Two days that start where everyone does, then leave them behind: the Rialto market and San Marco with the Doge's Palace booked, a bacaro crawl at dusk, then Dorsoduro's galleries and the islands by vaporetto. One slot, one boat pass, the rest on foot.
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Checked October 10, 2026. That’s the day we last confirmed the hours, prices and closed days.
April to June and September to October for light and bearable crowds; the art Biennale runs May to November in even years. July and August are hot, humid and full. Acqua alta season is October to January, worst in November and December: the MOSE barriers now stop the serious floods, but a few hours of water in Piazza San Marco still happens, so bring shoes you can get wet. Carnival fills the city in February.
Sleep on the island, not in Mestre: the evenings are the point and overnight guests are exempt from the day-tripper fee. Castello, just east of San Marco, for quiet streets five minutes from the Piazza; Dorsoduro for the galleries and students; Cannaregio for the Fondamenta della Misericordia and the Ghetto; San Polo for the market.
Walk; the whole island crosses in 40 minutes. The vaporetto is for the Grand Canal (line 1, slow and worth it once) and the islands: €9.50 a ride, €25 for 24 hours, €35 for 48, €45 for 72. Validate before boarding. A traghetto gondola ferry crosses the Grand Canal for €2 where there is no bridge. A proper gondola is €90 for 30 minutes by day, €110 after 7 p.m., fixed by the city.
San Polo · 45 min
The fish hall and produce stalls work Tuesday to Saturday mornings and are packing up by 1 p.m.; closed Sunday and Monday. Have coffee standing at a bar on Campo Bella Vienna, then cross the bridge and walk the Mercerie to the Piazza.
San Marco · 120 min
Go at opening, before the groups: the Golden Staircase, Tintoretto's Paradise and the prisons over the Bridge of Sighs. €30 online if bought 30 days ahead (€35 on the day), including the Correr Museum; open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. April to October, to 6 in winter.
€30
San Marco · 60 min
A booked 30-minute slot, with tickets opening 45 days ahead and summer ones gone a week or two out. €10 for the nave, €20 with the Pala d'Oro or the museum and terrace, €30 for everything; cover shoulders and knees, bring no large bags, and note Sunday opens to visitors only from 2 p.m.
€20
San Marco · 30 min
An elevator, not stairs: €15 for the one view that has the domes and the lagoon in it. Skip it if the sky is flat and spend the quarter hour in the Piazza.
€15
San Polo · 75 min
Back to the market end of the bridge. Osteria Bancogiro for a table on the Grand Canal and a plate of sarde in saor; Al Mercà on Campo Bella Vienna for a panino and a spritz standing, half the price.
Castello · 60 min
Fifteen minutes into Castello: the campo with its bars, and the bookshop with books in a gondola and a staircase made of them. Browse, and do not wait in line for the photograph.
Castello · 75 min
The waterfront east from the Piazza, past the Vivaldi church and the marble lions at the Arsenale gate, then Via Garibaldi where Venetians shop. Turn back when the crowds thin to nothing.
San Polo · 90 min
Cantina Do Mori (pouring since 1462), All'Arco and Cantina Do Spade are within two minutes of each other: an ombra of wine and two or three cicchetti at each, standing, a couple of euros apiece. Most close by 8 or 9 p.m. and several shut on Sunday, so start on time.
San Polo · 90 min
The old Rialto fish room: no reservations, so join the line and order the risotto di pesce and the fried moeche in season. Osteria alle Testiere in Castello is the better kitchen but books out weeks ahead.
Dorsoduro · 105 min
Bellini, Carpaccio's Ursula cycle, Veronese's Feast and Tintoretto, almost empty at opening; €20, Tuesday to Sunday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., closed Monday. On a Monday do this day in reverse and give the morning to the islands.
€20
Dorsoduro · 75 min
Five minutes along the canal: Pollock, Ernst and Magritte in her house, and the terrace on the Grand Canal. €17, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Tuesday; book a slot online in summer.
€17
Dorsoduro · 45 min
Out to the point where the Grand Canal meets the Giudecca canal: the Salute church is free, and the old customs house shows contemporary art when an exhibition is on. Stand here for a free view of San Marco from the water.
Dorsoduro · 45 min
Cicchetti and a glass standing on the fondamenta opposite the San Trovaso boatyard where gondolas are still built. Osteria al Squero across the bridge if Schiavi is three deep.
Zattere · 45 min
Line 5.2 from Zattere round the back of the island takes about 25 minutes, then change to line 12 for the islands. Start the 24-hour pass here: it covers everything to Burano and back and the Grand Canal tomorrow morning.
€25
Murano · 75 min
Ten minutes on line 12. Watch a furnace demonstration on the Fondamenta dei Vetrai (free, with a shop at the end), then the Glass Museum if you want the history (€10, open to 6 p.m. April to October); watch the clock, because Burano is next.
Burano · 75 min
Another 35 minutes on line 12 to the painted houses, the leaning campanile and the lace shops closing for the day. Line 12 back to Fondamente Nove runs every 20 to 30 minutes until after 10 p.m. and takes 45 minutes.
Cannaregio · 45 min
Off the boat and 15 minutes through the back streets to Campo del Ghetto Nuovo, the first ghetto anywhere, quiet at this hour. In rain or short on time, skip the islands for the museum and synagogue tours (Sunday to Thursday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday to 5, closed Saturday, around €15).
Cannaregio · 90 min
A canal-side strip of bars and tables. A glass at Vino Vero first, then Paradiso Perduto for fish and noise or Osteria Anice Stellato for the quieter room; reserve Anice Stellato.
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Pins are approximate. Tap one for the stop; the directions links open Google Maps.
From Marco Polo airport, the ACTV Aerobus (line 5) or the ATVO bus reach Piazzale Roma in about 25 minutes for €10 to €12; from there it is a vaporetto or a walk. The Alilaguna water bus goes straight to San Marco and other stops for around €18 but takes well over an hour. A water taxi to your hotel door is well over €100. Trains arrive at Santa Lucia station on the island itself; get off there, not at Mestre.
About €100 to €150 a day per person. The big tickets are €20 to €35 each, a bacaro round is €15 to €20, a sit-down fish dinner €40 to €60, and the 24-hour boat pass €25. The overnight tourist tax is paid at the hotel, roughly €1 to €5 a night per person by category and season.
Plans change. Ask Chat and it proposes a reshuffled day you can apply, or just answers the question.
Only if you come in for the day on a fee date (in 2026, 60 dates from April 3 to July 26) and arrive between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.: €5 if you pay at least four days ahead on cda.ve.it, €10 after that. Hotel and apartment guests inside the municipality are exempt (you pay the overnight tax instead) but must register for the exemption code; under-14s are exempt too, and Murano, Burano and the Lido are outside the scheme.
Day 2, reversed: the Accademia and the Guggenheim are indoors, and the Ghetto's museum replaces the islands. High water comes in for a few hours around the morning tide and drains; the boats keep running. Waystop's rain plan can add that reversed day as a version you switch to.
Yes, for San Marco, one gallery day and the islands, as long as you sleep on the island and use the early mornings. A third day adds Padua or Verona, or simply Castello and the Giudecca with nothing booked.
For the island day, yes: Zattere to Murano to Burano and back is four rides, €38 in singles against €25 for the pass. For the San Marco day, no; everything is on foot.
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