We are traveling to Venice in September. We will be leaving on an early Monday morning from Vernazza and taking a train to Venice(we may hop off for one quick trip to the market in Florence). We will have the rest of the day Monday and all of Tuesday. Our night train to Naples, doesn't leave until 11pm on Tuesday. Our travel days are locked in and we can't stay longer, although I wish we could.

What would be a good itinerary for us? Is there anything open Monday afternoon/evening?

yer joking, right? even without counting the trip from Vernazza to La Spezia to reach the main line, and taking an IC to a Eurostar, you're still going to be on board for 5.5-6.5 hours. A side trip to Florence would be suicidal unless you don't mind spending All your time on the train!
You can check train times and lengths of journey on the great Ferrovie web site: www.trenitalia.it

Anyway, if you get the 8:03am train, and go right to Venice, you'll arrive around 1:30pm.
The question is, what do YOU want to see? Painting-hit the churches and/or the Accademia gallery. The churches to start would be I Frari, the Scuola San Rocco (not really a church I know purists!), Salute and maybe San Zanipolo. Modern art--The Peggy Guggenheim is fabulous. there's also this tiny church with some amazing work by..damn it's either Tintoretto or TIepolo--ain't aging a drag--I'll find out and post tonight or tomorrow.

But the thing about Venice on a limited time, is to walk. Stop and take a caffe when the mood hits or the place looks good. Review your guides so if there is something you must see, you make sure that's the highlight, and then just walk around. It's tough to get lost, well, no that's not true, you'll take a million deadends, and re-trace your steps and not care at all because you're in Venice. If you want greenery, take the #1 down to the Giardini Publici and wander through it. There's a very moving sculpture dedicated to the women partigiani from WW2 by the seaside there.
You can check out Venice's new website: VeNETia at http://www.venetia.it/
and take a stroll through the neighborhoods so you can figure our where you may want to walk for real.
Must do's a night boat, preferably the pokey-slow #1 down the canal. You can gang up and pay less for a gondola ride.
whew. sorry, I'm toast.
You can contact me offline at [email protected] for more suggestions!

The Accademia closes early on Monday (I think around 2 PM) so don't try to go then. Apart from that, most other things will be open on a Monday (although shops close from around 1-4pm). With such a limited time, I would actually recommend trying to book some sort of tour on Monday afternoon (if you arrive in time)with maybe American Express. You will get to see more being escorted around I think, rather than trying to find your own way. Then leave Tuesday to wander to places you didn't get to see.

LoisLane was the church you were talking about Madonna dell'Orto with the Tintorettos?

PS There's a wonderful "festival" in Venice on the first Sunday of September called Regata Storica with a big costumed pageant along the Grand Canal. If the Monday you're arriving is the day after that, do whatever you need to do to change your plans so you dont' miss it!

Hi
Lots of guidebooks (and possibly elsewhere here at fodors.com) have suggestions for short visits to Venice.
The following one-day itinerary for Venice appeared in the Fodorys Europe message forum in July 2000, written by Venice expert Paulo and abridged and annotated by me: "...we started our stroll right at the train station. We crossed the bridge over the Grand Canal, strolled through the Sestiere of San Polo, to Campo S. Giacomo dell'Orio and on to Campo San Polo, visiting both churches on the way. (Elaineys note: The San Polo church has some masterpieces by Tiepolo, Veronese, and Tintoretto.) From there, a stroll to Campo dei Frari (church visit) and Scuola San Rocco (visit). (Elaineys note: I would skip the Scuola San Rocco, despite the Tintoretto treasures, in fact, I would, reluctantly, not visit any museums if I only had one day in Venice.)Then on to Dorsoduro, via Campo San Pantalon,Campo Santa Margherita (snack lunch), Campo San Barnaba to the Accademia Museum, across the Accademia bridge and into the sestiere of San Marco. (Elaineys note: Before crossing the Accademia Bridge, and depending on the time you have, I would walk farther south into Dorsoduro to visit the Salute Church. Or skip it, wander a bit, and head back to the Accademia Bridge.) When we got to see the Piazza and Basilica it was almost 3pm!!! (Elaineys note: if you have time, by all means go to visit the inside of the Basilica and/or the Dogeys Palace in the Piazza.) We got to visit the Basilica, rested and had drinks/coffees at Cafe Florian and went for some shopping. In the evening, we took vaporetto #1 back to the train station." (Elaine's note: the gelati, snacks and drinks at Florian's or at Quadri on the Piazza are not cheap, and there is an extra charge when the band is playing, but you just can't not do this at least once. You'll remember it.)

