Venice Travel Guide: How to Visit Venice and Where to Stay

How to get to Venice

Most international visitors arrive at Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE), about 13 km from the historic centre. From the airport you can reach the mainland (Mestre) in around 20 minutes by taxi, airport bus (ATVO/ACTV) or transfer, and the island itself by the Alilaguna water bus or a private water taxi.

If you are travelling within Italy or Europe, the train is often the easiest option. Venezia Mestre and Venezia Santa Lucia are the two main stations; high-speed trains connect Venice with Milan, Florence, Rome, Bologna and Verona. Venezia Mestre, on the mainland, is the larger interchange and is where many regional and international services stop first.

Venice or Mestre: where should you stay?

This is the most important choice you will make. Staying on the island of Venice puts you among the canals but comes at a premium: rooms are smaller, prices are higher, there is no parking, and you carry your luggage over bridges. Staying in Mestre — the mainland district — gives you more space, lower prices, easy parking, and a quick connection into the centre.

From Mestre, a train reaches Venezia Santa Lucia in about ten minutes, and frequent buses run throughout the day and evening. Many experienced travellers deliberately base themselves in Mestre to see Venice by day and return to a calm, residential neighbourhood — with restaurants priced for locals rather than tourists — each evening.

• Lower nightly rates than the island
• More space — apartments instead of small hotel rooms
• Parking available (impossible on the car-free island)
• ~10 minutes to Venice by train, ~35 minutes door-to-door
• Quieter evenings and authentic local dining

Getting around Venice

On the island there are no cars — you travel on foot or by water. The vaporetto (water bus) is the public transport network; a multi-day travel pass usually works out cheaper than single tickets if you plan to ride often. Walking is genuinely the best way to experience Venice: getting a little lost in the back lanes away from the main routes is part of the magic.

For arrivals and departures with luggage, a private water taxi is the fastest (and most expensive) option. Budget travellers can combine the train into Santa Lucia with the vaporetto or simply walk — the station sits right on the Grand Canal.

The best things to do in Venice

Venice rewards both the headline sights and slow wandering. Start with the essentials, then leave time to explore neighbourhoods like Cannaregio and Dorsoduro that most day-trippers miss.

• St Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco) and St Mark's Basilica
• The Doge's Palace and the Bridge of Sighs
• The Rialto Bridge and the morning Rialto market
• A vaporetto ride down the Grand Canal at sunset
• The Gallerie dell’Accademia and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection
• A day trip to the islands of Murano (glass) and Burano (coloured houses)

Day trips from Venice

Venice is a superb base for the wider Veneto region, and staying on the mainland makes day trips even easier. The lagoon islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello are a half-day by vaporetto. Further afield, fast trains reach Padua (Padova) in about 25 minutes, Verona — the city of Romeo and Juliet — in around an hour, and Treviso, Vicenza and Bologna are all comfortable day trips.

If you are hiring a car to explore the region, basing yourself in Mestre means you can keep the car nearby and still hop on the train into Venice whenever you like.

When is the best time to visit Venice?

Spring (April–June) and early autumn (September–October) offer the best balance of pleasant weather and manageable crowds. July and August are hot and busy. Winter is quieter and atmospheric, with the famous Venice Carnival in late winter drawing visitors from around the world — book accommodation early if you plan to attend.

Whenever you come, arriving at the major sights early in the morning or in the late afternoon helps you avoid the midday crush of day-trippers.

How to visit Venice on a budget

Venice has a reputation for being expensive, but it does not have to be. The biggest saving is accommodation: staying in Mestre rather than on the island can cut your nightly cost significantly while keeping you minutes away. Cooking some meals in an apartment with a kitchen, buying a multi-day vaporetto pass, eating where locals eat away from St Mark’s Square, and walking instead of taking water taxis all add up.

Booking your stay directly with the property — rather than through a third-party platform — also avoids extra service fees, so you typically pay less for the same apartment.

Where we recommend staying

If you want space, value and an easy connection into the city, a mainland apartment is hard to beat. All'Arco Apartment is an 85 m² two-bedroom apartment in Carpenedo, Mestre, sleeping up to five guests — ideal for families and small groups. You get a full kitchen, a private balcony, free WiFi, air conditioning and nearby parking, with Venice around 35 minutes away door-to-door.

Check availability and book directly to get our best rate with free cancellation and no third-party booking fees.