Of all the cities I have visited, Venice still fascinates me the most. Venice Italy, because of its history, architecture and the fact that it was built into the sea, is perhaps truly “the most improbable of cities,” as Thomas Mann wrote. On the other hand, its proximity to southern Germany – in 5 hours you are already on the Italian Adriatic – makes it an easily accessible destination. I love to be there and I also try to stay for several days, especially at the time of Carnival.

Arrival in Venice Italy

Since I live near Munich, I usually go to Venice by car, since Italy is virtually a stone’s throw away. The drive goes by quite quickly, there is a lot to see, and I combine the Venice trip with a few more city trips and visits to relatives, so I am best served with the car.

For weekend trips, you can also take the train to Venezia Santa Lucia. This is especially worthwhile if you book early – and perhaps with a cheap Bahncard 25. If you’re traveling from farther away, a flight to Aeroporto Marco Polo (VCE) might be time- and cost-efficient; from there, there are many ways to get to the lagoon city.

It is possible to park in Venice in one of the giant parking garages right by the connecting bridge to the mainland, but it is not cheap. I park along the railroad line between Treviso and Venice at a small station, off Mestre, with no or very low parking fees, and so enjoy the twenty or thirty minute ride into the lagoon across the Ponte della Libertà. Arriving at the Santa Lucia station in Venice, there are the first options for cheap food: I prefer the Relax & Caffé, because you can eat a decent amount of food at a relatively low price and a clean toilet is also available – both are in fact not available everywhere, especially at Corona times.

Once you leave the station, you are immediately surrounded by the beauty of the city.

Moving around

In Venice, more than 400 bridges have been built to cross the 150 or so canals. Only a few of them are comfortable to cross with trolleys or strollers. In the narrow alleys, it is sometimes difficult to drag larger carrying bags next to you without rubbing them against the buildings; I therefore travel with only the bare essentials in my backpack, including camera equipment (more on that later).

There are, however, the “vaporetti“, as the water buses are called, with which you can reach many points along the larger canals and thus travel from one island to another. The tickets are even more expensive than some tickets of the Munich S-Bahn, but if you have a lot of luggage it can be worthwhile to use this alternative. Those who want to visit the distant islands of Murano and Burano can consider whether and when a 24-hour ticket (20 euros per person) would be useful. Tickets can be purchased at the machines at many stops, and there are just as many counters or stores where you can buy them.

Venice would be unthinkable without the gondolas, and in the past every middle and upper class family had at least one to take the gentry through the canals, while servants and lower class had to force themselves through the dark and dirty alleys. In modern times, gondolas are more of a tourist attraction, and for 70-90 euros depending on the time of day, you get a ride through the city for an hour, which doesn’t seem to be such an exciting affair considering the bored faces of many passengers who would rather look at their smartphones than around them.

Those in a hurry can take a water cab. Although their hulls are often made of wood and the oiled as well as polished surfaces give the impression that the boats are just decorative objects, they are equipped with powerful engines and they can reach high speeds outside the city.Important: Venice is in itself a very small city, that’s why you can get around very quickly even on foot. I am regularly deceived by the scale in Google Maps, because I assume the vastness of Munich; however, the walk from the train station to the Rialto Bridge takes less than a quarter of an hour and in general everything is quickly reached within a few minutes.

Food: “Cosa mangiare a Venezia?”

Many places in Venice attract with their international culinary offer and fabulous location: Who wouldn’t like to sip martini and eat some snacks at the Grand Canal? But sometimes it’s better to take a look at the price list before sitting down. Because at the end of the aperitif or meal, a nasty surprise regarding the amount of the bill is not conducive to digestion.

Generally speaking:

• In Venice – as in many other major cities in Italy – there are different prices in bars and cafés for self-ordering and consumption at the counter and being served at the table: At the table, the prices can be up to twice as high, but you can sit comfortably, enjoy the view and even get some sun. So an espresso can suddenly cost 3.5 instead of 1.5 euros.
• Near the sights and the bridges over the Grand Canal, it can get very expensive very quickly. Restaurant operators make the great location pay well and in some cases the dishes have much more in common with fast food mass production than with Italian gourmet cuisine. Contrary to general assumptions, the quality of the food has so far always been satisfactory to very good.

When I want to seek out new places to eat, I look to Tripadvisor and similar sites for inspiration, as the reviews give a good picture and paint a realistic picture of the experience to be expected at one restaurant or another. A blogpost about my favorite places in Venice will follow.

Stay overnight in Venice

Depending on how you reached Venice, there are several options:

The cheapest but most unglamorous is to find a place to sleep on the mainland, and reach Venice by train. Regional trains run until late at night, so it is possible to stay quite long in the lagoon city and also watch a romantic sunset. I find this solution okay for day trips, but a longer stay is not necessarily made pleasant by the driving. However, when it’s Carnival or Biennale and many accommodations are fully booked, this option makes sense.

The more interesting way to spend your nights in Venice is actually to book a room in one of the many hotels. Prices vary greatly, from windowless rooms to small apartments right on the Grand Canal, everything is represented and the price range is quite wide. Nevertheless, the many well-known hotels also guarantee high standards, and they often present offers for fixed periods that undercut Airbnb, for example. In high season, prices are nevertheless very high. Hotel Rialto* is my first choice when I need a hotel in Venice: it is located in the center of Venice, right by the Rialto Bridge, and from there every corner of the city can be reached in no time.

Hotel Rialto ****

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This article was first published on salvati.photography.