We are flying into Venice later in September for a trip that will focus on the Lake Garda and Verona area. We plan to spend our first 3 days in Venice, giving us 2 full days to explore. We are in our early 60�s and prefer a slower, relaxed pace of travel. We aren�t attempting to see as much as we can in Venice, instead, we�d like to truly enjoy a few places in Venice during our 2 days. We will visit 2 or 3 �tourist� spots and then wander around, although wandering totally aimlessly isn�t my thing � I like to have one or two destinations in mind. We enjoy visiting a church or two and a museum or two, but not more than that. I�ve read trip reports, watched videos, looked at guide books, and even consulted AI � although I think real people give much better advice, and that�s why I�m here. So far, this is the plan:

Arrival Day - our flight from Canada arrives around 10:00 AM. We'll take the Alilaguna orange line to get to our hotel near the San Stae stop. We'll settle in at the hotel, go for a nice lunch or dinner, depending on the time, wander the area a bit and head to bed early. If we�re up to it, we�ll take an evening vaporetto ride on line 1, up the Grand Canal, when a lot of the day-trippers have left.

Day 1 � the plan is for this to be the �wander day�, but not in St. Mark�s Square, as we�ll do that on day 2. I�m not sure where to wander though � we're looking for somewhere with charming streets/canals, maybe 1 - 3 smaller sights to visit, somewhere to have lunch and maybe browse some shops. We may go to Cannaregio later in the afternoon and either go for a nice dinner or do a self-guided cichetti tour around Fondamenta dei Ormesini area.

Day 2 � go St. Mark�s Square early and visit the Basilica and Doge�s Palace and wander in the area until we find we�ve had enough of the crowds. I�ve also considered visiting Correr Museum in place of the Doge�s Palace � would that be a mistake? There is a chance we could do both but I think it might be too much with a visit to the Basilica. We�ll probably hop a vaparetto either to another area we haven�t explored or somewhere near our hotel. We'll go for a nice dinner before departing for Lake Garda the next morning.

I would really appreciate any recommendations of where to wander for a day. We�ll have a vaporetto pass, so we could explore more than one area on day 1.

I suggest the Dorsoduro district for wandering. That is where we stayed last May, and we loved this area. It's much less crowded than St. Mark's Square. You can visit Ca Rezzonico, which we enjoyed very much, and it was not crowded when we were there. It is a beautiful small palace that is now the Museum of 18th Century Venice. There are also the Accademia Gallery, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and La Salute Church. So you have many choices for sights to see.

The Zattere (promenade) on the Guidecca Canal would be a lovely place for lunch. Cicchetti's are very popular. There are many waterside dining places to choose from. We went to Restaurante Terrazza dei Nobli twice for cicchettis and drinks. It was heaven!

If you are interested, the Dorsoduro area is a nice place to take a gondola ride. I know, I know, it sounds very touristy, but we did that and it was lovely. So happy we didn't pass on a gondola ride. There is a gondola stop at Campo San Barnaba. We told our gondolier we didn't want to go on the Grand Canal. He took us through the smaller and less crowded back canals. It was wonderful!

Regarding the Basilica, Doge Palace, and Correr Museum all in one day, you are right that it could be too much. It all depends on how much time you spend at St. Mark's Basilica. We spent a lot of time at the Basilica, and we don't regret it. It is stunning! We purchased the pass that includes everything at St. Mark's. We also visited the Doge Palace. By the time we were done, we were tired, so we decided not to visit the Correr Museum, even though it was included in our ticket price.

Thanks Karen - that is helpful information. Dorsduro is an area I was considering and based on your comments, it sounds like it would fit the bill perfectly. Thank you for the restaurant recommendation as well. Much appreciated. Thank you also for your perspective on the Gondola ride. I was thinking it was might be too touristy, but maybe I should be thinking “when in Venice…”!

