The Best Things to Do in Venice — Plus a Day Beyond the Canals

There are some places in the world that you can visit once, check off your list, and feel satisfied that you have seen them.

Venice isn’t one of them.

After two visits, we’ve discovered that some of the best things to do in Venice aren’t necessarily the places you planned to see before you arrived. Of course, there are the famous sights — St. Mark’s Basilica, the Doge’s Palace, the Grand Canal and those iconic gondolas — but some of our favorite experiences came from wandering across a bridge, discovering a museum we didn’t know existed or simply seeing where the next canal would take us.

On our latest visit, after spending 24 nights aboard Windstar’s Wind Surf, we stayed a few extra days before continuing on to Geneva. That gave us the opportunity to revisit some of the places we had enjoyed before while discovering an entirely different side of Venice.

We spent time on the water, returned to some of the city’s great historic sites, ventured out to Murano, explored several very different museums and even escaped Venice for a day to visit Verona, Sirmione and Lake Garda.

So rather than writing another day-by-day account of our visit, I decided to do this one differently.

Consider this our personal guide to the best things to do in Venice, based not on a checklist of places someone says you have to see, but on the experiences we have genuinely enjoyed over two visits — including a few that might surprise you.

🚤 See Venice From the Water — But It Doesn’t Have to Be From a Gondola

There may be no better introduction to Venice than seeing it from its canals.

We actually began our latest Venice experience before we had even left the Wind Surf. On turnaround day, while some passengers were leaving and others were joining the ship, we took a water taxi tour through Venice.

From the water, you begin to understand just how extraordinary this city really is.

Palaces rise directly from the canals. Small boats replace cars and trucks. Water taxis weave past gondolas, delivery boats and vaporetti. Narrow canals disappear between buildings that have stood here for hundreds of years.

The Grand Canal gets most of the attention — and deservedly so — but some of my favorite views were along the smaller waterways where you get a glimpse of everyday Venetian life.

🛶 What About the Famous Gondola Ride?

Here’s one Venice tradition we haven’t done — on either visit.

We’ve never taken a gondola ride.

If riding in a gondola through the canals of Venice is something you’ve always dreamed about, by all means do it. There is something undeniably romantic about those beautiful black boats gliding through the narrow canals, and sometimes checking an iconic experience off your travel list is reason enough.

If I were going to do one, I think I’d choose sunset, just before or after dinner, when the light is softer and Venice begins to take on an entirely different atmosphere.

Just keep in mind that a private gondola ride is also one of the most expensive ways to experience Venice from the water. Before deciding, check the official City of Venice gondola information and current rates so you know what to expect.

But don’t feel that a gondola ride is the only way to experience Venice from the water.

In fact, if your goal is to see and understand more of Venice, I think a water taxi tour and Venice’s public vaporetti give you much more insight into how the city actually works.

The vaporetto is essentially Venice’s public bus system — except your bus stop is a dock and your commute takes you down the Grand Canal.

You’ll see residents going about their day, deliveries being made by boat, magnificent palaces lining the waterways and neighborhoods you might never reach on foot.

So don’t think of a gondola as something you have to do to say you’ve experienced Venice.

We haven’t.

And after two visits, I certainly don’t feel as though we’ve missed the city.

Cast About Tip: Get on the water early in your visit. If a gondola ride is on your bucket list, save it for sunset or around dinner and enjoy the romance of it. Otherwise, consider putting that money toward a water taxi tour and use the vaporetti throughout your stay. You’ll cover much more of Venice and get a better sense of how this remarkable city really works.

🏛️ Step Inside the Doge’s Palace

If you visit only one historic building in Venice, make it the Doge’s Palace.

Standing beside St. Mark’s Basilica, the Palazzo Ducale was the center of Venetian political power for centuries.

The Doge was the elected leader of the Venetian Republic, but Venice developed an elaborate system of councils and checks on his authority designed to prevent any one individual from becoming too powerful.

The palace reflects that power everywhere you look.

Room after room is filled with enormous paintings, gilded ceilings and elaborate decoration. These weren’t simply beautiful spaces. This was where Venice’s government operated, where councils met, laws were debated and judgments were handed down.

One of the most impressive spaces is the enormous Chamber of the Great Council, where hundreds of members of Venice’s ruling class could gather.

