Venice Transport

Getting around Venice can be quite difficult simply because you can’t hop on a normal bus and the layout of the city is somewhat confusing. Therefore make sure you purchase a good quality map showing all the street names and water-bus routes. Your options for getting around Venice include the Gondola, Traghetto, Vaporetto or simply by foot! Twenty-four hour, three and seven-day tickets are available on the Vaporetto, also convenient is the booklet of tickets called blocchetto. The Traghetto (public ferry) is one of the cheapest ways to get around Venice and is often used by locals to get across the Grand Canal. Lastly, the Gondola is a treat that not every visitor will be able to afford but known as the Venetian equivalent to a limousine it makes for a unique experience.

Day trips

For an excursion outside of Venice there are several options. In under two hours by train from Santa Lucia you can be taken to the famous setting for Romeo and Juliet’s love story. Verona also hosts Italy’s most amazing opera season set in the spectacular Arena, one of the best conserved amphitheatres in the world (www.tourism.verona.it). Alternatively, one and a half hours by train takes you to Bologna, the capital of Emilia-Romagna economically one of strongest regions in Italy and also famed as Italy’s gastronomic capital. It boasts some exclusive restaurants where you can enjoy a variety of delicacies. Historically and architecturally Bologna is just as impressive, laying claim to Europe’s oldest University.

Also worth considering are some of the many island in Venice, a day excursion that wont involve as much traveling but nonetheless very rewarding.