Lonely Planet Pocket Venice: Top Experiences - Local Life (Pocket Guide)

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The good news is it’s unlikely to return in 2023. Bassa marea is a typical winter phenomenon, usually occurring in January and February. Normally it only lasts a few days; it’s only thanks to that high-pressure area hanging over Italy that it has lasted several weeks this time. It’s hard to link this particular event to climate change – it’s to do with low lunar tide and high pressure over Italy,” he explains. Walking among the stalls of the centuries-old Rialto market is definitely a unique and quintessentially Venetian (and Italian) experience. Divided into two sections, one for fruits and vegetables (in Piazza delle Erbe) and the other for fresh seafood (in Loggia della Pescheria), the market is located in the area around the Rialto bridge, in the sestiere San Polo. The same area turns into a wonderland of Christmas stalls and little shops if you happen to visit during the holidays. If it wasn’t so close to Venice, Padova (or Padua) would be one of northern Italy’s most feted cities. As it is, not many tourists make it to the place that changed art history – yet it’s one of the easiest day trips from Venice by train. Here, in the Cappella degli Scrovegni – the chapel of the Scrovegni banking family, which now sits in a little park, just 10 minutes’ walk from the train station – Giotto spent two years from 1303 to 1305, frescoing it from top to bottom. What he produced shattered medieval artistic conventions, introducing perspective and humanizing his figures, instead of keeping them stiff and sculptural. If his Nativity and Flight to Egypt scenes are familiar, that’s because they make regular appearances on Christmas cards around the globe. The Gritti Palace is a luxury hotel in Venice, Italy. It was built in the 15th century as a private residence and has operated as a boutique hotel starting in 1895. Located on Venice’s famous Grand Canal, the iconic hotel offers stunning views of the Venetian lagoon and is just steps away from St. Mark's Square. The Gritti Palace features luxurious accommodations with a mix of classic and modern Italian design and dining options featuring local Venetian cuisine. The hotel also offers a range of amenities such as a rooftop jacuzzi, fitness center, spa and private boat tours.

There are several lines of vaporettos divided into four main categories, the most relevant to tourists being the "city center lines" 1 and 2, which sail along the Grand Canal. The Biennale, an annual cultural exhibition held in Giardini and Arsenale is understandably a huge draw for fans of contemporary art and architecture. These places are iconic for a reason, of course – but they’re also full of tourists and prices are sky-high. Instead, follow the sound of the Venetian dialect to nearby places that are just as memorable but at a fraction of the cost. This series of articles about credit cards, points and miles, and budgeting for travel is brought to you in partnership with The Points Guy.

Don’t miss Santa Maria dei Miracoli, a tiny, jewel-like church clad from inside to out in precious marble, or San Sebastiano, which was frescoed and painted all over by Veronese and is known as his ‘Sistine Chapel’. Eat standing up As numbers grew, the Ghetto was extended into the neighbouring Ghetto Vecchio (Old Foundry), creating the confusing situation where the older Jewish area is called the New Ghetto and the newer is the Old Ghetto. Sephardic Jewish refugees raised two synagogues in Campo del Ghetto Vecchio that are considered among the most beautiful in northern Italy, lavishly rebuilt in the 17th century. The Schola Levantina, founded in 1541, has a magnificent 17th-century woodworked pulpit, while the Schola Spagnola, founded around 1580, shows just how Venetian the community had become through a demonstrated flair for Venetian architectural flourishes: repeating geometric details, high-arched windows, and exuberant marble and carved-wood baroque interiors. Of course, their volcanic origin should give you a hint that Italy’s famous thermal spas will be nearby. The small, neighboring towns of Montegrotto and Abano are home to various springs and spas that have been going since Roman times. Today, along with other nearby towns Galzignano, Battaglia and Teolo, they’re said to form the oldest, and largest, thermal spa in Europe, with 240 thermal pools between them. One of our favorites is the Abano Ritz Hotel Terme – family- and female-owned for three generations. The thermal mud they use in balneotherapy treatments comes from right beside the hotel and the pools in their 6,000-square-meter waterpark stay a constant 33 degrees (91.4F), thanks to the thermal waters that spent 25 years and 100km (62 miles) underground before gushing out here.

