We recently took a trip to Florence in September and decided to go on a day trip to Venice as its only two hours on a train away. We were both really excited about this trip as we have always dreamed of going to Venice and it was the perfect way to finish off our days in Florence. If you are in Florence for a good few days or any of the northern cities near Venice, in our opinion, we highly recommend taking a day trip there. While you may not get to see everything, you do get to see a lot. We have listed an Itinerary below to give you details on what we got up to.

We arrived early enough as we got a train that morning around 9am. When we stepped out of Stazione di Venezia Santa Lucia we were right at the Grand Canal and the view was breath taking. The water is as blue as the photos you see online and the city has a real Italian charm to it. We decided to head straight to Piazza San Marco (Saint Mark’s Square) as this is the main tourist spot in Venice with great views and lots of things to do and see. It was a bit of a distance to get the from the train station which I was surprised at as I didn’t think Venice was as big as it is but we didn’t mind the walk as it was exciting exploring all the allyways.

On our way, we got pretty hungry and we stopped at a place beside the Rialto Bridge, unfortunately we cannot remember the name but it was a wine bar/ restaurant that had an outside terrace. We opted for Pizza for a quick snack and it was delicious. We then made our way across the busy bridge to the other side to resume our journey to Saint Mark’s Square.

When we arrived at the square we were in awe as it was more then what we were expecting. Its spectacular and full of people, the architecture is amazing.

After wandering around the square and taking many many pictures we decided to do a tour of Doge’s Palace. As far as we can remember the ticket cost us approx. 19 euro each and we were not queuing for long. We wondered around the palace for a couple of hours, the place is huge and full of amazing treasures, architecture and ceiling paintings. From our experience we would highly recommend Doge’s Palace as a sight to see while in Venice.

When we finished in the palace we walked down the Venice sea front and got a small painting and went somewhere for drinks. The weather was really hot this time of year, over 30 degrees when we went the beginning of September, so keep this in mind if you plan to visit at that time of year. We went to the hardrock café for drinks as they do amazing cocktails and have a great selection of other drinks too.

We met a nice couple in the hardrock so stayed there quite a bit chatting away, this is something we love about travelling as you can meet great people and share stories and tips.

They recommended going to the top of San Marco Campanile which is the tower in St Mark’s Square so we took their recommendation and we were delighted we did as the views of Venice are spectacular from here.

Unfortunately, it was then time to make our way back to the train station, we didn’t get to go on a gondola ride but we will definitely do that when we go back in the future as for us Venice is a place we would return to again and again.

Some Tips:

If you are travelling into Venice by train, make sure you stay on the train until you get to Stazione di Venezia Santa Lucia. If you get off at Venezia Mestre you are in mainland Venice which is a stop before.

If you are not a fan of water, like us, don’t worry as you can still explore Venice by foot. Many bridges connect the city and while you may have to walk down a bit and go off track to get across it’s an excellent way to explore hidden parts of the city.

We went in September and Venice was still quite crowded, you notice this more as the streets are very narrow, so if you do not like big crowds keep this in mind when booking your trip.

The weather was also still extremely hot this time of year, above 30 degrees so think of this when packing.

If you have any questions about our trip or are looking for more information please contact us via the contact tab at the top of the page.

Happy Travels!

Nicole and Bryan