If you are there on a clear day, I highly recommend that you go to the top of the campanile (bell tower) next to St. Mark's for a fabulous view of the city. You go up and down in an elevator, and it costs 6 euro.

I know that some people say it's a waste of time, too expensive, etc. but we took a gondola ride and really enjoyed it. It would be pretty expensive for two people, but if you can get together a group it becomes much more reasonable. The gondolas hold six passengers - we had a party of six, and it cost us 16 euro apiece. The ride lasted about half an hour, and you see a different side of Venice, cruising down those narrow canals, than you do walking around. We also spent some time on the Grand Canal.

Thanks for all the info! We may opt not to stop in Florence. Leaving La Spezia, what's the most likely route our train will take to Venice? I assumed it would stop in Florence and we could hop off to hit the market and hop back on an hour or two later. I suppose we'll just wander around the first evening.

Can anyone tell me more about the Regata Storica festival? Is it a religious festival?

Are there markets or neat shops in Venice? We are interested in buying small glass jewelry, etc. Nothing expensive.

hey! on the flip side, to all those who have visited venice already... i have 5 days in venice... i can shorten my trip there if you think that's too much time??? let me know!
r

rosiev, I'm going for a fourth visit to Venice in October (staying 5 nights) and already am nervous it isn't "enough" time. Don't cut your time short, there is so much to see and do in and around Venice ... the time will fly.

Regata Storica: Imagine Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on boats in the GRand Canal in Venice. Well, not quite, but it is Venice's equivalent. A parade of historic boats, people in costumes.

rosiev, if yoou run out of things that interest you in Venice (probably not), you can always take a day trip to Verona or Padua.

right on... thanks guys!
r

I did a search for "Regata Storica" on Google and found some really great photos and info. I'm going to see about switching our itinerary. Go from Florence to Venice then over to Cinque Terre; rather than CT to Venice. That way we can be there for the festival. Let's hope our hotel isn't booked already! Thanks!

Where's a good vantage point to watch the events/procession? Any tips from others who have been to that? Start time, length, etc.?

For Becky, really you basically have only 1? day in Venice, I would simply get out and wander around, maybe take a vaporetto ride on the Grand Canal. The must-see sights (to me) are simply everywhere in the atmosphere of the place. My preference would be not to "waste time" in museums or standing in tourist lines for the famous sites with your time so precious.

As far as "neat shops" there are hundreds and hundreds, it won't take any special sleuthing to find them.

For Rosie V re 5 days... personally that's the shortest time I would even consider a Venice visit. NO, don't cut it shorter!

oops i thought that "?" above was supposed to be 1/2... you have basically 1-1/2 days...

Be sure to catch the different musical groups playing in St. Mark's Square after dark. There were at least 4 bands playing the night we were there-it was wonderful. I got it all on my camcorder. Try to catch a gondola ride as well as the vaporetto #1 on the Grand Canal to appreciate Venice's watery venues.

Just returned from 9 days in Venice and didn't even find the time to take day trips ...

Hi Becky,

www.trenitalia.com has the train schedules for La Spezia to Venice. You can stop off in Florence if you wish, but leave very early. It's a 5+ hr trip.

Well, we decided to cancel our trip to CT and opt to add an extra day to Florence and Positano, and go to Venice on Sunday so that we wouldn't miss the Ragata Storica. We will be in Venice on Saturday afternoon, Sunday(Regata Storica), Monday w/ night train to Naples. Thankfully our hotel wasn't booked yet!

Thanks for the info on this event, we would have been so disappointed to have missed it!