A cheap date on the vaporetto 1 or 82 and other Venice, Italy Things to Do Tips

Venice from the Grand Canal is beautiful.

Once early in the morning, just after sunrise, hop on the vaporetto water "bus" at the Santa Lucia train station and cruise slowly down the whole Grand Canal. If you have lots of time and patience take the #1 (stops everywhere) or for a quicker tour, take the 82 (express).

Repeat after dark.

The trick is making sure you are first in line so that you can sit in the front.

I think it is worth letting one bus go if the waiting line is long so that you are first in line for the next one (you're starting at the station) and can pick your favorite seat in the front of the boat.

Cheap date, beautiful ride, and beats getting ripped off by the gondolas.

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Address: Start out at Santa Lucia station & take Vaporetto
Directions: Take the 82 vaporetto to Santa Lucia station, then wait to board first on that next #1 or #82 bound all the way to Lido, or get off earlier at San Marco.

Probably my favorite thing to do in Venice and likely the reason I'll return someday.

Late after dinner when most of the tourists & shoppers are either gone, in bed, or hanging around Piazza St. Marco,
pound a couple of grappas and try to get lost in the deserted parts of Venice.

Always take the darker small side streets. You'll get "lost" immediately, yet you won't be lost at all. It seems like you always end up at Lucia station, St. Marks, or by where I stay near Accademia.

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(see if you can find the assassinio del putana in the pizza)

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I doubt there are few things in this world more pleasurable, mysterious, fulfilling, or fun than getting lost in the small backstreets of Venice after midnight.

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Directions: Walk away from any popular spots towards the darker, more deserted canals and streets
(it is safe and you can't stay lost forever, Venice is too small)

One of my favorite museums in all of Europe.

One of the best collections of modern art anywhere, in Peggy Guggenheims house on the Grand Canal in Dorsoduro section of Venice. The house setting makes it more enjoyable and personal.

Peggy is buried with her pet shi#zus in the corner of the sculpture garden.

They have an excellent veranda that opens onto the Grand canal for sitting and relaxing.

There is also one of the better restaurants in Venice right on the premises (Museum Café, managed by Ai Gondolieri) so you can enjoy a delicious lunch break, and the food is good (very good for Venice).

Picasso, Klee, Ernst, Richter, Jackson Pollock, etc... .some of their best from Peggy's private collection is right here.

Rather than me rave about it, check out the website on this page.

I feel sorry for anyone who likes modern art and misses the Venice Guggenheim.

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Phone: +39.041.2405.411
Address: Palazzo Venier dei Leoni 701 Dorsoduro
Directions: Vaporetto Accademia, then walk east until you run into it. In Peggy Guggenheims villa on the Grand Canal.
Website: http://www.guggenheim-venice.it/inglese/default.html

The special, extra-cost "Secret Itinerary Tour" is a decent walking tour in small groups with private guides that will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about Doge, Casanova, history of the palace.

They take you through parts of the palace that are supposedly "off limits" or that you might otherwise miss. Dungeon cells, torture chambers, the details of Casanova's escape, Doge's "office,"
then they turn you loose to explore the rest of the palace, Bridge of Sighs, etc. everyone else sees.

It takes a little over an hour. I thought it was interesting & worth the few extra euros.

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Address: Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace) at San Marco
Website: http://www.doge.it