How to Spend One Perfect Day in Venice (Itinerary + Travel Tips)

Venice is one of those places that you simply have to see to believe. The city is truly one of the most unique places on Earth–but spending one day in Venice is definitely also an exercise in organization.

If you’re hoping to see Venice in a day (and also hoping to see the major sights without being overwhelmed by the city’s notorious crowds) knowing your travel preferences and where to go is key to having a delightful day in Venice.

Wondering what to do with one day in Venice?

We love the city dearly–after visiting many times in all seasons, here’s how we suggest exploring Venice in a day.

Want to plan one day in Venice the easy way?

The independent one day Venice itinerary that we’ve outlined below will show you many of the most iconic places in the City of Canals, from Piazza San Marco to the Rialto Bridge and beyond.

However, if you would rather not worry about navigating through Venice yourself, and your goal is to see as much as possible of Venice in one day, you can also consider signing up for this extremely well-reviewed tour.

Take Walks, which hosts this popular Venice in a day tour, is one of our favorite companies for small group tours in Europe, and we’ve used them in many cities.

(They also actually got their start in 2009 as Walks of Italy–so they definitely know Venice).

While there are trade-offs to booking a full-day tour of Venice–the thrill of meandering aimlessly through the footbridges of less-crowded sestieri and being beholden to no one’s schedule but your own as you enjoy a gelato along a canal would be hard to give up–there are benefits to a tour, too.

The biggest benefits are that thanks to a knowledgeable and efficient tour guide, Take Walks’ tour covers an enormous amount of ground, and that your entrance to the Doge’s Palace (if you choose the 8:30 AM tour) and a gondola ride are taken care of without any need to worry about logistics.

Book your Venice in a day tour today!

Consider Your Personality: Are the Classic Venice Sights Right for You?

Hoping to visit Venice independently for a day, but not sure that the dizzying list of attractions above sounds exciting–with or without a tour guide?

If so, before planning one day in Venice, ask yourself this: are you the type of person to be frustrated by large crowds?

If this is you, and especially if you’re also visiting in the high season, we recommend reconsidering the suggested one-day Venice itinerary that we outline below.

These suggestions for spending a day in Venice are designed for a traveler who hopes to see the city’s most iconic sights quickly.

That being said, if you’re not much for enjoying famous locations if they also come with a crowd, strongly consider spending your day steering clear of Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge after, say, 8:00 AM, and spending your day literally anywhere else.

Venice is full of beautiful and empty nooks and crannies, and if all you want from your visit is some canals and quiet time, Cannaregio, Dorsoduro, and Castello are the neighborhoods for you, and our guide to the best hidden gems in Venice has plenty of destination ideas to keep you busy.

We go into more detail about these neighborhoods on our 2 day Venice itinerary, which we recommend scanning through if that sounds more interesting to you than the Bridge of Sighs or St. Mark’s Basilica!

That being said, this suggested itinerary for seeing Venice in a day doesn’t spend all its time in the city’s most crowded corners, either–but you definitely won’t be alone for most of the day with this Venice itinerary.

The Perfect One Day Venice Itinerary

Start with an early morning stroll to the Rialto Bridge.

The earlier you can get started exploring on your one day in Venice, the better.

That way, not only will you have more time to spend in the beautiful city of canals, you’ll have more time without the heavy crowds that descend as the morning wears on.

Kick off your day in Venice as early as you can–perhaps even by 7:00 AM if you can swing it–and your stroll to and along the Rialto Bridge will be remarkably peaceful.

Of the four bridges that cross Venice’s Grand Canal, the Rialto Bridge is both the oldest and the loveliest, with shops lining both sides of the stone bridge.

Once upon a time, the Rialto Bridge was the only way to cross the Grand Canal without boarding a boat!

While crossing the bridge, be sure to take the time to admire the Grand Canal views from both directions, and once you’re finished on the bridge itself, be sure to spend a little time browsing the nearby Rialto Market.

Head to Piazza San Marco by 9:00 AM.

Piazza San Marco is Venice’s (enormous) best-known piazza.

Set right up against the lagoon and home to several of Venice’s most famous sights, Piazza San Marco is busy and bustling, and generally quite crowded with vendors and tourists alike.

Take a few minutes once you arrive to stroll through the piazza–it really is lovely–and if you’re so inclined, take an iconic photo with Venice’s pigeons (not our thing, but it’s a popular thing to do!) or sip a (very expensive) coffee at one of the famous cafes that line the piazza (Caffe Florian is the best-known).

(If you’re in search of a more reasonably-priced coffee and pastry, we love Bar Ducale, which is located a short walk away from the piazza).

