Experiencing Venice is like falling in love at first sight. To many, Paris is considered the most beautiful city in the world. To me, Venice is. All of the beautiful architecture, the canals, the gondolas, I just find it amazing (it’s a UNESCO World Heritage property). Since my first visit when I was fifteen, I always found this enchanting city to be very unique. I love that you can walk everywhere, no need to rent a car. But make sure you hop on the vaporetto (water bus) which gives you a wide angle view of Venice’s beauty that you just can’t get by walking around. I also love to wander and get lost through all of the winding, narrow cobblestone streets, and the further you venture away from Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square), the quainter the neighborhoods become, San Polo being my favorite. San Polo is a quarter of artists and artisans, with narrow streets and tiny “campos” or squares. But what I love is that people actually live here in the tiny apartments above the many shops and restaurants, giving you a real neighborhood feel. Make the most of your time exploring through tiny alleys, across endless bridges, and make sure to just take it all in, while stopping for a coffee or gelato along the way.
Places to Stay We typically fly into Venice and take a water taxi from the airport. I really like staying close to St. Mark’s square, as the location is very convenient. This last time we stayed at the Residence Corte Grimani and were very pleased. We stayed in a one bedroom apartment (which for Venice is huge) for the three of us, and our daughter was thrilled to learn she had her own bathroom. Situated steps from St. Mark’s, the property is very comfortable and we had amazing canal views from our windows. I highly recommend this hotel if you’re traveling with children. Other nice hotels where we’ve stayed in the past are the Cavaletto and the Bonvecchiati, both very near to St. Mark’s also. Important to note, it’s good to find a hotel that has water taxi or water bus access, so that you don’t have to carry all of your luggage through the cobblestone streets.
Residence Corte Grimani Hotel, fantastic location…
View from our apartment window…priceless!
Churches As with most major Italian cities, Venice has many gorgeous churches to visit. My favorite of course is Basilica di San Marco, one of my favorite churches in all of Europe and one of the finest examples of Byzantine architecture in the word. Words cannot describe this amazingly beautiful sanctuary, it’s truly a must see. Another church I love in Venice is the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, with its prominent position at the tip of Dorsoduro, where the Grand Canal merges with St. Mark’s Basin.
Basilica di San Marco
Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute
Gondola Rides We visited at the peak of the high season in August, it was extremely busy and the crowds were everywhere. Though I have to admit, as much as I love my gondola rides, the tourist crowds were making us feel like we were in a Disney World queue. But a gondola is just one of those things that a visitor to this lovely city should experience. Venice is all about the water. I definitely recommend visiting in May or September instead. But this was our daughter’s first trip to Venice, so of course we had to take her on a gondola, which she loved.
Gondola rides…
Food Finding delicious eateries in Venice is not a problem. There are tons of great restaurants to choose from, yummy gelato places (Venchi being out favorite), and many pizza and fast food spots to get a quick meal, throughout the entire city. I had not been to Venice in many years prior to this visit last summer, and I was pleasantly surprised to not see any Starbucks, Burger Kings and only one McDonald’s further out in the Cannaregio neighborhood. Some of our favorite restaurants which we frequent on every visit are Antico Martini, Le Bistrot de Venise and Trattoria Da Mamo. And if you’re looking for a quick bite and don’t have time for a sit down meal, you have to try Dal Moro’s Fresh Pasta To Go (Calle de la Casseleria, 5324 in Castello). The pasta comes in a little white takeaway box with a fork and napkins, and it’s up to you to find a place to enjoy it. The pasta is really fresh, made when you order it, and very reasonably priced for Venice.
Dal Moro’s Fresh Pasta to go…
Another great place is Acqua & Mais (Campiello dei Meloni, 1478, San Polo) a Venetian take-away delicatessen where you can taste the seafood directly from the Rialto market. The specialties include the “scartosso” real Venetian mixed fried fish served in a paper cone so that you can enjoy it while strolling through the streets of Venice. Windows allow a full view of the cooks while preparing the food and prices are again very reasonable for Venice.
Acqua & Mais fresh seafood to go…
Paper Shops As many of you know, my love of stationery products comes alive when I’m visiting Europe, in particular, Italy. Venice has many gorgeous little shops selling handcrafted marbled paper, embossed stamps and beautiful pencils and notebooks. The most common one you will find is Il Papiro, this is a chain with various locations throughout Italy, several within Venice, and even shops in Palm Beach and New York. But there are a few others to look out for as well. I really wanted to visit, Legatoria Piazzesi, (Campiello de la Feltrina near Campo Santa Maria del Giglio, San Marco 2511), Italy’s oldest paper shop, which has been making books and paper since 1951. Unfortunately, it was closed during our stay, and apparently it’s closed a lot from reviews I have found on the internet. The collages in the window were beautiful and I read somewhere that the artist says that they are portraits of the tourists she sees walking by her shop! I would have loved to buy one, maybe next time (because of course, they will be a next time).
