piles, the city is today as it has been for the last 500 years or so, a little bit of grime is inevitable. I know I prefer that to some manicured characterless space.

Go to the well known spots which are amazing, but plan a good day in your itinerary for just walking and getting hopelessly lost within 5 minutes (You're never that far away from a vaporetta so you can't actually get that lost, but the streets are a labyrinth). You'll stumble across various hidden gems as has already been said.

I'm not sure if it's still running, but I was there for the Venice Biennalle, an international Architecture exhibition. It's huge and informative and wonderful and intriguing so I would definitely advise it.

Also, I flew into Treviso too, and there was 4 or 5 buses waiting outside the airport going to the city itself. The airport is one of the most decrepid places I've ever been so get the hell away from it before it sticks in your memory too much.

A weekend I think is perfect for Venice, that's the conclusion I came to anyway. It's stunning but it's a little city that's stunning, there's only so many options. You'll have a great time anyway, and despite a bit of dirt it will be incredibly romantic!

mikedragon32

c - 13 wrote:

Good stuff all, thanks.
A little dissapointed to find out about the rubbish/smell comments but I'm sure I can deal with it, Venice is one of those places I always wanted to visit !

One last question for you all, whats the level of english spoken in Venice ? Ill be trying to pick up a bit of Italian before I go and ill obviously equip myself with a phrase book, but I cant see my Italian improving too drastically in two weeks.

I had no problems with anyone when I spoke english, but I did at least try common courtesies (hello, goodbye, please, thank you etc.) in Italian and found it really helped in smaller coffee shops to try order in Italian!

You may find that that if you speak english, they may reply in Italian. Don't panic, just listen and you'll find they're speaking quite slowly, so you can actually make out what they are saying!

Venice was my first time in Italy and I had no issues at all with language.