Instead, ask for an ombra – literally a “shadow” of wine. It’s essentially a small serving of house wine, named after the booze stalls that used to set up in the shadow of Piazza San Marco’s bell tower, and it can cost as little as €1. By the way, if you insist on a spritz, the Venetian aperitif of choice is Select, not Aperol. Swap the gondola for a traghettoHow to get to Chioggia from Venice: Take a vaporetto from the city to the Lido, where the number 11 bus route whisks you eastwards, transfers to a ferry to Pellestrina, continues to the end of the island, and then drops you off at the ferry for Chioggia. Note that this route is only active in summer. Otherwise, it’s about an hour’s drive (but on frustratingly slow roads) south of Venice. 6. Soak up the cross-cultural history of Trieste How to get to Bologna from Venice: It’s easiest by train – high-speed Frecciarossa trains can whisk you there in just over an hour and a half. It’s roughly the same by car, though you should add autostrada tolls and the road is quite monotonous. 9. Climb into the Dolomites at Cortina d’Ampezzo A prime mistake visitors make (and I should know – I did this even when I first moved here) is seeing Venice through its vaporetto map, and calculating the nearest stop to places you’re going. It’s understandable – this is famously a city to get lost in – but unnecessary.

Arm yourself with a changing mat and plenty of wipes for on-the-go diaper action (changing facilities aren’t prevalent). But that’s not true! OK, the fancy restaurant and hotel may be beyond your budget this time, but start small – with souvenirs. Don’t touch the crappy plastic magnets and masks you see on thousands of stalls around town; go for something handmade and memorable.The Italian railway system is excellent and in this part of the country, there are regular high-speed trains that can whisk you to another world in less than half an hour. Whether you’re looking for somewhere close by or fancy a day out in another region or even in the mountains, here are some of the best places to go. 1. See world-changing art in Padova Santa Croce might not look quite as pretty as the other sestieri, but there are plenty of things to keep you interested - like the Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia within the old Fondaco dei Turchi, the vibrant square of San Giacomo dell’Orio and the Palazzo Mocenigo, Venice’s museum of fashion history as well as possible haunting grounds of the ghost of philosopher and writer Giordano Bruno. When the water gets exceptionally low – 60cm below average – a handful of vaporetti are diverted down the Grand Canal. Transportation company ACTV sends out alerts via the Telegram app. If smaller canals are closed to traffic, that could also affect your water-taxi ride. Within a two-hour drive from Venice, you can be in the heart of the Dolomites. Head due north, and within an hour you’ll be winding up through mountain passes towards Pieve di Cadore, the birthplace of Renaissance painter Titian (his birthplace is now a museum, and there are paintings by his artist family in the local church). From there, fork west, hugging the mountainsides, to Cortina d’Ampezzo.

One of the world's most spectacular destinations, Venice dazzles all ages – nobody is immune from that instantaneous and unparalelled love-at-first-sight moment when uninitiated eyes spy the city for the first time. The city's radical deviation from the typical urban landscape is, in and of itself, an attraction for kids. The endless maze of footbridges and staircases, traversing a web of intertwined waterways, is one giant playground for the little ones. Your main routes, however, will be with the public transport company ACTV. This runs the vaporetti – waterbuses – in and around town. If you’ll be using them a lot, it’s worth getting a timed pass rather than paying by the ride. Venice has long discussed implementing an entry fee for visitors but the specifics haven't always been clear. However, city officials recently unveiled a comprehensive plan, shedding light on when and how the much-debated tourist tax will be introduced. What else would you expect from a city whose streets are canals other than regattas everywhere? They make for quite a sight and are an excellent addition to any trip – and all they require is a bit of careful planning.How to get to Treviso from Venice: Trains run every half hour or so, and take 30-40 minutes to Treviso Centrale. Otherwise, it’s a simple, if not particularly scenic, 40-minute drive from Piazzale Roma.