Where to Stay
If you’re looking for an Airbnb, I’d recommend filtering your search to the arts district (quiet, refined, and a bit away from the main tourist crush) – Dorsoduro –near the Guggenheim Museum. A classic and comfortable hotel in the area is Moresco – boutique‐style, very welcoming staff, and pretty interiors with a small garden/courtyard. It’s about a 5–7 minute walk from Piazzale Roma (with just one small bridge); still just 10–15 minutes’ walk to many sights if you change your mind and want a stroll.
The Venice Venice Hotel is a bastion of contemporary cool within a gorgeous palazzo in the ancient city – but still feels very romantic, great for an evening drink on their Grand Canal terrace if anything and a tour around their concept store.
Hotel San Fantin – a very budget-friendly independent option, one of the most beautiful facades in Paris, very well located near the Fortuny museum on a tranquil little piazza. 32
This cosy but chic B&B with a mid range budget. This utterly charming Novecento Boutique Hotel.
Eating and Drinking
If you’re near the Doge’s Palace, start the day in Da Bonifacio, a tiny café hiding behind the landmark with a lovely crazy-paving mosaic floor, (Castello 4237, calle degli Albanesi; closed Thurs). The coffee’s good – ask for the very Venetian macchiatone if you like the idea of a cappuccino with less milk – and it’s difficult to resist cakes like the pasta con le mandorle (almond slice).
If you’re staying in the Dorsoduro Arts District, a great breakfast spot is Bar da Gino.
Vini da Gigio is an elegant family-run Venetian trattoria for the in-the-know foodies (Michelin-guide approved too).
If you’re looking for a cool bar where stylish young creatives hang out, head to Al Timon, along a much more local and authentic side of Venice. Natural wine, delicious apéro bites and cuisine. This whole stretch of the canal (Fondamenta de la Misericordia) is dotted with genuinely cool little spots such as Anice Stellato, Il Paradiso Perduto and Sullaluna Bistro Bookshop – a breathe of fresh air in a city of traditional restaurants – a library and bistro with vegan options and light bites, ideal for a lunch or apéro. From here, wend your way through narrow alleys to the delightfully untouristy northern stretches of Cannaregio.
Also in this more local side of Venice (Cannareggio), try Trattoria della Marissa – food like it was cooked by your Italian grandmother
Ristorante da Raffaele for romantic quiet canalside dining.
Corner Pub Venezia is the best equivalent to your favourite dive bar back home.
After a visit to the Fortuny Museum, if you’re looking for a nice quiet restaurante with a lovely terrace, seek out Taverna la Fenice, it feels like a place you might have bumped into Oscar Wilde.
Reserve ahead for the most unique table perched at a window right on the water in Venice at Ai Barbacani.
Da Ivo, a cozy canalside trattoria founded in 1976 by a gentleman from Tuscany attracts major celebrities during the film festival. Try the macaroni with local crab meat.
When on St Marks square, if you’re okay with being charged a massive premium for the location and the legend, there is of course, the historical literary Caffè Florian.
Osteria La Rivetta – absolutely not a tourist trap resto, unchanged, stuck in time in Santa Croce.
The Peggy Guggenheim’s gallery’s pretty, artsy café is a sophisticated spot for a tea or coffee break.
Da Luca e Fred – if you have some time to kill, make this your last meal in Venice right next to the railway station before boarding the train – amazing paninis!
Seeing and Doing
Museo Fortuny – a cabinet of curiosities in a palazzo; the former home and studios of the irreplaceable talent that was artist Mariano Fortuny, the textiles designer and set designer among many other things. His wife was also a huge influence on his work and was the muse behind one of the most underrated dresses in history. If you’re looking for a lunch on a terrace after, head to Taverna la Fenice.
Dorsoduro is a good place to indulge in some aimless wandering. This artsy, studenty district is full of quirky shops such as mask-making workshop Ca’ Macana, where Stanley Kubrick went to get the masks for his film Eyes Wide Shut. I also loved the curation at Edmond à Venise.
Burano is a village on an island of rainbow-coloured houses. It can be reached by vaparetto in under an hour and is well worth an afternoon excursion from the mainland. With its highly photogenic canaldise streets, it attracts a crowd, so here’s my tip. Get off at the stop before Burano at Mazzorbo. Walk through the vineyard on this island, do a tasting, maybe even book lunch at the osteria. Then after lunch, walk over the bridge onto Burano. Once you’re in Burano, find the really tiny alleyways and disappear down them to find quiet technicolour piazzas.
The Pinault collection will not disappoint, and if you only have time for one of the two galleries, go for the Palazzo Grassi.
Libreria Alta Acqua – one of the most unique bookshops in the world.
If you’re lucky to be in Venice during the Antiques Market of Camp San Maurizio, do not miss it (once a month).
Antichita al Ghetto and Studio d’Arte Morabilia di Gigi Bon (by appt) are the closest things to Messy Nessy’s Cabinet in Venice!
Take a stroll through the Castello district, leaving the tourist hordes behind, until you reach the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni. After the opulence of St Mark’s, indulge in one of the city’s most charmingly intimate cultural draws: an early 16th-century cycle of paintings by local artist Vittore Carpaccio narrating episodes from the life of Dalmatia’s three patron saints, George, Tryphon and Jerome.
Spezieria all’Ercole d’Oro: established in 1650, aka “The Merchant of Venice”, a boutique selling precious and exclusive essences. Not far is Mocenigo Palace – underrated, fascinating, mysterious museum of costumes, also has a perfumery lab
The Museum of Flight (just outside Venice) is worth a visit, especially with kids. Speaking of which, visit the real Venice beach! You can sip a spritz at Vincent Bar, while watching children in the park and boats chugging across the lagoon to the Lido.
When monumental Venice overwhelms, head for the gloriously residential Sant’Elena district.
If you have to take a gondola ride, do it at sunset, and find one of the gondoliers that moor on a small canal to wait for customers. (Price shouldn’t be higher than 150 euros).
By Night
If you’re looking for a cool bar where stylish young creatives hang out, head to Al Timon, along a much more local and authentic side of Venice. Natural wine, delicious apéro bites and cuisine.
Fill your empty bottles with wine at Vinaria Nave de Oro – an old tradition dating back to when wine was safer than drinking water, a very local place where families refill their bottles. You don’t have to bring your own bottle to refill but it is appreciated. Glass or plastic are equally acceptable – a great place to practice your Italian in a very authentic spot.
Bar Borsa: jazz club, restaurant, cocktails under the vaults of Vicenza’s Basilica Palladiana
The area between Frari and Zattere – in particular campo Santa Margherita and the narrow streets behind San Pantalon – is a fashionable but secluded evening favourite for those in the know. Favourites include aperitivo haunts Malvasia all’Adriatico Mar and Estro Vino e Cucina, run by a young group with a passion for natural wine and a Slow Food approach to eating.
Campo san Giacomo – in the summer until October, tango dancing every Tuesday, always live music, locals spilling out from the surrounding bars.
Escape the crowds in Chioggia, the town, also known as “Small Venice”, easily done as a day trip
Venice jazz Club – Local musicians, sit-down concerts are nightly, starting at 21:00. Guests are requested to be seated by 20:45.
Make your way through the backstreets to Campo Santa Margherita to find real, live, young locals hanging out from the surrounding universities.
Osteria da Filo is one of the best bars in Venice, set over two floors, cultural hub.
Osteria Riccio Peoco – live music on Friday night, cheap wine and amazing tapas style food – arancini and the house special il panino scrocchio.