ahiddenbird

I'm going to be in Venice for 6 days in mid October, and during 4 of those days, I will be my own mistress, wandering around solo for the first time ever in a foreign city. I'm pretty excited!

This post is sort of a general request for information and advice about:

1. visiting Venice in October
2. visiting Venice alone

Basically, if you have experience with either or both of these, please tell me about it.

Please note that I've been to Venice twice before and have done the tourist thing. I'm 33, fit, and prepared to walk forever and get lost. With that in mind, here are some guiding questions:

What should I wear? Should I bring boots?
Suggestions for vegetarian food/restaurants?
I want to wander around at night/after dark; I'll be fine, right?
Any special museums I should visit?
Best place to sit and stare?
What did you do?
Is there anything I haven't thought of?

Thanks in advance for your time and thoughts!

- Sabrina

Leely2

I spent a week in Venice solo last month. Very different weather, I think, than you will have in October, so no thoughts on clothing.

I'll come back later with some ideas about food. Are you a strict vegetarian? Do you have a budget in mind for restaurants or is it anything goes?

I spent a lot of time at La Biennale:
http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2017/information

<i>I want to wander around at night/after dark; I'll be fine, right?</i>
Yes, take normal precautions and you'll be fine.

ahiddenbird

Leely2 -

I'm a strict vegetarian in the "no meat" sense, but I do eat eggs and dairy.

Budget-wise, I'm definitely on the lower end, though I'm okay with a splurge or two, as long as it's worth the money!

Thanks very much!

benmia

Peggy Guggenheim museum.

rialtogrl

Will you be in an apartment or a hotel? Where? (for the sit and stare question.)

What should I wear? Should I bring boots?
you mean rain boots? No. Buy them there if you need them.

Suggestions for vegetarian food/restaurants?
La Zucca is justifiably famous. They do have meat but they are well known as a place for vegetarians.
There is also a vegetarian restaurant on Via Garibaldi, Le Spighe. Every other place will have some kind of veggie pasta (or pizza, in a pizzeria.)

I want to wander around at night/after dark; I'll be fine, right? Totally. You might get lost though.

Any special museums I should visit? I second the Biennale but there are lots of Biennale exhibitions that are free, including the Palazzo Mora on Strada Nova which is fabulous. Definitely try to hit the main Biennale, it is huge and spread out and you need energy so do it is you have the time and inclination.

Best place to sit and stare? Bancogiro with a glass of wine is where I go to do that. Outside.

Is there anything I haven't thought of? Try to get to the Rialto market on a Saturday morning. Any morning Tuesday - Saturday are fine but Saturdays are the best..

Leely2

rialtogirl really knows Venice, so I'd bet her recs are spot on. I did go to Bancogiro last month and had lunch. But I hesitate to recommend places b/c I'm not vegetarian and I like seafood so that's what I remember. Had a great, easy lunch at Estro too, but no view--it's a casual wine bar, though, so might be easy to cobble together various vegetarian snacks.

Yes, lots of Biennale freebies.

Not free but quite interesting if you like contemporary art, is the Damien Hirst exhibition at Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi. Love it or hate it (I can't decide...), it's hard to forget! The Intuition exhibition at Palazzo Fortuny is also a sight/s to see.

http://www.palazzograssi.it/en/exhibitions/current/

http://fortuny.visitmuve.it/en/mostr...ition-fortuny/

Anyway, even having seen the "big sights" already (I had too), I'm sure you will find plenty to do in Venice. A week wasn't enough time for me.

massimop

People are different but traveling alone, without worry whether what I like to do bores somebody else, I tend to pack in stuff that I'd otherwise be compromising about. For me that means browsing through certain kinds of vintage shops, but also seeing a lot of historic architecture, plus museums that focus on the long history of the city. I think if I were by myself in Venice, and wanted to spend hours in undirected exploring, I still would be carrying with me a detailed map of the city that identified points of interest + a good descriptive guidebook. So while I wandering, if I saw something interesting, I could look it up and learn about it. Or maybe if I was sitting in a cafe & I looked at the map, I might notice there was an interesting famous something just a short walk away, so I might decide to walk over to look.

ahiddenbird

Thanks for the extremely helpful replies!

