My favorite meal these days is the roasted meat platter at La Cantina in Cannaregio. It is not cheap but it is SOOOOO good. They also do a pretty incredible fish plate - sometimes two, one with raw fish and one with cooked. It is not your typical restaurant, it is a wine bar with food. Insanely good food.

Try to eat some cichetti standing up at a bar. Good places for this would be do Mori and All Arco in San Polo, Alla Vedova and Osteria da Alberto in Cannaregio, Gia Schiavi in Dorsoduro....

Sorry I made the assumption that the high tide in November happens all the time since I experienced it twice in November. We didn't let it put a damper on our time in Venice, it's really nice that the city had no crowd. Maybe that is the real Venice that you're looking for before the crowd descends on the city.

Cross the Grand Canal ousing the traghettos for €1 - a public gondala service - the locals stand. There are three crossing points - one is at the Rialto Market.

Second Al Arco in San Polo for cichetti. Their Italian Sauvignon Blanc was outstandingly good.

Sorry - Cross the Grand Canal using the traghettos...

Tragetto - I thought there were more than 3 points so I checked : There seem to be 8 of them.

San Sofia / Pescheria (This is the Rialto Market one )
From 7AM until 8:55 PM (Sundays from 7:30 AM – 6:55)

San Stefano / San Toma'
From 7 AM until 8:55 PM (the Sunday from 8AM until 7:55PM)

Ferrovia / S. Simeone
From 8 AM until 2 PM (closed on Sundays)
Phone: +39 041 718 543

Riva del Carbon / Riva del Vin
From 8 AM until 2 PM (closed on Sundays)

San Marco / Dogana
From 9AM until noon and from 2PM until 6PM (In winter from 2PM until 4 PM)

San Marcuola / Fondaco dei Turchi
From 7:30AM – 1:30 PM (closed on Sundays)

Santa Maria del Giglio / Salute
From 8AM until 6:55PM (In winter from 8AM to 6PM)

San Samuele / Ca' Rezzonico
From 7:30 AM – 1:30 PM (closed the Sundays and holidays)

Don't know where I got three from!

I actually enjoyed spending a few hours on the Lido. There were what felt like some authentic (though newer) neighborhoods to stroll through and I found a wine shop that would fill your bottle (or you could purchase an empty plastic bottle from them) very inexpensively from their barrels. Not that those don't exist in Venice proper... And the beach was interesting to see-just for the contrast from central Venice.

The traghetto is now 2 euros for tourists. For those with the IMOB card .70. Out of all those traghetti, the only two that seem (to me) to run with any kind of continuity are San Toma and San Sofia. I have NEVER seen the one at Ferrovia running.

I thought I read recently somewhere traghetto costs €2. So that's true Rialtogrl? So not an quick - cheap gondola experience anymore I guess ( ok, some might think €2 is nothing).

TTT

The traghetto was never meant to be a cheap gondola experience. It is public transportation. The tourist price has indeed gone up but I screwed up on the price for IMOB holders - they pay .50 but it is suppose to go up to .70 in January.

Taverna del Campiello Remer
Cannaregio 5701 | Sestiere Cannaregio, 30121 Venice, Italy

I had the 20 Euro lunch-a plate of homemade pasta, a plate from the buffet table, bread, a 1/4 carafe of wine, water and a coffee.
the happy hour is 5 euros for a drink and lots of little plates of nibbles..
a real local place

and for a memorable meal:
Hosteria Galileo
Campo Sant Angelo 3593, 30124 Venice, Italy (San Marco)
you can sit outside in the campo or better yet indoors where its warm and cozy

stay in one place.. moving around eats up way too much time..explore different neighborhoods
and you can take the train to Rome for your return trip home.

Visit the Island of Giudecca, and enjoy the typical restaurants

"Mostly tourists" live in Venice???

You are saying that those people who collect the garbage, man the transportation, run the shops, serve the food, etc., are tourists???

Wikii reckons that there are roughly 60,000 inhabitants with another 30,000 on the smaller islands. On average there were 50,000 tourists a day, so based on the seasonality there may will be more tourists on the main islands than inhabitants on a day by day basis, Great question Dukey, makes me think.

You are saying that those people who collect the garbage, man the transportation, run the shops, serve the food, etc., are tourists???>>

no, but the majority are not Venitians, either.

apart from the obvious chinese etc. people serving in bars and cafes, many are italians and non-italians living in Mestre etc. That's why most restaurants close so early compared to the rest of Italy - their employees have to get home to the mainland.

Ok, some great info!!! thank you all. So I still need to book a place in Venice for Nov 10 thru Nov 15. Where should I stay. All the recs I got so far are booked.

Have you tried Corte 1231? A reasonably-priced, pleasant B&B in San Polo, easily accessible from San Silvestro vaporetto stop.

I'll bet Corte 1321 is booked. We loved our stay there. If they are booked, look for last minute apartment deal. You say not worth it for 5 days, but I've rented apartments for fewer days than that. VRBO or SleepInItaly are good places to start.

For an excellent meal: La Zucca. Small, you will need reservations. Two seatings per night. Mostly vegetarian, but some meat is served. All our food was delicious.

http://www.lazucca.it/

Buon viaggio!

and you don't HAVE to cook if you stay in an apartment.

the last one we rented in Rome we never ate in for the whole week, not even breakfast.