We caught the train from Bologna to Venice early in the morning and reached Venice around 9 am in the morning. Now when you have two days you need to choose what you can see sightseeing wise so don’t bite off more than you can chew and get intimidated. Relax, do some sightseeing but also take some time out to walk around to take in the vibe of the city. Walking around is especially charming in a city like Venice with its tiny alleys with no traffic to hinder you.
Italy is a country I can viist again and again and never get tired.
Day 1: take in the vibe of the city and do one touristy thing
1. Water taxi ride
Unless you are staying in the city centre, you will need to take a water taxi to Piazza San Marco to do your sightseeing. We found the daily or 2 days transport pass very good value – with about 2 trips your cost is covered so I would recommend getting this.
The water taxi ride is a great introduction to the city and is a great ride. Stand in the outdoor area for your first ride if you can find space and take in the scene. It’s quite special. It’s also a great way to take photos of the city.
2. Doge’s Palace
This was the first thing we did. Midday was extremely hot and sunny so it was a good idea to be indoors. It’s a gorgeous place no doubt. Very opulent, lots of gold embellished ceilings and beautiful marble statues.
You can get some great tickets which includes 3 other museums (you can also choose 10 museums but for a 2 day trip its more practical to go with 3). Keep the other museums for your second day.
3. Walking around near the square
Once you finish up with Doge’s Palace just walk around Piazza San Marco.
Since we didn’t have time to take a trip to Murano to see the exquisite glass or Burano for the lace, we walked around Piazza San Marco to see the shops selling glass statues and jewelry.
Also make sure to see the St Mark’s Basilica which is right next to Doge’s Palace. It’s a beautiful and very interesting looking building. I would suggest looking into it to see if you would rather do this and Doge’s Palace and skip the other museums (check point 5 below).
4. Meal by the Canal
Of course this is a very touristy thing to do but a meal in one of the cafes or restaurants by the canal is a perfect way to end the day.
Day 2: enjoy the city and do the one thing you can only do in Venice, take a gondola ride
5. Visit the Correr Museum, the Archaeological Museum and the Biblioteca Marciana
This comes with the tickets for Doge’s Palace and I enjoyed the Correr Musuem and the Archeological Museum. I would skip the Biblioteca since honestly, there is not much to see there but in any case it take about 10 more minutes to see it so you might as well.
The opulent rooms in the Correr Museum are lovely to see. There was one part where the details mentioned it was meant to be the simpler meeting room which made me laugh because simple it was not.
As you can see there is nothing simple about any of these rooms!
6. Gondola ride and the Bridge of Sighs
Even if you have 48 hours the one big item you can definitely tick off is a gondola ride! If take a gondola from near Piazza San Marco you can go through the Bridge of Sighs which is another landmark to see.
Note you also walk through the Bridge of Sighs when you are in Doge’s Palace.
7. Walk around in the alleys of Venice
After the Gondola ride, walk around the area in the direction of the Rialto Bridge. It’s not a long walk but you will wan to stop and see some stores or have a drink and so on (or get slightly lost in the alleys)
8. Rialto Bridge
This is a famous landmark as everyone will tell you and a short walk from Piazza San Marco.
9. Have some gelato
On the way to Rialto Bridge you will find Fantasy Gelato. Now there is a reason I choose to mention this place out of all the gelato places we ate in. The gelato is yum of course and the size of the cone they give is crazy – I don’t think I am exaggerating.
Hope you enjoyed this post and are encouraged to visit Venice, Italy Let me know if you have been and anything else I need to do- I am planning to going to Venice again to see everything I missed out on. Let us know in the comments on Twitter, Facebookand of course, Instagram. Thank you for reading.
Photos by DJ, Arushi and me.
– Anisha
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