To answer your question rialtogrl, I'll be staying here:

http://www.silkroad.hostelvenice.net/

This is the address: Dorsoduro 1420/E, 30123

rialtogrl

You'll be staying on the Zattere. A very nice place to sit and stare.

The pizzeria there, Ae Oche is a good place for a single diner.

danon

It is very easy to get lost in Venice.
Getting lost at night can be a bit unsettling ...

Leely2

<i>You'll be staying on the Zattere. A very nice place to sit and stare.</i>

Easy to walk from there around to Punta della Dogana and by Salute at night without getting lost, too. I was staying over in that area, though not on the Zattere.

Have fun!

StCirq

I don't often see people mentioning this museum, but when we were in Venice over Christmas, we were absolutely mesmerized by the Ca' Pesaro. We got so caught up in seeing the special exhibit on the top floor (it's a large building), we never got around to seeing the main exhibitions. It has a nice outdoor café right on the Grand Canal on the ground floor.

vincenzo32951

>>It is very easy to get lost in Venice.
Getting lost at night can be a bit unsettling ...<<

For every person in Venice who has a tale of discovering some supposed wonder by getting lost, there are 10 people who felt nothing but frustration. It's one of the world's overrated tourist experiences. Sure, you'll laugh later about it, but at the time, there's little fun in it.

massimop

bravo vincenzo -- although I will add I have never felt any cause to be unsettled in Venice after dark, even quite late. Does help to pack a small flashlight, however, for some bridges and alleys, just to feel confident about not tripping on old stones and uneven steps (and those little flashlights are very useful inside some churches)

danon

when we couldn't find the way back to the apt. late at night, it was no fear of
being mugged (or similar ) that was a problem - there was no one arond in those dead end alleys to ask for directions !

Leely2

Getting lost was something I did sort of worry about on my recent trip to Venice because I had made a few restaurant reservations and wanted to be on time. I had remembered getting lost a lot on previous visits (pre smart phone). This time I used my phone to navigate and didn't get lost much at all.

Google does underestimate the time it takes to get from point A to point B, though. And I am a fast walker.

rialtogrl

There is an area north of the Zattere that it truly sucks to get lost in. It is dark and there are not very many signs. It is a bit farther west from where the OP is staying, though.

ahiddenbird if you do find yourself in that black hole northwest of your lodging and can't find your way out, look for signs to Piazzale Roma, from there you can take the vaporetto to Accademia and walk down to Zattere in a fairly straight line.

It is safe, it is just unnerving to walk around in circles.

benmia

I always recommend the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. Lovely garden too.

Peter_S_Aus

If you click on my user name, you would find several trip reports that I've written for Venice.

In October, the Art Biennale will still be happening. Beside the Arsenale and the Giardini, there are exhibits all over Venice, and entry is free. Pick up a brochure at the Biennale office just west of the Piazza.

Burano and Torcello are worth a visit, and the campanile on Torcello gives a great view over the lagoon. Murano does not do it for us, but that's just us.

At night, there is heaps of activity in Campo Margherita, young people hanging out, drinking spritzes.

The book Secret Venice by Jonglez is worth a look. All sorts of things the typical visitor does not get to see - the ice house in the Hotel des Doges is a bit of fun.

ahiddenbird

vincenzo32951 & danon > I may reconsider my goal of getting lost, at least at night! I can definitely see how it would be unsettling and frustrating. At the very least, I'll have my phone and data plan handy at all times.

rialtogrl > I stayed in the same place last time I was in Venice, and i had pizza at Ae Oche! It was a good deal, tasty and convenient!

Thanks everybody for all the great suggestions! I've never travelled alone before for any period of time, and I want to stay busy so that I don't feel weird or lonely. Your input is really helping me fill out my list, I appreciate it.

- Sabrina