But the palace also has a much darker side.

Eventually, you cross the famous Bridge of Sighs into the prison complex. The contrast between the magnificent rooms of government and the stark cells on the other side of the canal is remarkable.

The bridge supposedly earned its name from prisoners taking one last look at Venice through its stone windows before entering the prison.

Whether or not every part of that legend is true, walking across it is one of those moments when Venetian history suddenly feels very real.

Cast About Tip: Give yourself more time here than you think you’ll need. This isn’t a museum I would rush through.

You certainly don’t need to visit every museum on the list to make the pass worthwhile. Before your trip, add up the individual admission prices for the museums you actually plan to visit and compare that total with the current cost of the pass.

For us, having the Doge’s Palace, Ca’ Rezzonico and Murano Glass Museum included made it particularly useful — and it encouraged us to explore a little more.

Important: St. Mark’s Basilica, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Leonardo da Vinci Interactive Museum and Museo della Musica are separate from the civic Museum Pass, so plan separately for those attractions.

🦁 Explore St. Mark’s Square — And Definitely Go Inside the Basilica

You can’t really talk about Venice without talking about Piazza San Marco.

St. Mark’s Square has been the ceremonial and political heart of Venice for centuries, surrounded by some of the city’s most recognizable landmarks — St. Mark’s Basilica, the Doge’s Palace, the Campanile and the long arcades lining the square.

Yes, it is crowded.

Yes, it is touristy.

And yes, you should absolutely go.

But don’t simply stand in the square, take a few pictures and move on.

⛪ Go Inside St. Mark’s Basilica

The Basilica di San Marco is unlike almost any other church you will see in Italy.

Originally built as the Doge’s private chapel, the basilica became a symbol of Venice’s enormous wealth and its connections with the Byzantine world. Much of what you see today dates from the 11th century, although the Venetians continued embellishing it for hundreds of years.

The first thing that struck us inside was the gold.

Thousands of square meters of mosaics cover the domes, arches and walls, many set against shimmering gold backgrounds. The effect changes as the light changes, which is one reason the basilica became known as the Church of Gold.

Look down as well as up. The marble floors are works of art themselves, filled with intricate geometric and animal designs.

And then there is St. Mark himself.

According to Venetian tradition, merchants smuggled the remains of St. Mark the Evangelist out of Alexandria, Egypt, in the ninth century, supposedly hiding them beneath pork so Muslim officials would be reluctant to inspect the cargo.

His relics were brought to Venice, where St. Mark became the city’s patron saint.

That’s also why you see the winged lion of St. Mark everywhere in Venice.

🎟️ Buy Your Tickets Before You Go

This is one attraction where I strongly recommend planning ahead.

The lines to enter St. Mark’s can be extremely long, particularly during the busy summer season.

Buy timed admission in advance rather than spending a significant part of your day standing in the square waiting to get inside.

Also check exactly what your ticket includes. Some areas require additional admission, and access options can change.

🪜 Go Upstairs If You Can

One of our favorite parts of visiting St. Mark’s was going upstairs.

If upper-level museum or terrace access is available when you visit, I highly recommend adding it — with two qualifications: you need to be comfortable climbing quite a few stairs, and you shouldn’t be afraid of heights.

The climb gives you a completely different perspective on the basilica. From above, you can get much closer to some of the mosaics and appreciate details that are difficult to see from the main floor.

Then you can step outside onto the terrace overlooking St. Mark’s Square.

The views are wonderful.

From above, you can look across the piazza toward the Campanile and surrounding buildings and watch the activity below. You also get an up-close look at the famous horses associated with the basilica. The horses displayed outside today are replicas; the ancient originals are protected inside the museum.

It’s one of those experiences many visitors miss because they simply enter the basilica, look around the main level and leave.

Don’t, if you can manage the climb.

🛍️ Don’t Forget the Streets Around St. Mark’s

Don’t be in too much of a hurry to leave the area once you’ve finished sightseeing.

The streets surrounding St. Mark’s Square are fun to explore, with everything from major luxury brands to smaller shops tucked into the narrow streets leading away from the piazza.

On one of our visits, we found a wonderful little jewelry store where I bought a necklace. The pieces were beautiful without all carrying the breathtaking prices you might expect so close to St. Mark’s.

