Venice in June

I'm totally at a loss with what you are all finding to do here for 5 days! I literally cannot think of anything worse.

There's a gondola, a square, St. Mark's cathedral and a bridge. Anything else can be seen anywhere else in Italy, often in nicer surroundings, cheaper and don't smell like wee. I'd really feel like I had failed in life if I could only do 5 days in Venice and miss out on practically all the better stuff a day or so away, if not a few hours.

The fact you tipped also shows how little you really understood where you were going and the research you put in. You don't tip in Italy. Period. It's a cultural thing (Pane e Coperto) since the dawn of time that in olden days you used to go to restaurants and you'd take your own food (because cheaper) so a charge was levied for use of tableware and crockery (and bread) instead.

Sorry, this sort of thing really winds me up because you honestly could have had a much better time just popping over for the day.
 
Evening Ball, booked for 4 days in November.

Any recommendations on things to do? In particular:

Best place to book in advance evening gondola ride

Restaurant recommendations

Things to do /see

Ta!
 
ivrytwr3 said:
Evening Ball, booked for 4 days in November.

Any recommendations on things to do? In particular:

Best place to book in advance evening gondola ride

Restaurant recommendations

Things to do /see

Ta!
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Assuming you are flying into VCE, pay the 100EUR and get a private water transfer to your hotel (and then one back again). If it's not raining, only way to do it!
 
ivrytwr3 said:
Evening Ball, booked for 4 days in November.

Any recommendations on things to do? In particular:

Best place to book in advance evening gondola ride

Restaurant recommendations

Things to do /see

Ta!
Click to expand...

I would say you can't go wrong with the main touristy stuff. Yes there will be crowds, maybe not so much in November but I don't think you can go to Venice without doing those type of things. I booked most of my stuff through trip advisor with the queue jump premium on top cos I didn't want to wait around what could have been hours to get into somewhere. I would also recommend booking a rooftop visit to the DFS, pictured on the page before. Its free, just book a time slot and turn up. They allow 20 folk on at a time and it's located just behind the Rialto bridge so you get a good view. Similarly the tower on st marks square. Less than 10quid for a queue jump for a better view across the south lagoon and rest of the city. Murano, burano islands for painted buildings, glass blowing and lace making tour.

Can post more after work today. Restaurant reviews on the last page as well. Depending on your budget you could go to Harry's bar! :eek:
 
Derek W said:
I would say you can't go wrong with the main touristy stuff. Yes there will be crowds, maybe not so much in November but I don't think you can go to Venice without doing those type of things. I booked most of my stuff through trip advisor with the queue jump premium on top cos I didn't want to wait around what could have been hours to get into somewhere. I would also recommend booking a rooftop visit to the DFS, pictured on the page before. Its free, just book a time slot and turn up. They allow 20 folk on at a time and it's located just behind the Rialto bridge so you get a good view. Similarly the tower on st marks square. Less than 10quid for a queue jump for a better view across the south lagoon and rest of the city. Murano, burano islands for painted buildings, glass blowing and lace making tour.

Can post more after work today. Restaurant reviews on the last page as well. Depending on your budget you could go to Harry's bar! :eek:
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Rooftop - yes, looking at booking that.

Tower, St Marks Sq - do you have a link to the queue jump booking?

Murano - will research.

Restaurants - any recommendations? (doubt we will be trying Harry's Bar!) Friday night is booked, just need something for Sat and Sun night.

Thanks for the reply :)
 
Django x2 said:
I'm totally at a loss with what you are all finding to do here for 5 days! I literally cannot think of anything worse.
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Jeez you sound like a right barrel of laughs on holiday. Maybe you need to change your approach to something more like Anthony Bourdain's. Haven't you ever gone to a place just to soak up the culture and enjoy oneself? You don't have to go to every single big touristy church etc. How about just hunting out some lovely restaurants, cafes etc. to while away your time. Do as the locals do and head out to the local chicchetti bar, prop it up whilst drinking 4EUR red wine (ombra) and amazing snacks. That's what we did. There's no need to traipse around all the sights in a city like Venice, the whole place is a sight in it's own right! I went in Feb last year right before COVID and was very worried about everywhere being a tourist trap, about it being too busy etc.. but it was absolutely awesome. We never ate in a restaurant that was any more expensive than central London. Avoiding tourist traps is as easy as walking past the man trying to shove a menu in your face :o

ivrytwr3 said:
Murano - will research.
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Burano is the more pretty island. Not much to do there but if you are there at a meal time (e.g. lunch) make sure you book somewhere! There's limited choice and too many people that come over for the day. (Contrary to above, it is quite touristy).

