Italy has actually been my favourite country so far. With the endless amount of pizza, pasta, gelatos, sorbets, granitas, walking, views, architecture, history… it’s not hard to see why.

I always knew as well that I would love Italy and I am so glad that it did not disappoint.

Here’s my last blog post about Italy on Venice – the last city we visited, and probably my favourite one (after Positano).

Day 1

We arrived at Venice Santa Lucia train station from Florence via Trenitalia around 3pm. And this time without the delays!

First thing on our to do list after checking into our Airbnb (which was absolutely beautiful, clean and affordable with the best hosts. Link here), was to visit St Mark’s campanile.

We booked all our Venice tours ahead of time on a website called venetoinside.com which is one of the official tour operators that allows skipping the line, along with TripAdvisor/Viator or Get Your Guide.

I’ll link the exact tours we did next to each activity if you would like to do them too.

St Marks Campanile (bell tower)

Link: https://www.venetoinside.com/attraction-tickets-in-veneto/tickets/st-marks-bell-tower-skip-the-line-entry/

This was probably the most useful skip the line ticket we bought!

As soon as we arrived, we were able to enter while we saw a line starting to form around the other entrance.

And to our surprise again, we didn’t have to climb stairs! It was a simple elevator up to the view.

I would recommend about 30mins up here to take your photos and take in the views.

Shopping!

After losing my wallet in Florence, I needed a new one and what better brand to get than Gucci!

I also bought some Raybans and a Furla cardholder. Someone stop me with my spending ahh

Day 2

Doge’s palace tour

Link: https://www.venetoinside.com/tours-activities-in-veneto/tour/venice-doge-s-palace-skip-the-line/

This was one of the less intriguing tours we’d taken. But after the Vatican City, it was always going to be hard for anything to come close in grandeur.

The palace is actually not a palace for royals but for the head of Venice government (the doge). It was a place for him to stay along with his wife. His main role was to serve Venice justly and never treat himself like a king (unlike one doge who attempted to become king and was beheaded as a result).

However, the tour did give us a unique opportunity to pass windows in the prison where we could see the Bridge of Sighs (below).

St Mark’s Basilica

Link: https://www.venetoinside.com/attraction-tickets-in-veneto/tickets/skip-the-line-saint-marks-basilica/#choose

You’re not actually allowed to take photos inside the cathedral, but there is not much to see anyway. I would skip this if you don’t want to wait in line.

City Wonders Walking tour and gondola ride

Link: https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/AttractionProductDetail?product=3731VENICEGONDOLA&d=11449813&m=19905

The starting point confused us! If you take this tour, it should be in front of the Accademia of Fine Art Museum (not school as google pointed out to us). Luckily I called the tour office and the organiser waited for us before we eventually found the group.

The tour itself lasts for 1.5h starting at 630pm, before you make it back to the start for the gondola ride at 8pm. Which was a perfect time to catch the most beautiful time of day after sunset.

The tour itself was a bit boring and a long walk to get to (about 30mins from our accomodation). By the end of the day we had walked almost 30k steps! So I would recommend finding friends or people you know to do a gondola ride with you after sunset.

There are laws in place that set the rate for a 30-35min gondola ride. 80€ per ride during the day and 100€ per ride after 6pm. The tour itself was $100 per person, so a gondola ride by itself will pay for itself.

Anyway, enjoy these pics 🙂