I still have the necklace, which makes it one of those souvenirs that brings back memories of the trip every time I wear it.

On an earlier visit, we also had fun wandering through a Ferrari store near St. Mark’s.

That’s another reason not to treat Piazza San Marco simply as a place to photograph the basilica and move on.

Tour the Doge’s Palace. Go inside St. Mark’s Basilica. Climb upstairs if you can. Enjoy the view over the square.

And then wander.

Cast About Tip: Reserve St. Mark’s Basilica in advance, particularly during high season. Choose timed admission and, if upper-level museum and terrace access is offered, add it. Just be prepared for stairs and heights.

🔥 Escape to Murano

Just a short boat ride from central Venice, Murano feels like a quieter cousin to its famous neighbor.

The island has been associated with glassmaking for centuries. Venetian glassmakers were moved to Murano in the late 13th century, partly because their furnaces posed a serious fire risk in densely built Venice and partly because Venice wanted to protect the secrets of its valuable glassmaking industry.

Today, Murano glass is famous around the world.

Watching an experienced glassmaker transform a glowing blob of molten glass into a delicate object in only minutes gives you a much greater appreciation for the skill involved.

But Murano is worth visiting even if you aren’t shopping for glass.

We enjoyed simply wandering along its canals and quieter streets. After the crowds around St. Mark’s, Murano provided a welcome change of pace.

There are plenty of small restaurants and cafés, and sitting down for a relaxed meal away from central Venice was part of the pleasure of the visit.

Cast About Tip: Don’t make Murano only a shopping stop. Give yourself time to walk beyond the glass showrooms and explore the island itself.

🏠 Discover the Splendor of Ca’ Rezzonico

This was one of the surprises of our latest visit.

Ca’ Rezzonico sits directly on the Grand Canal and today houses the Museum of 18th-Century Venice.

The palace itself is almost as interesting as the collection.

The Rezzonico family purchased the unfinished palace in the 18th century and transformed it into one of Venice’s grand residences. The family’s status rose dramatically when Carlo Rezzonico was elected pope in 1758, becoming Pope Clement XIII.

Walking through the palace provides a glimpse into the extravagant world of wealthy Venetian families during the final century of the Venetian Republic.

Grand staircases lead to ornate salons filled with frescoes, chandeliers, period furniture and paintings.

Instead of looking at individual objects displayed in modern museum galleries, you feel as though you are walking through an actual Venetian palace.

That was what made Ca’ Rezzonico particularly interesting to us.

It wasn’t simply about seeing another collection of paintings. It was about seeing how Venice’s aristocratic families actually lived.

Cast About Tip: If you have already visited the Doge’s Palace, Ca’ Rezzonico makes a fascinating companion visit. One shows you the public world of Venetian power while the other gives you a glimpse into private aristocratic life.

⚙️ Have Some Fun With Leonardo da Vinci

After several days surrounded by centuries of Venetian art and architecture, the Leonardo da Vinci Interactive Museum was a completely different experience.

And that was exactly why we enjoyed it.

Rather than simply looking at drawings of Leonardo’s inventions, many of his concepts have been recreated as working models.

Leonardo’s imagination seems almost impossible when you consider when he lived. His notebooks contain ideas for flying machines, mechanical devices, military equipment and engineering systems that were centuries ahead of their time.

The interactive exhibits make those ideas much easier to understand.

You can operate mechanisms and see how his concepts for gears, pulleys and machines actually work.

And apparently, they are particularly fascinating if your name is Bob.

I practically had to pull him out of the museum when it was time to leave.

Boys do love their toys! 😁

It isn’t one of Venice’s monumental museums, and that’s part of its charm. After several hours of serious art and history, it was fun to actually touch something.

Cast About Tip: This is an especially good stop if you’re traveling with children or grandchildren — or husbands who enjoy getting their hands on Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions.

🎨 Change Centuries at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection

Few museums could provide a greater contrast to Ca’ Rezzonico.

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection occupies Palazzo Venier dei Leoni along the Grand Canal and contains one of Europe’s important collections of modern art.

Peggy Guggenheim lived in the palace for approximately 30 years and assembled an extraordinary collection of 20th-century works.