Legatoria Piazzesi, the oldest paper shop in all of Italy…
Another great paper shop we stumbled upon was Il Pavone, di Pelosin Paolo (Campiello dei Meloni, 1478, San Polo). This paper store had an incredible assortment of beautifully marbled paper in all sorts of color combinations and patterns, as well as swirls of colors on notebooks, pencils, frames, decorative boxes, stationery and even sheets of wrapping paper! But perhaps the best part of our visit was when the shop owner led my daughter and I to the tiny back room for a quick tour of his workshop where he hand paints every item he sells in this adorable store. Of course we made a few purchases…
Il Pavone Paper Shop, amazing to watch the shop owner make the marbled paper.
La Ricerca (Ponte delle Ostreghe near Campo Santa Maria del Giglio, San Marco 2431) is another beautiful little paper shop selling leather-bound photo albums, address books, pencil pouches, you name it (by now you’re probably wondering how many of these places did we shop at). And according to Fodor’s, new products are introduced often so that no two visits to the store are ever the same.
Glass Last but certainly not least, I love all the tiny glass shops in Venice. No matter which street you turn on you will encounter at least a few on each block, selling various glass items such as these:
Beautiful glass sold all over Venice…
More beautiful glass miniatures..
One store that has some beautiful glass items, and very special hand painted Christmas ornaments is Eredi Giovanni Pagnacco, right off St. Mark’s square, definitely worth a visit.
Beautiful handpainted glass Christmas ornaments…
You can also visit some glass workshops and watch demonstrations if you’re interested. Vecchia Murano Glass Factory, in the heart of Venice, just a few yards from Piazza San Marco, is one of the lagoon’s biggest and most famous artistic glass factories. You can visit the store which sells all types of glass items and some very pretty glass jewelry, and skip the glass making demonstration.
The beautiful glass jewelry available at Vecchia Murano.
However, I recommend you visit the island of Murano if you’re looking for a specific piece. Day trips to Murano and Burano are great if time permits.
Here are a few more photos of our trips for your enjoyment:
One of the many gondola stations.
The beautiful St. Mark’s Basilica
Another gondola station with Santa Maria della Salute in the background…
Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo, with its unique staircase…
On the Ponte dell’Accademia
The beautiful wooden Ponte dell’Accademia, linking Dorsoduro to San Marco.
Beautiful gondolas
One of Venice’s many bridges…
More gondolas…
Near the Rialto Bridge…
Photo taken from the water taxi…
The beautiful clock tower on St. Mark’s Square…
The Doge’s Palace
Gondoliers waiting for their next customers…
Beautiful buildings in San Polo…
The beautiful Rialto Bridge…
The beautiful Doge’s Palace and the pink lamps…
Enjoying a late evening stroll through St. Mark’s while having some gelato…
Carolina loving the gondolas…
St. Mark’s Basilica
Hubby and I on St. Mark’s Square…
Have you been to Venice? I’d love to hear what you enjoyed most…
Listen2Mama 
My sister has been there numerous times and has nothing but good things to say about Venice. I would definitely love to get over there someday myself.
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Never been there but from what your pictures are showing I would love to go. I love glass blown figurines and old paper!! I would also love to go on a Gondola ride through the streets.
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Yes please!! I for sure want to go to Paris. Right now when we travel we pretty much stay in the USA but that doesn’t mean I won’t be traveling abroad.
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Absolutely loved this post being that Venice is my favorite city. It feels like no other due to its uniqueness and I ‘m certainly going back soon! Thanks for sharing such useful information and beautiful pictures!
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Your view of Venice through your photos was fantastic. My few days there one year weren’t as wonderful, but I want to give it another chance.
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I can’t wait to go! Thanks for all the tips – especially the restaurants, will definitely try and get to a few of those!
Lauren xx
http://www.thelifestylediaries.com
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I loved Venice. I think the thing that I loved the most was the fact that you could hear not traffic. And I love getting lost in the tiny little streets. You are making me very nostalgic. Beautiful photos. Thank you for sharing.
#MeetupMonday.
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Seeing all these pictures makes me want to go back! So fun!
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I would absolutely love to visit Venice what a beautiful place! x
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I’m in love ❤ I have to admit, Venice never made it's way onto the list of places I wanted to see, but it definitely has now! Thanks so much for sharing your tips and gorgeous photos!
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This is where I want to go next. I’m outvoted though, so we’re going someplace else. Soon I’ll get to Venice, I hope. Your pictures are lovely.