I also recommend the Dosoduro and reading Karen Woo’s trip report convinced me that it was a great area to stay in, as well as convenient for exploring Venice as it had been many years since both my husband and I had both been there, years before we met each other. The Zettere is really quite pleasant to stroll and either enjoy a meal, a spritz or gelato. The Peggy Guggenheim is an outstanding museum and as not huge, it doesn’t require a major time commitment.

We enjoyed visiting the Salute Church as well as St Marks Basilica, the Doge’s Palace, and the Correr Museum. In another area of Venice, the Frari Church is outstanding as well as a visit to the Jewish Ghetto to tour the historic synagogues.

Venice isn't huge. It's also a place you will get lost. It's not a question if you'll get lost but how often you'll get lost. You need to embrace that.

September dawn is still kind of early but if you're up I'd head out for that. There are various points depending on the direction of the sunrise . St. Marks square. Across the water behind the Basilica Santa Maria della Salute. Or in the evening for sunset.

I'd also suggest heading out to St. Mark's square in the evening once all the daytrippers have left.

You could always go out to the islands.

I would recommend the best time to be out and about is dawn until about 9am and about 5pm until sunset. Avoiding the fat-boat people.

You probably read my trip report here - if not, click on my username and you'll find it easily.

Since you're staying in the San Stae area I highly recommend an early morning walk to Rialto market. At this time the Rialto bridge should not be crowded yet, so see this also. From there I'd head via Campo San Polo to the Frari church. Right behind that church begins the Dorsoduro sestiere.

Thank you for the additional replies! Your experiences, comments, and perspectives are so much better than what AI offers! I feel we�ll have 2 great days in Venice - even though we know we will only see a small bit of what it has to offer and that we�ll get lost, probably more than once!

.....and above all, study the fascinating History of Venice.
Visiting the Bailica di San Marco wihtout knowing WHO made the golden mosaics or where the horses above the Western gate come from soesn^t make any sense.

We got lost late at night , before iPhones..mamma mia🙀

Thanks Neckervd - that’s certainly good advice!

Danon - I can’t imagine how we all travelled before iPhones - lol.

Now , one can browse the menu of a restaurant in Berlin , or examine the street view of a hotel in Madrid
All while still planning the trip. We are almost safe !
Getting lost in Venice , many years ago , is a fond memory.
Enjoy your stay !

St. Mark's Square in the evening is fun as the crowds are greatly diminished and the cafe orchestras seem to "compete" to see who can draw the crowds. An evening there is one of my favorite travel memories.

I also really enjoyed taking the ferry to Burano - fewer crowds and the colorful buildings are lovely.

In Dorsoduro the area around Campo Margherita / Campo San Barnaba is fun in the evening.

A paper map of Venice is worth buying, it can save a heap of frustrating wandering.

One of my favorite things to do almost anywhere, but especially in Venice, is to get lost -- briefly. Easy to do in Venice, and IMO, extremely rewarding.

In the pre-iphone area, one had to learn to read city maps, to translate things with dictionnaries (booklets), and - above all - to contact local people who were helpful most of the time.
It was soooooooo more human, so more interesting!

Those options all remain available to you....

Yes, I have my collection of laminated “Streetwise” maps that I love for many cities in Europe, along with the maps that came with the guidebooks. I think I was a pretty good navigator and we always got to where we were going. I distinctly remember the first time we used Google Maps, probably about 10 years ago. We arrived in Taormina, Sicily in the evening when it was dark. No map in hand, just printouts I made from Google. We were trying to find a particular restaurant but were having trouble as we were on a quiet residential street with no people were out. Our daughter’s friend said that she had this “map thing” in Google on her phone and had a SIM card so we could use it. We entered the restaurant and voila, followed the route. We were quite amazed by that technology - lol. And now I think how far we’ve come from that, for better or worse.

Thanks for the additional comments re St Marks in the evening and Dorsoduro. All very helpful. I’ll have to see if I can get one of the Streetwise maps still for Venice. They make for a nice souvenir from our trips. Maybe one day I’ll go through them with our grandkids and they can ask me why we just didn't use our phones - lol.

Venice has a unique street numbering system which only local Postmen understand. If Googlemaps understand it I'd be amazed