Additional Information about Venice

On this page I have added some general information for a stay in Venice, so that the visit of the lagoon city really gets a dream, romantic and unforgettable experience.

What I would like to mention in general is that Venice is an extremely expensive place; this is either already noticeable in the hotel rates as also in the entrance fees and also by purchasing a simple bottle of water. A small can of coke in a rip-off shop can easily cost more than 3 € at a 10 m distance, the same product can probably cost less than a euro. Thus, there is attention to pay and to compare!

Arrival by Car, with the Train or by Plane

The most comfortable way to het to Venice is by train, as the trains take one to the core of the city , and from the main station one can immediately get into a vaporetto in order to continue to the hotel. But the trip by train takes a lot of time in order to cover the way of 500 km from Munich to Venice: with a travel time of approximately 8 hours, the train is the slowliest means of transport.

It is also possible to drive over the bridge of a length of approximately 3 km Ponte della Liberta up to the centre of Venice. Two big parking houses are at the visitro's disposal. But parking the car costs approximately 20 € per day. Those who park the car already in the mainland and goes by train or bus into the oldtown will have less paking fees to pay - of course, it is a laborious and uncomfortable matter. From the parking houses in the oldtown one can comfortably step into one of the vaporetto-lines and continue to one's hotel.

The arrival by plane is the most comfortable. From the airport Marco Polo in the lagoon, one either drives with an expensive taxi boat or with a vaporetto into the core of Venice. The vaporetto trip takes approximately an hour.

Public Means of Transport - The Vaporetti

As it is the case in a "normal" city, there are public means of transportation in form of buses or rapid-transit railways, Venice has a public traffic network that consists on boat lines. There are a lot of vaporetto stations in the city itself and in many neighboured islands. As it is the case in our country, here, one can also buy single tickets and day tickets. A day ticket costs about 11 €. For tourists, a three-day-ticket is probably the most convenient variant, as one gets it for the price of two day tickets. With the day ticket, one can have as many trips as wanted within the city area. What is important is that before the first trip, one cancels the ticket in a stamping machine. The tickets are only checked sporadically, thus not during each of the trips.

There are about two dozens vaporetto-lines. At the beginning, the line plan seems to be very confusing and many lines somehow seem to be double. In fact, many line ships partly navigaqte on the same route but they stop at different stations. Thus, the line 1 slowly chugs in the Canale Grande from station to station and needs nearly one hour to navigate through the whole channel. Other lines only stop at some important stations, thus they practically navigate as an express ship.

During the warm season, many times the vaporetti are overcrowded and one has to content oneself with a standing room. There are only few seats from which one really has a panorama view for a good photo shooting; most of the seats are in an interior room from which one can see the city through some translucent, dirty windows.

Gondola Trips

What I already mentioned in the page A Gondola Trip thouh the Channels of Venice I would like to bring out again here explicitly: the trips with a gondola are as romantic as also expensive. One should in any case consider by getting into a gondola that the first price offered by the gondolere is exorbitantly high. If during the conversation the price does not decrease at least two times, one definetely paid too much.

What is also important is not to have the gondola trip duting the rush hours, as then one spends most of the time in the jam so that one barely covers a noteworthy stretch of way. Due to this reason the best time for a gondola trip is in the forenoon, when the rush is still low and the channels are free.

Best Time for Traveling

The unique cultural city Venice in a visit worth in any season of the year. Many people won Venice so dear that any few years they travel to the lagoon city and intentionally choose different seasons in order to experience the city in different glories. Venice is partly literally overflown. Thi specially applies to the carnival time. During the carnival time only those should travel to Venice that are really interested in the carnival spectacles; for a normal city viewing it is barely possible to get through the city during the carnival time.

Long week-ends as in easter time or pentecost are also critical. It is not unusual that all hotels of the city are booked up and one can only get the remaining rooms at horrendous prices. The main travel season are of course the summer months. But in the summer time, a visit to Venice is also the most exhausting: one is not only bothered by the crowds of people in the alleyways, restaurants and entrance queues, but also the heavy air and the torrid sun give one a hard fight.

This is why the seasons spring and autumn are optimal for a visit to the lagoon city. The sun does not burn so much, the vaporetti are not overcrowded and one meets more local people and less tourists. Also the air is definitely more clear so that one enjoys a better view and can shoot more beautiful pictures.

Tips and Service Money in the Restaurant

Those who dine in a Venetian restaurant will often be shocked by the partly impertinently high prices. A full typically Italian menue consisting on a starter, first and second main course as also a dessert and coffee is unpayable for many vacationers.

Additionally to the steep prices one already pays for merely sitting in the restaurant. For the cover (in Italian: pane e coperto), that - if one is lucky - contains also a few slices of bread, one pays several euros per person, thus practically kind of basic fee per each visitor of the restaurant.

Additionally, many times, the service money (in Italian: servizio) has to be paid extra. This can be up to 15% of the bill. Of course, the waiters still expect a small tip for themselves. I even once experienced that after having paid 15% service money there was clearly mentioned on the bill in several languages that the tip for the waiter was still not covered with that.

Under these circumstances, many visitors of Venice are delighted by the fact that there is also Mc. Donald's, Burger King and numerous pizza-fast food restaurants in the city!

Recommendable Websites

Photo Gallery Manfred Hofmann
In his photo gallery, Manfred Hofmann from Eberbach shows some unusual pictures of Venice that as a tourist one does not get to see.

Back to the index Venice

Copyright: Patrick Wagner, www.tourist-guide.biz