Venice - First Time
 

I am planning a 14 day trip to Italy. I plan to start in Venice. I will fly from Boston 23 June and arrive 24 June.

My friend doesn't travel well, gets lag easily. I figured I would start in Venice and get some relaxing in beach areas, maybe golf, some thing where we don't feel compelled to go, go, go. i figure by Sunday afternoon he'd be ready to go.

I only planned 4 days, three nights in Venice.

If I wanted to stay beach front, is that an easy trip into the most popular places in Venice to visit? I am looking for a place that is an easy trip into "town" to allow for dinners off resort and easy sightseeing, but I do want to allow him to relax and get acclimated. I have a fully packed itinerary to Florence and Rome after that..

Thanks in advance for any help.

Hi, mojennifer,

Others will have to correct (or validate) me, but I believe you'll have to go to the Lido to find a beach in Venice. It took DH and me 45 minutes ± to get there by Vap (public water bus). So, if your friend is already jet lagged, this might not be the first place to see in Venice.

Someone else will have to help you with golf also. In googling, Jesolo Beach is coming up. Perhaps a golf-oriented place could pick you up at the Venice airport? Or you can spend a pile and arrange a water taxi from the airport.

mmm - golf would not be the first thing that sprang to my mind when considering a stay in Venice; a tad too big a chance of losing your ball in the water perhaps?

TD is right about the beach; there is also beach at Jesolo, but if you're going to Venice you'll want to stay in Venice itself to be able to enjoy its architecture and unique atmosphere.

But you can spend a very relaxed time in Venice if you plan well - riding up and down the canals on the vaporetti, exploring the little streets and squares of Castello and Canareggio, or getting a boat out to the islands of the lagoon - or the lido if you want to swim.

or stay on the lido or one of the islands if you prefer to do it that way.

First, with only 3 nights, you cannot possibly have 4 days. You will have 2 full days and possibly a part of 2 other days, depending on arrival and departure times.
I personally like the Lido, but if you and/or your friend have not been to Venice before, I suggest you save going to a beach for another time and place and see Venice. You can golf at home too. There are plenty of better beaches in the world, and certainly plenty of world class golf courses other places, but only one Venice. Don't go all that way and miss it.

There are lots of tourists in main areas like San Marco, but Venice can be relaxing because there are no cars. Stay in a hotel in a quieter area and it will be peaceful, especially at night.

Nothing about this post makes any sense to me.

If you want a beach vacation, Venice is not a good place considering what you want to do. Lido to anywhere is a trek. Amalfi Coast, Italian Riviera, one of several Lakes would be a better choice. If you want to golf, Ireland or UK are better destinations.

Many seem to equate relaxing=beach. "feel compelled to go, go, go." is probably a personal trait, not a characteristic of the site. One can sit in the middle of a busy square drinking a coffee to see the world go by, or have a slowfood meal overlooking a canal.

One can also take a slow ride on one of the vaporettos that go to outer ports like #15, #17 to Punta Sabbioni, then take a slow trip back on #12 via Burano, Torcello, Mazzorbo, etc. The time seems to stop if you drink coffee or have lunch by a canal in Torcello or Mazzorbo.

Thank you everyone for your replies. Just to clarify. I am not looking for a beach vacation. He just needs a couple of days of downtime before we hit the "tourist" spots. We have a couple of weeks planned where we will visit Florence and then spend the last 5 days in Rome, where we will walk walk walk. I just wanted to allow him some time to relax before we hit the ground running. I Googled a couple of place that have both golf and beaches in Venice, but I was primarily concerned about how long it takes to get from that golf/Venice area to the areas that are most popular to Venice tourist.

Of course the hotels all list Venice as "nearby" but I've seen enough hotel write ups to realize that "nearby" is quite subjective.

The Lido island is the most sensible option for you.

There is a golf course on the southern tip of the Lido: http://www.circologolfvenezia.it/

The Lido has a very long, sandy beach. There is an entrance fee for the beach in high season; I am not sure if it is charge already in June, probably not.

From the central area of the Lido - where most hotels are locatede - there is a vaporetto (water bus) stop. The vaporetto takes you in just 12 minutes to St. Mark's square.

So, if you are staying on the Lido, you have the best of two worlds: You can enjoy beach and golf course and you are in downtown Venice in a few minutes.

We have done so a couple of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it (our reason to choose a hotel on the Lido was that we had our car with us and we enjoyed free parking on the Lido).

If you look for accomodation with one of the usual booking engines, use the map search function to find a hotel on the Lido island. And never believe in "nearbys". Transportation around Venice can be tricky.

"I am not looking for a beach vacation. He just needs a couple of days of downtime before we hit the "tourist" spots."

I hope he isn't the jealous type. Venice is deservedly one of the great tourist spots in the entire world, and I would hate to think of you sitting in the hotel lobby playing solitaire while The Prince gets his beauty sleep.

That would be a relationship breaker for me.

Stay over in one of those hotels like the Cipriani that has a private shuttle service running back and forth to San Marco.

Sorry, but the Lido is not especially pleasant and the beaches there are city beaches and I would consider them definitely sub par. Also the convention center is on the Lido so if there is a convention in town it could easily take you an hour to get back to the center of Venice because there can be VERY long lines to get on the vaporetto (you may have to wait past the first one or two.

I am not aware of any golf on the Lido - think it's all on the mainland (possibly an hour in the other direction on the mainland).

If you really want some relaxing why not head from Venice airport to Lago di Garda or similar with resorts where you can rest for a few days prior to starting in the cities (Venice, thenFlorence and Rome).

On one trip we landed in Milan and spent a couple of day relaxing at Lago di Maggiore before heading off on our road trip through Switz and Germany - and it was a good way to wind down at the beginning of the trip.

traveller1959, I'm not disagreeing but would love to know about the Vap that only took 12 minutes from Lido to St. Marco!

nytraveler, no first-hand from me about golf on the Lido but googling shows one. Well over an hour to get there from St. Mark's Square if we trust google. Any one know for sure??

>>Stay over in one of those hotels like the Cipriani that has a private shuttle service running back and forth to San Marco.<<

a. Bring lots of money. Rock-bottom rooms are 1000 euros/nt.
b. No golf. No beach.

Oh dear. As others have said, "beach" and "golf" are not terms that come to mind when I think of Venice. However, it is possible to relax there, unless you have to lie on the beach or play golf to relax.

I'd stay right in Venice and, the day you arrive, take the vaporetto out to Torcello to stroll around and have a nice meal and explore, then stop in Murano and Burano on the way back in. There are some quiet spots on those islands as well.

rats - lost my last post.

anyway, ℅ google here's the timetable for the cap from P. Roma to the Lido - the no 1:

http://actv.avmspa.it/sites/default/...O%202016_0.pdf

59 mins from start to finish but 15-20 mins from San Marco to the Lido.