Hello! I'm planning to spend much of the fall traveling through Italy (I'm a solo woman traveler), and I've dedicated two weeks to Bologna and Venice with Bologna as a base for exploring Emilia-Romagna. I'm curious for recommendations about how much time I should plan to spend in Venice. I'm thinking 4 days should be enough, but please let me know if I should do more here. I've never been to Venice or Emilia-Romagna. I know Venice is beautiful and I certainly want to see it, but I'm a bit nervous about a super touristy feel/crowds. Many thanks!

Yes, Venice is super touristy. But there are ways to avoid the crowds. First, I would avoid staying near one of the "hot spots" like Rialto or San Marco. Those areas get mobbed especially during the day. Second, try to spend your time exploring Venice in the mornings and evenings - and during the day do museums or day trips while Venice is more crowded. Morning is my favorite time to walk in Venice. Last year when I visited again, I did a morning walk from the train station (near where I was staying) to Rialto - but on the south side of the Grand Canal, not the north side - through San Polo instead of along the super-touristy Strada Nuova, through a maze of little squares and narrow streets. There were almost no tourists - just parents taking their kids to school, shop keepers opening up and sweeping (maybe chatting with the shop keeper next door), workers carrying supplies in to the shops from boats, etc. A very lovey walk.

There are other parts of Venice that aren't so swamped with people even during the day. It takes a little effort to find these spots, but you can.

Four nights is probably plenty to get a good feel for Venice. Some people spend a week and don't find it too much. Partly this is a personal preference. I've never spent more than three nights at a time and like returning for small doses.

I would plan some day trips for sure from Venice - like to mainland towns like Verona and Padua by train or to other islands like Burano (highly recommended). If you are loving Venice, don't take the day trips - but if you want a break, you can.

>>> I'm thinking 4 days should be enough, but please let me know if I should do more here.
How are you counting "days"? I think you would come up with a more rational plan if you start from what you want to do, time it takes to get from one place to another considering open days and hours. Then you know the amount of time you allocated matches what you want to do. If you start out from the number of "days", you end up second guessing if you have too much or too little time.

>>> I'm a bit nervous about a super touristy feel/crowds.
Many places of interest as well ho hum places are of this category. Whether such "touristy" places are worth visiting in spite of the crowd depends on your interest. If you just follow what others say without thinking what they mean to you, you can end up visiting ho hum "touristy" places. There are ways to reduce the impact of crowd, traveling during off season, visiting very early or very late in day, etc. If you are not willing to take steps, you'll have to deal with the crowd. I have acquaintances who insist on waking up late in Europe because it is a "vacation." But they are also afraid of being in a sea of humanity. So they do very little after spending a lot of time and money getting there.

I love Venice. I've been only twice. About 5 days each time. Barely scratched the surface. I wish I could spend a month there. I did not feel overwhelmed by crowds or tourists and I was there in July and August so height of the season in that regard.

There is no magical number of days to spend in Venice - like most say above many days could be spent here - Venice is more than Venice itself - boats to the islands are great - Murano is super touristy but interesting because of all the Venetian glass manufacturers to visit - Burano further out if much less touristed and really neat - same for Torcello - even more isolated and void of mass tourism - I liked seeing that island's famous feral cat population laying around everywhere - something you see also all over Venice. And then there is the cemetery island to poke around- even the Lido or beach area has some imposing architecture in its old grand hotels - including one where the bloke who wrote Room with a View stayed at.

Hard to plan to pre-book - some folks do tire of Venice and like a more real Italy after a while. Others love poking around places off tourist path and idling at caffes, etc. I think 5 days would be enough for most as there are many other gems in northern Italy to explore and Venice could be a great base - day trip to Padua and Vincenza for instance or even to Trieste as I did once. So if book several days and tire of Venice it could be a good base too.

I like Verona a whole lot too and Lake Garda is always a joy to bop around by boat

like a more real Italy

That makes me crazy when people use those words. Like Venice is somehow not "real". Sheez.

You want something more working-class, OK. More rural and agricultural, OK. Less crowded, OK. But "more real"... is just plain wrong.

Venice proper is very atypical of Italy with most of locals moved to mainland and hotels and private villas taking over - yes there are very typically Italian parts of Venice like the Vialle Garibaldi area that are still local neighborhoods but yes much of Venice is not the 'real' Italy IMO. Is it Italian yes but what I mean by 'real' Italy is yes what a typical town looks like not the Disneyland that many folks call Venice is now. 'Real' may be wrong word depending on how your interpret it but Venice is hardly your typical Italian town - it is nice in some ways that it is not - no cars or noisy mopeds running amok but in many areas a real tourist dominated area. So 'real' may be a poor word but typical is not for Venice at least. And again that is much of its joy but for me at least after visiting several times and roaming all around I did tire of this museum town though I loved it too - have not been there for several years and understand cruise ships and bus tours have mushroomed even from what I experienced - officials are even thinking of charging admission and controlling numbers of cruise ships and bus tours - Venice is to me the most beautiful city in Europe is not the world but during high season it can also be fatiguing.

