I love Venice and a decent visit takes 1 1/2 to 3 days. However, it is "doable" as a day trip and if the choice is "day trip or not at all," I’d vote for the day trip. You won’t get to the outlying islands or be able to see the hundreds of art treasures that were in your art history text — each of a hundred churches, palaces and museums has 1 or 2 of these treasures.

For a day trip, take the earliest train to Santa Lucia station. Take the waterbus to San Marco (considering this your canal tour — have your camera and guidebook out). Spend the rest of the morning touring the catherdral, Doges Palace, campanille and just getting the flavor of San Marco and getting to anything you specifically want to/need to see or do — like you’ve always wanted to ride in a Gondola badly enough to pay the big, big bucks. Allow 3 hours to wander (considering this your walking tour) back to Santa Lucia, following the yellow signs that are posted everywhere. It can be walked in less than an hour, but you’ll want to poke around some, and you’ll get "lost" at least once. The "last train" to most places leaves Santa Lucia leaves between 18:00 and 19:00. There are some later trains to Milan and overnight trains to Paris, Vienna and other major cities.

If you can swing it, do an overnight trip from Florence or Milan — traveling with just your day pack — Venice via waterbus and back alley is not luggage/backpack friendly. BTW, there’s a tourist information kiosk at the station where you can get a map and explanation of the water bus system. They sell some "day in Venice" type guidebooks, too.

I’m not endorsing it, but I visited Venice as a day trip. I took an overnight train in, and an overnight train out.

Hey All,

Thanks so much for the information/advice.
I think I will factor in 2 days/1 night into my trip.
I might possibly go from Florence because my friend is meeting me (the friend who has been to Venice) to do Rome and Florence for a week or two, and then I am going off on my own.
Oldlady, where did you stay? I am assuming you stayed longer than a day?
Thanks
Happy travels!

When I have enough money to pay a 100 euro per night in a hotel, venice will be the first place I’ll go to – it is truly enchanting. Not to pay too much you can consider staying in Mestre – it’s pretty close to Venice, a 30-minutes bus ride but accommodation prices drop significantly.

When I went to Venice, I had reserved a place in Mestre, the cheapest single I could find for 27 €/night. Then when I got there, they told me the owner also had a place in Venice proper, near San Marco, and I could move there for the same price after the first night. So I did, and it wasn’t a hotel room but a large studio including kitchenette, so I could save more money by cooking for myself. They seemed to have some problems with the water and the electricity at the time, so maybe thats why I got it so cheap. Anyway I’ll try to look for the name of these places if you’re interested.

I recently spent four nights in Venice, and I just got started on all the sights there are to see. Look for the Eyewitness Guides guidebook for Venice and the Veneto – that will have lots of info and pictures about the Venice sights (major and minor). There weren’t any walking tours when I went, but there may be in the summer.

Venice is definitely worth the trip. We found the best place to stay was not actually in Venice, but on an island outside Venice. Camping Fusina…www.campingfusina.com. I know I’ve recommended this a lot, but only because it was a great deal and a great time. It only cost like 13 Euro per night, and you get your own cabin. It’s only a 10 min. ferry ride into Venice, which is definitely worth it as the scenery is amazing! Plus, the campground bar is one of the best in Europe (www.fusinabar.com) and as Venice doesn’t have much of a nightlife, you’ll really appreciate this Let me know if you want more info.

Hey everyone

Wow, thanks for all the responses. I am considering many of them.

bbano—
How much is the ferry ride and how often does it run? I wouldn’t want to get stuck anywhere. I checked out the website and camping looks great. Thanks.

Traveler—
Can i get the Eyewitness guides prioe to my arrival, like online or something? Thanks.

Thanks again everyone, take care and happy travels!

I did as part of a stop through – buy an ice cream and take a gondola ride before running off to Lido Di Jezolo (a cute little town on the beaches of the Adriatic). I sort of regret not spending more time there, as we had about two or three hours in Venice.

N…

I can’t remember exactly, but I remember you could buy day passes (unlimited trips) and even 3 day passes. I think we ended up buying the 3 day pass for 15 euro? It runs every hour, so it’s pretty convenient. Everybody that works at the campground is awesome..you’ll have a great time

Thanks very much bbano!

Happy travels

Ferry schedule is at the campingfusia website – basically one ferry each way every hour — with later hours in the summer.
http://www.campingfu…

Re ferry: Is the ferry that goes to Camping Fusina the same thing as the vaporetto? If so, you can get a 10.50E day pass that goes for 24 hours. So you could use it from, say 5 p.m. one evening to 5 p.m. the next evening – thereby getting almost 2 full days of use. Use it for your grand canal tour, a trip out to the islands in the lagoon and to and from the camping site.

Re: lodging – I have reserved a triple room at Casa Gerotto Calderan near the train station for 90E for May. It’s bound to be cheaper for a single or double. Their web address is www.casagerottocalde….

Other cheaper options: Ostello Santa Fosca near the train station – www.santafosca.com. 20E/night, can only reserve 7 days in advance by phone. The website for Camping Fusina is www.camping-fusina.c….

Re Re ferry: According to the ACTV website, http://www.actv.it/e… standard fares and travel cards (including the € 10.50 day card) are inapplicable for the Fusina line. Camping Fusina, http://www.campingfu… ("by boat&quot lists the following fares:
€9 Return
€16 For a 24 hour pass on all boats
€35 For a 3 day pass on all boats

Re ferry: I also think you can get a 3 day for just unlimited trips between Fusina and Venice (not for all the boats between Venice) and it’s cheaper than the 35 Euro..just don’t think it’s on their website.

The website for Camping Fusina is www.camping-fusina.c….