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Venice looks absolutely breathtaking! I’m planning a big European vacation in 2016 and Venice is definitely one of my stops! I can’t wait to visit ❤
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What a wonderful trip a dream come true indeed!
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I would love to visit Venice! The architecture and the food I could spend days on!
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I just love the architecture and the culture and the food and the gondolas … it’s just like there’s eye candy everywhere!
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I’d love to visit someday. Your photos are great!
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Vence is one of the places on my must go list. thanks for sharing such beautiful images.
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Venice is really beautiful and romantic. I guess a gondola ride is a must do in Venice, which explains the queue.
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But the queue is only in July and August…
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You could not possibly have posted enough pictures with this post! Beautiful. I haven’t been there… yet. The colors almost seem too bright to be real. I’m forwarding this to a friend who’s planning her first trip to Italy! Thanks.
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Beautiful photos, and excellent travel tips for anyone planning a trip to Venice. I would love to visit someday!
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The envy that is going through my veins right now…. UGH! I have never been to Italy but I was bitten by the travel bug when I went to NZ & AUS earlier this year and now I really really WANT and NEED to goooo everywhere, INCLUDING Venice – and I am not talking Venice Beach CALI. LOL!
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Look through my travel posts on http://www.listen2mama.com. I have other Italy posts as well as Spain and Greece too. We LOVE to travel!
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Venice is absolutely breath taking. There’s so many beautiful places I would like to visit and Venice is at the top of my list.
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Gorgeous pictures! We honeymooned in Venice and Milan. The highlight of my trip was getting lost in Venice, just wandering around. It is such a beautiful place with so much history!
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Dropping by from the Monday meetup linkup. Your photos are so beautiful! I can’t wait to visit Venice again to experience something similar to what you’ve done there.
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That looks like such a beautiful place!! Would definitely love to visit there one day!
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You have beautiful pictures. I am sure all of you had a great time. How I wish my children and I will be able to experience vacation outside the country together!
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Venice looks like a wonderful place to visit. All the pictures are wonderful. I would love to go one day.
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I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Venice a few times and your post brought back fond memories! What beautiful photos! Looks like you had a wonderful time! Maybe one day I’ll get to experience it with my family.
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My best friend just got through going through Venice and Florence, she’s over in Ireland now but she really enjoyed Italy.
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Your account and these pictures make it seem like time stood still. They are beautiful! I will love to visit some day!
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OMG…I would die if I went to Venice. A dream. And the squid looked amazing! My sister is going to Milan and Lake Como for her anniversary in July. I am sooooo jealous.
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I have always wanted to go to Venice. It looks like an amazing place to visit!
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I have never been and would love to go soon, its so beautiful and such an amazing place. Thanks for sharing this with us I am so jealous.
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I’ve always wanted to visit Venice. I came close once, but only got as far as Florence. You’re photos are great. Thanks for sharing.
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I had NO idea how absolutely spectacular it was there. Your pictures showcase it beautifully, and it’s on my must see list for sure. Also, I’d wait in line for the gondolas just to have done it too. 🙂
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Your pictures are amazing! This would definitely be a dream trip for me!
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I’ve always wanted to see Venice, now I want to even more after seeing these great pics!
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Gorgeous photos. I have been to Italy many times, but never to Venice. These pictures are making me want to go back and this time add Venice to the itinerary.
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Wow, those pictures are so awesome. I would love to go there!
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It has been many years since I have been to Italy. I have it on my list of places to go back to! You really gave some great ideas of places to go and foods to try. Your photos are great too! Looks like you had a great time.
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I have always wanted to go to Venice. Beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing.
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No, I have never been to Venice but my husband and I are planning a few post retirement trips to Europe and Venice is on our list. Your pictures are beautiful and inspiring.
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Fantastic pictures! I haven’t been to Venice since our honeymoon back in 1988. Looks as lovely as it did then. I was happy to see you have pics of all the favorite spots: St. Mark’s Square, Rialto bridge and no Venezia trip is complete without Venecian glass! 🙂 Looks like you had an amazing time!
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I would love to visit Venice one day, especially after seeing your pictures! Hopefully I’ll be able to make the trip in the next few years.
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Wow! What an amazing vacation. I love Europe, but have never been to Venice. Clearly I need to put that on the bucket list.
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I was in Italy on study abroad years ago. I loved Venice. I peeked in San Marco because from what I remember it was expensive to go in but there are many hidden gems in that city as well.
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Yes, isn’t it gorgeous!
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So breathtakingly beautiful! I have always wanted to visit and still hope to someday!
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I hope someday my hubby can take me here! Such beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing 🙂
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That is definitely a city I will be visiting one day. Bucket list item for sure
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Venice is at the top of my list of places I want to travel. I’d definitely go there over Paris any day. I have dreams of riding in a gondola! Thanks for sharing your lovely photos!
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