It's impossible to say how much time you "need" for Venice without knowing what you want to see or do there. If you're not much interested in museums or churches, two full days (three nights) might be sufficient.

'Real' may be wrong word depending on how your interpret it

"real" = actually existing or occurring in fact; not imagined or supposed. not imitation or artificial; genuine.

That is the definition of the word in the dictionary. Nothing to "interpret" about it.

I have to admit I am biased with regard to Venice. Our first visit was for six nights, the next time we visited was for two months. In all, we have spent some ten or eleven months in Venice over some seven or eight trips.

You can “do” Venice in three or four days, provided that you just want to see the big ticket sights, the sights that everyone wants to see, and so are crowded. Doge Palace, the Piazza, the Basilica, a couple of galleries, the San Giorgio campanile, Murano/Burano/Torcello, those are the sights that everyone wants to see. And if that is all that you see then sure, Venice will appear like a glorified Disneyland. There are a few people like that posting on here, people who have never had the time to see the second rank of Venetian venues, and think that nothing but tourism happens in Venice.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The second rank of venues is really significant and really worth visiting. Things like the Querini Stampalia Foundation, the Palazzo Fortuny, the Georges Cini Foundation on San Giorgio, the Archi Biennale, the hospital library, the Olivetti showroom in the Piazza. Those are mostly unknown by your average visitor, and so are not crowded. If you get a chance, the State Archive, a UNESCO classified facility is worth a visit with its 75 kilometres of shelves, take a picnic to Certosa if the crowds are getting to you, frequent your local bar and after a couple of days the staff will be getting to know you. Take a vap to San Giorgio and walk around the back to where the Vatican has had ten little chapels erected as part of the Biennale.

If you were thinking about an apartment rather than a hotel, I have stayed here for a couple of weeks, and have booked 17 nights for late September. Worth a thought and the location is good. https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/360544


The best book about Venice is still “Venice” by Jan Morris. Really worth a look.



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If you have specific things you want to see in Venice, check the open/closed days and hours of each and plot out your sightseeing for the days of the week you'll be there.

That is good advice from Jean. We have been caught out more than once, finding a closed door and details of which days a venue is open.

Something worth getting in Venice is a Chorus Pass. This is a pass that gives entry to something like 20 churches in Venice, and costs 13 or 14 euro. Churches otherwise charge 3 euro per visit, so the Chorus Pass is good value. Two churches really worth a visit are the Frari and San Polo.
The Frari has Titian�s Assumption ofv the Virgin, and it is glorious, having been restored two or three years ago. Really special. Also in the Frari is Titian�s Pesaro Madonna. Take a look at the arrogant face of Jacopo Pesaro, looking out of the painting while everyone else gazes at the Madonna. Jacope was to inherit the Pesaro family fortune and knows it. Also in the Frari, on the left side, is the pyramid monument to Canova, then the hidious monument with trhree black dudes carrying bags of whatever, then mounted on the wall is a little bomb that fell on the Frari in 1917 and failed to explode. OK, not worth traversing across Venice to see, but interesting. Te cafe just across the bridge from the Frari, Al Archivo, is good for lunch. Coffee and croissant for breakfast too. One of my favourites.

In San Polo, the treasure is in the Sacristy, a Stations of the Cross by Tiepolo, the story of a political and judicial killing told in fourteen frames like a news reel. There�s no Gentle Jesus Meek and Mild here, just a man being done to death. The Ascension has a most athletic Jesus leaping towards Heaven, completely under his own steam.

Churches are good, even if you just need to rest your feet.

I have been to Venice probably fifteen times partly because of DH's work and mostly because I love it. I usually stay out past the Arsenale off Via Garibaldi. I try to stay there at least five days at a time.

Wonderful tips from Andrew and especially Peter! My lovely wife and I spent 4 days in Venice the first time we visited and barely scratched the surface. We stayed at the Hotel Galleria by the Accademia Bridge. It was nice, but we realized we needed more time and, after visiting the Rialto open air market, that we needed a kitchen (we both love to cook). We will be returning to Venice for the fifth time this October. We have rented apartments in different areas each time, always away from the Rialto/San Marco corridor. We have found less touristy areas everywhere, even on Murano. We joke that when we see a guide with a flag or an umbrella and the flow of tourists turn left, we turn right. We often find ourselves away from the crowds, enjoying an afternoon spritz and making new friends on a quiet piazza.

Well certainly there is enough to do for several days in Venice and as you have so long in northern Italy so can see the more 'real' Italy too (jess joking). If by chance bored take a day trip.