I saved way too many options in TA before we went so I had decent places at the drop of the hat when we were wandering. I think these are some that we actually went to;
Because I was so worried about it being ultra-trouristy, my action plan was to get lots of options ahead of time.. I've linked to TA above but I never used it to find places. Finding food bloggers/instagrammers that are local gives much more success. And for Venice specifically you can always follow Russell Norman who owns the Polpo chain over here (he's a chef/restaurateur who spends a lot of time in Venice so there's nobody better). Anyway, don't just book sit down meals. Make sure you have enough time to get on the wine and snacks in the little bars, that's the real experience :)
 
ivrytwr3 said:
Rooftop - yes, looking at booking that.

Tower, St Marks Sq - do you have a link to the queue jump booking?

Murano - will research.

Restaurants - any recommendations? (doubt we will be trying Harry's Bar!) Friday night is booked, just need something for Sat and Sun night.

Thanks for the reply :)
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https://www.expedia.co.uk/things-to-do/search?&rid=179981&location=Venice+(and+vicinity),+Veneto,+Italy&startDate=2021-11-01&endDate=2021-11-14&swp=on&sort=RECOMMENDED&filter.categories=ToursDayTrips&d1=2021-09-06&d2=2021-09-07&pwaDialog=&srpOpen=true


That's the Expedia link and it's got a number of activities you'll be able to sift through the different options with the skip the queue. There are a few which appear to be the same but priced differently but it involves slight variations on which areas are accessible. E.g basilica and rooftop or basilica after dark tour. I'm sure there's a separate website for the tower to get that booked. Just Google the tower name.

I'll double check this https://www.venetoinside.com/attrac...kets/st-marks-bell-tower-skip-the-line-entry/

Aye that's where I booked it from
 
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Scam said:
Jeez you sound like a right barrel of laughs on holiday. Maybe you need to change your approach to something more like Anthony Bourdain's. Haven't you ever gone to a place just to soak up the culture and enjoy oneself? You don't have to go to every single big touristy church etc. How about just hunting out some lovely restaurants, cafes etc. to while away your time. Do as the locals do and head out to the local chicchetti bar, prop it up whilst drinking 4EUR red wine (ombra) and amazing snacks. That's what we did. There's no need to traipse around all the sights in a city like Venice, the whole place is a sight in it's own right! I went in Feb last year right before COVID and was very worried about everywhere being a tourist trap, about it being too busy etc.. but it was absolutely awesome. We never ate in a restaurant that was any more expensive than central London. Avoiding tourist traps is as easy as walking past the man trying to shove a menu in your face :o

Because I was so worried about it being ultra-trouristy, my action plan was to get lots of options ahead of time.. I've linked to TA above but I never used it to find places. Finding food bloggers/instagrammers that are local gives much more success. And for Venice specifically you can always follow Russell Norman who owns the Polpo chain over here (he's a chef/restaurateur who spends a lot of time in Venice so there's nobody better). Anyway, don't just book sit down meals. Make sure you have enough time to get on the wine and snacks in the little bars, that's the real experience :)
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That's exactly what we did do. It's a day, two at the most.
 
Forgot to ask @ivrytwr3 last time i checked on the gov website / expedia they were saying that you would have to quarantine still for 5 days? I did see a mention of up to August 31st so you fall after that but have you seen if restrictions are being lifted or is there still a chance you'd have to quarantine for longer than your holiday?
 
Derek W said:
Forgot to ask @ivrytwr3 last time i checked on the gov website / expedia they were saying that you would have to quarantine still for 5 days? I did see a mention of up to August 31st so you fall after that but have you seen if restrictions are being lifted or is there still a chance you'd have to quarantine for longer than your holiday?
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Haven't seen anything about quarantine been lifted for Italy. I do know there was outcry for them extending to 31 Aug 21, so hopefully they will get rid of the requirement.

But of course that is all dependent on the situation at the time. I have booked with BA, so will just cancel if this is the case.
 
ivrytwr3 said:
Haven't seen anything about quarantine been lifted for Italy. I do know there was outcry for them extending to 31 Aug 21, so hopefully they will get rid of the requirement.

But of course that is all dependent on the situation at the time. I have booked with BA, so will just cancel if this is the case.
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That would explain the specific date listed on the sites I checked. Hopefully things do ease a bit more and you get away ok :cool:
 
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