Venice is a city of stone built on the water—or at least on the marshy mudflats of a lagoon—a feat of engineering and determination if ever there was one.
Imagine a city of 118 islands threaded by 180 canals, these watery roads lined by Gothic-filagreed palazzi, spanned by 409 lithe footbridges, and plied by fleets of crooked-nose, coffin-black gondolas.
Picture a tangle of ancient alleys, the houses often no more than shoulder-width apart, connecting countless pocket-sized campi (squares), each anchored by a church filled with Titians and Titorettos or a museum stuffed with Renaissance or modern art.
Now picure yourself spending a day touring the lagoon by vaporetto (water bus), visiting the outlying islands to watch artisans create traditional Venetian glass on the Venice-in-miniature island of Murano, see old ladied hand-tatt lace on the fishermen's island of candy-colored houses called Burano, and visit a thousand-year-old church covered in glittering mosaics on Torcello before motoring back to downtown Venice as the sun sets over the waters of the lagoon, capping it all off with a a sumptuous seafood feast.
There simply is no place on Earth like La Serenissima.
Planning your day: You could spend an afternoon in Venice, a day or two, or a week and never run out of things to do and new corners to discover.
I would try to give Venice at least a day and a half. Three days would be better, but most people don't have that kind of time, even for Venice.
I have suggestions for how to spend anywhere from half a day in Venice up to three full days on the Venice itineraries pages.
Venice is a city that, at first glance, seems excessively touristy and overrun. Some visitors can't wait to move on to someplace that feels a bit less like a canal-rodden Disneyland.
However, given time (and purposefully getting lost once or twice), Venice reveals its serenissima side and begins to seduce even the most jaded of travelers.
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This article was written by Reid Bramblett and was last updated in May 2015.
All information was accurate at the time.
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