Venice is one of my favorite places to visit. There’s just something so magical about the winding canals and old historic buildings. My sisters and I stayed in Venice for a few days while on a month long trip through Europe two summers ago. This is definitely one of the places that while I was there even, I was thinking to myself, “I can’t wait to come back here again someday” I would love to go back soon with my husband Chris because it is such a beautiful, romantic city. However, it is still a perfect place for a girls trip!

We stayed in the hotel Locanda del Ghetto which is located in the historic Jewish ghetto. I highly recommend the hotel as it was very cute and quaint and in a very peaceful area away from much of the touristy areas. This was still within walking distance though of most of the main attractions like Piazza San Marco being about a 20 minute walk. However, the charm of Venice is wandering the winding streets, crossing the bridges over the beautiful canals and just getting lost in the historic beauty of the city. So its safe to say Venice is more about the journey than the destination when exploring this ancient city. My list isn’t really the traditional “must sees”. You can find other articles on that. My list is recommendations on how to fully experience Venice while there. My opinion is that visiting a city isn’t all about checking things off a to do list but actually fully being present, taking in the sights, smells, sounds of the city, and just embracing new adventures.

1. Get lost! Don’t actually get lost, use your smartphone gps or some breadcrumbs to find your way back but just wander the streets and just have fun. Venice to me is like a maze with bridges, small alleyways that dead end to the canal, and amazing shops and bakeries on every corner. There’s something about just exploring for the sake of exploring and seeing what you come across. Like any city though, you always need to be careful of walking alone, especially at night, but my sisters and I had a blast exploring the city together and it felt pretty safe.
2. Take a boat ride over to the other islands of Burano, Murano, and Torcello. There is a ferry that will take you over to these islands for a small fee. We did a half day trip and went to all three. Murano is gorgeous and is known for its glass making, Burano is bright and colorful and known for its handmade lace, while Torcello is more laid back with a 1,000 year old church. Each has something different, perfect for a day of sightseeing and maybe bringing home some handmade glass blown jewelry or lace from these islands. While in Burano check out Ristorante Pizzeria Principe for some great pizza!
3. Buy a bottle of wine, some chocolate, and pistachios and whatever other dessert you feel like and sit wherever you have a good view of the canal. Watch the gondolas, boats, and tourists go by as you drink your wine and eat your dessert! This is probably one of the more memorable nights of our whole trip because we improvised after an ok meal at a restaurant, we went to a local corner store and bought wine, chocolate, and pistachios. We had a blast just being as classy as possible, drinking straight from the bottle, and eating our desserts, talking and laughing while the sun set over the water. Something that you might notice too while in most of Europe but especially Italy is that people are really into people watching, at cafes and restaurant, so we fully embraced this and had so much fun!
4. Go to the restaurant Al Timon and order the steak and the asparagus lasagna. This seriously was one of the best places we ate at while there! That day we didn’t have any plans for dinner, we just got ready earlier and just planned on walking around until we happened across something that looked good. We ended up at a wine bar which was perfect for a drink before dinner, sitting outside right by the canal. My sister asked our waitress if she had any recommendations for dinner and the waitress told us about this steakhouse called Al Timon and that it had the best food around. After her insisting this, there was no way we couldn’t try this place. We walked over to the restaurant and it’s a smaller place, mostly a bar and a few tables inside but thankfully there was one table open near the front. The bar standing area serves wine and small plates (Cicchetti) as well. For some reason the host stated almost a disclosure while smiling like “Just so you know this is a steakhouse”. I think he could probably tell we were tourists and it seemed like most of the people there were locals. But we were like yeah, we know, we heard you guys have good food here, so that’s why we’re here, we like good food. After that brief silly exchange, we were so glad we ended up here! Their food was phenomenal! I ordered the asparagus lasagna, my sister Alyssa ordered the gnocchi (see they have pasta!) and my other sister Kaitlyn ordered the steak and we all shared all three. We had such a great time there between the food and the wine. For all three of our meals plus wine too it wasn’t terribly expensive, probably less than 150 euro for everything. I believe there are also two locations, we went to the meat centric one but there is also a seafood centric one at another location or so I read online. I can’t wait to return to Venice just to eat here again!
5. You can’t go to Venice and not take a gondola ride! Not all gondoliers are created equal though! Some are much more entertaining and nice than others. The gondolier that we got had the best personality and told us stories about the buildings we were passing, his family’s history in the business, and sang us traditional Venetian love songs. You could tell he really loved his job! Others however that we passed by seemed to not enjoy it as much. My best recommendation for this is to scope out the gondolas and see one with people that seem to be having a great time. Funny enough we followed the one gondola as best as we could (which was a funny experience in itself!) just to catch it when he docked so we could get the next ride. Even though it’s not the cheapest and sure its a little touristy, but who cares! One of the best ways to really see and explore Venice is through the canals.

This is just a snapshot of our trip but let me know if you have any questions or want any other further recommendations if you’re thinking of visiting here! On a side note, for anywhere you’re traveling, always attempt the language at least. We were able to get around Venice and order and shop with English but a little bit of Italian gets you a long way on just being polite and respectful. It also helps in deciphering some menus that are all in Italian! I took four years of Italian in college, and my Italian is nowhere near perfect but it did help knowing the basics like Buongiorno (Good Morning/Good Day), Grazie/Grazie mille (Thank you/Thank you very much), per favore (please), Quanto costa? (how much?), and Arrivederci (goodbye). I wouldn’t say Ciao to strangers, especially older people since its something you should say more to friends and definitely not to your elders, it’s less formal. Also the phrase “Vorrei uno bottiglia di vino rosso per favore” (I would like a bottle of red wine please) got me a long way!

See more photos from our trip in the gallery below!

For recommendations and more on one of my other favorite cities check out this post on New Orleans!