After spending much of our Venice visit surrounded by Renaissance paintings, ornate ceilings and 18th-century furniture, suddenly encountering Picasso, Dalí, Pollock and other modern artists felt almost startling.

That contrast is precisely what makes the museum worth visiting.

The building itself is also unusual by Venetian standards. The palazzo was never completed beyond a single story, giving it a distinctive low profile directly along the Grand Canal.

Its garden provides another welcome break from Venice’s busy streets and canals.

Even if modern art isn’t normally at the top of your travel list, the Guggenheim offers an entirely different view of Venice’s artistic life.

🧭 Get Lost — Seriously

One of the best things to do in Venice isn’t really an attraction at all.

Put the map away. Venice is made for wandering.

Cross a bridge simply because you like what you see on the other side. Follow a narrow street until it ends at a canal. Walk through a tiny campo you’ve never heard of.

That’s exactly how we discovered one of our favorite little surprises during our first visit to Venice.

We walked over a small bridge and found ourselves in an almost empty square. We looked to our left and discovered the Museo della Musica.

Of course, we went inside.

The small museum celebrates Venice’s remarkable musical tradition and contains a fascinating collection of historic musical instruments, including beautifully crafted violins, harpsichords and many other stringed instruments.

Venice played an important role in European music, particularly during the Baroque period, and the museum gives you a glimpse not only into the music but also the extraordinary craftsmanship behind the instruments used to create it.

It wasn’t on our itinerary.

We hadn’t gone looking for it.

We simply stumbled across it.

And we loved it.

That little discovery perfectly illustrates why I think you should deliberately leave some unscheduled time in Venice.

The crowds tend to concentrate around St. Mark’s Square, the Rialto Bridge and the major routes connecting them. Walk a few blocks away and Venice can suddenly become surprisingly quiet.

Stop for a glass of wine. Find a little restaurant tucked away from the main tourist routes. Cross the bridge that looks interesting just to see what’s on the other side.

We ended one of our days at a small neighborhood restaurant — nothing grand or famous, just the kind of intimate place that somehow feels exactly right in Venice.

Sometimes those are the meals you remember.

Cast About Tip: Leave at least a few hours in your itinerary with absolutely nothing scheduled. Getting a little lost in Venice isn’t a problem. It’s part of the experience — and you never know what you’ll find around the next corner.

🚗 Worth Leaving Venice For

As much as there is to see in Venice itself, the city also makes a good starting point for exploring more of northern Italy.

We booked a full-day excursion through Viator that combined Verona, Lake Garda and Sirmione.

It was a long day, but an excellent one.

Our guide was terrific and somehow managed the entire excursion in English, Italian and Spanish.

By the time we finished the day, I couldn’t help thinking she must have been exhausted!

🏟️ Walk Through Verona

Verona is best known internationally as the setting for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but the city deserves far more credit than that.

Its history stretches back to Roman times, and the enormous Arena di Verona still dominates the historic center.

Built in the first century, the Roman amphitheater remains remarkably well preserved and is still used today for concerts and opera performances.

From there, Verona is wonderfully walkable.

One thing we particularly enjoyed was the mix of old and new.

Verona has a fairly large market where stalls fill the square, while the surrounding streets are lined with surprisingly upscale shops. Historic buildings, cafés, market stalls and high-end shopping all coexist within a relatively compact area.

And then there is Juliet.

Casa di Giulietta — Juliet’s House — has become one of Verona’s most popular attractions, complete with the famous balcony associated with Shakespeare’s fictional heroine.

Let’s keep this one real.

If you’re a big Romeo and Juliet fan, walk into the courtyard, get your outside picture of the famous balcony and enjoy the moment.

That’s probably all you need.

If you’re not particularly interested in Romeo and Juliet, this is one attraction you can probably skip without feeling guilty.

There is much more to Verona than Juliet’s balcony.

The Roman arena, beautiful piazzas, market and streets of the historic center were far more interesting to us and are reason enough to visit the city.

🌊 Cruise Lake Garda and Explore Sirmione

From Verona, we continued to Lake Garda and the beautiful town of Sirmione.

Lake Garda is Italy’s largest lake, surrounded by mountains, villages and resort towns.

Seeing it from the water was one of the highlights of our day.

Sirmione sits on a narrow peninsula extending into the lake and looks almost impossibly picturesque as you approach.

