Sightseeing in Venice Italy typically, for a visit of one day, includes St. Mark’s Square, Doge’s Palace, the Basilica of San Marco and the Rialto Bridge, for most tourists.
To get a great first impression of Venice, you should consider a short walk through the Venice historical old town and a ferry ride along the Grand Canal, to grasp the unique beauty of the city.
Because of its compact size, and the numerous works of art you can see even on a short walk within Venice, you’ll have plenty of options for your visit to the historical city.
A good idea for a short trip to the city is to purchase a 12 hour ticket to the Venice ferries, the local water buses, also known as “vaporetto”. Vaporetto routes allow you to get to the main sights without spending too much time walking from one place to another.
For most visitors to Venice, the starting point of sightseeing is the Saint Lucia Venice train station.
Directly opposite the train station, you’ll find the closest stop for the Venetian water bus. From here, you can choose between private tourist boats, or one of the public ferries, of which the latter are cheaper, but do not provide additional information on the sights within the routes.
Once you settle into the water bus or tourist boat, make sure to keep your camera ready on the deck of the boat, for some excellent photos.
Sailing and sightseeing in Venice Italy on the Grand Canal, you will pass a total of 250 magnificent, historical palaces, 15 major churches, and the Rialto bridge, before arriving at the famous Piazza San Marco.
From the Piazza San Marco, Saint Mark’s Square in English, you’ll find some of the most characteristically Venetian tourist attractions: the Basilica of San Marco, Palazzo Ducale, the Campanile, and beautiful views of the lagoon.
To avoid long queues at the Basilica of San Marco or the Doge’s Palace, you should avoid visiting them around lunchtime, while early morning or the afternoon typically sees much less tourists.
Of these tourist attractions, the Doge’s Palace, allows you to tour the private apartments of the Venetian Doge and the historical boardrooms of the Republic’s rulers.
From the palace, a famous bridge, Bridge of Sighs, crosses to a prison building on the other side, from which Casanova once escaped.
Basilica of San Marco, meanwhile, is architecturally unique building, with magnificent mosaics and floors to justify a visit there by themselves. Also, not to be missed, is Museo Marciano, where you can see, up close, the famous bronze horses of Saint Mark and enjoy, from the balcony, views of Piazza San Marco.
After a visit to these attractions, you can take a breather at one of the historic cafés within Piazza San Marco, of which Caffe Florian is the oldest in the world.
PHOTO: Saint Mark’s Square and St. Mark’s basilica for sightseeing in Venice Italy.
If you have enough time, do visit the campanile, which has the best, breathtaking views over Venice, making it worth every penny of the cost of entry.
From the piazza, you can walk along the Mercerie shopping district, which consists of three streets, forming the best known shopping area of Venice. These three streets lead from Piazza San Marco to the district around the Rialto bridge.
At Rialto Bridge, there are two main paths to return back to the train station.
The quickest way is to take a ferry from Rialto to the station, while the other is to make the trip on foot, using the paths along the canals to the station, a journey that will take between 30 and 40 minutes to the Scalzi bridge, which is located directly across from the central station.
Alternative routes for sightseeing in Venice Italy include taking a look at attractions such as the Accademia Gallery, the Church of San Zaccaria, or Le Fenice Theatre, all located very near Piazza San Marco. If you have a day ticket for the vaporetti water buses, you’ll options extend to the other attractions and islands in the lagoon of Venice.
If you have just a few hours in Venice, for example, the best bet for sightseeing is to take a water bus from the S Lucia station to Piazza San Marco, and then getting back to the station with the ferry (line number 1), with one main attraction along the way, the middle station of Rialto bridge.