At the entrance to the historic center stands Scaligero Castle, a medieval fortress surrounded by water. Beyond it is a maze of pedestrian streets filled with cafés, restaurants, shops — and a remarkable number of excellent gelato shops.

You will not have trouble finding dessert in Sirmione.

The town is also famous for something you can’t immediately see.

Sirmione has naturally occurring thermal waters rich in minerals, salts and sulfur. Those hot springs helped give rise to the town’s spa industry, and thermal treatments remain an important part of Sirmione’s identity today.

A boat ride around the peninsula gave us an entirely different perspective and was one of my favorite parts of the excursion.

Sirmione is understandably popular, particularly during the summer, but the combination of the medieval town, castle, lake, thermal spa tradition — and, yes, gelato — makes it worth dealing with the crowds.

After Sirmione and Lake Garda, we returned to Verona, where we had time to stop for an aperitif before beginning the trip back to Venice.

By then, our guide had spent the entire day switching effortlessly among English, Italian and Spanish.

We enjoyed our drinks.

I suspect she probably needed one more than we did. 😁

Cast About Tip: If you have several days in Venice, consider using one of them to get outside the city. Verona, Lake Garda and Sirmione make a long day, but they provide a wonderful contrast to Venice. Our Viator excursion worked very well and allowed us to see all three without worrying about transportation between them.

❤️ So, Is Venice Worth Revisiting?

Absolutely.

After two visits, our list of the best things to do in Venice keeps getting longer rather than shorter.

That’s because Venice isn’t a city you finish.

On one trip you may concentrate on St. Mark’s Square, gondolas and the Rialto Bridge.

On another, you discover an 18th-century palace, experiment with Leonardo’s machines, look at a Dalí, watch a glassmaker at work or walk across an unremarkable little bridge and unexpectedly discover a museum filled with centuries-old musical instruments.

And that’s part of what makes Venice special.

The famous sights really are worth seeing.

But once you’ve seen them, don’t assume you’ve seen Venice.

Get on a boat. Walk away from the crowds. Visit a museum you’ve never heard of. Take a day trip. Sit down at a small restaurant. Eat some gelato.

And occasionally put away the itinerary and see where the next bridge takes you.

🏨 Where We Stayed in Venice: Venice Times Hotel

Getting from Windstar to the Venice Times Hotel was much easier than we expected.

Just outside the port doors, to the right, there was a water-taxi ticket office. We simply told them where we wanted to go, paid for the ride, and they arranged the taxi for us. No advance reservation was needed. It was easy and stress free.

From the ticket office, we walked about 100 yards under a covered walkway to the water-taxi boarding area. An attendant was there to let us know when our taxi arrived and helped us load our luggage onboard.

The ride itself took about 15 minutes, and the taxi delivered us directly to the waterfront entrance at Venezia Santa Lucia train station.

There were plenty of porters waiting near the station, and no reservation was needed for them either. We paid approximately €20 for four bags, and our porter loaded everything onto a cart and walked it about four minutes down the narrow pedestrian street to our hotel. Worth every penny.

We could have taken the People Mover from the cruise port, but for us it would not have been nearly as practical. The station was elevated, and we would have had to drag our luggage up a long flight of stairs. Even after that, we still would have had to make our way from the People Mover to the hotel with all four bags.

With luggage, the direct water taxi was absolutely the right choice for us.

An Excellent Base for Exploring Venice

The location turned out to be convenient for much more than train travel.

From Santa Lucia, we could walk across Ponte degli Scalzi, one of the bridges spanning the Grand Canal near the station, and head through quieter Venetian neighborhoods toward the museum district.

We also had easy access to the vaporettos, which we used to travel around Venice, including trips toward Murano and the Doge’s Palace area.

And because the hotel was slightly removed from the busiest tourist areas around St. Mark’s Square, we enjoyed walking through quieter streets and neighborhoods that felt much more residential.

There were also several very good restaurants nearby. In fact, we found one restaurant just off the street beside the alley leading to our hotel that we enjoyed so much we went back twice.

For us, the combination of excellent service, easy transportation, nearby restaurants and quick access to both the trains and vaporettos outweighed the shortcomings of our particular room.

Would we stay at the Venice Times Hotel again? Yes — but next time I would request a garden-facing room with a larger bathroom.