Once you finish exploring the piazza, it’s time to pay a visit to St. Mark’s Basilica. The basilica opens at 9:30 AM, but people tend to start lining up to visit well before that!

The potential long lines at St. Mark’s Basilica are the main reason we suggest reaching Piazza San Marco by 9:00 AM–jumping in line before 9:30 AM there will help cut down on the amount of time during your one day in Venice that you spend in line.

Head inside St. Mark’s Basilica.

Dripping in Byzantine-style detail and utterly opulent, St. Mark’s Basilica is an icon of Venice and absolutely worth a visit.

Touring the church is free, though if you happen to get a late start to your day in Venice and the lines are too long, skip-the-line tickets are available for 3 Euros.

Alternately, you can visit as part of a guided tour of both St. Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace (more on that option below).

Tour the Doge’s Palace OR climb San Marco Campanile.

When trying to see Venice in a day, it’s inevitable that you’ll have to make some sacrifices.

Sadly, unless you want to spend your entire day in Venice in its most congested areas, visiting both San Marco Campanile and the Doge’s Palace probably isn’t a good idea–we recommend choosing one.

Benefits of touring the Doge’s Palace: this was the Venetian Empire’s seat of government, and the interior is both gorgeous and interesting.

If you’re interested in Venice’s history, or in seeing the “real” view of the Bridge of Sighs (it was originally famous for the view looking out, not the view of the bridge itself), this is a great option.

Benefits of choosing to visit San Marco Campanile: the views over Venice are magnificent, including views of the city, the lagoon, St. Mark’s Basilica, and some of Venice’s cool outlying islands. It also takes less time to visit than the Doge’s Palace, and is cheaper.

Of course, this is your one day in Venice we’re talking about–if you dream of seeing both these locations, absolutely visit them both!

But if you hope to see more of Venice’s quieter areas, definitely choose one or the other.

If you visit the Doge’s Palace, we recommend booking a guided tour to skip the line, better structure your day, and get some incredible context to your visit (also, for fellow history buffs: consider reading City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas before coming!).

Book your guided visit of St. Mark’s Basilica + the Doge’s Palace today!

Not into tours?

You can still skip the line at the Doge’s Palace by purchasing a priority ticket in advance.

Stroll along the Riva degli Schiavoni.

If you walk between San Marco Campanile and the Doge’s Palace toward the water, you’ll very quickly find yourself on the lagoon’s waterfront–the Riva degli Schiavoni.

From here, you’ll have beautiful views of gondolas bobbing in the water, San Giorgio Maggiore across the water, and–if you turn left and keep walking–the Bridge of Sighs.

Personally, I have to admit that this is far from one of my favorite walks in Venice, simply due to the crowds. If you get a chance to sneak over here before touring the basilica and palace, all the better–but I understand that most travelers won’t want to set their alarms that early on vacation!

The views over the water are gorgeous, though, and a short distance from the Doge’s Palace you’ll also find…

Check out the Bridge of Sighs.

Though the view that the Bridge of Sighs is famous for comes from inside it, it’s the exterior view that the Bridge of Sighs is better known for now.

The Riva degli Schiavoni is the perfect viewpoint, so be sure to pause for a moment to appreciate the beauty of the architecture and the view of the many gondolas and other boats that travel underneath the bridge!

Head to the Ponte dell’Accademia.

At this point during your one day in Venice, it’s time to enjoy one of the absolute best things to do in Venice: a nice, long, ambling walk!

While the sights concentrated around the Piazza San Marco are important and worth seeing, there’s so much more to Venice than its busiest piazza.

The eventual goal of your walk? To head all the way to the Ponte dell’Accademia, where you’ll be greeted with an iconic view of the Grand Canal.

Don’t hurry, though: while you can complete the walk in a little under 15 minutes, there are plenty of beautiful canals, buildings, boats, shops, and footbridges to admire along the way, and they are worth appreciating.

A few things to keep an eye out for: the Merchant of Venice flagship perfume store, the Teatro La Fenice, the Gallerie dell’Accademia that is situated right over the Ponte dell’Accademia in Dorsoduro, and the Scala Contarini del Bovolo, which I’ll discuss a bit more below.

And, though they’re not strictly “on the way”, this is a good opportunity to throw out that the Church of Zan Zaccaria (complete with a famously flooded crypt), Squero di San Trevaso (where you can witness gondolas being built), and Ca’ Rezzonico (a beautiful palace along the Grand Canal) are all close-ish add-ons that speedy sightseers might want to consider adding on to their one day in Venice.

Looking for a place to grab a snack or drink?

Campo Santo Stefano is right on the way and is one of our favorite piazzas in Venice for kicking back and relaxing.

Optional: climb Scala Contarini del Bovolo on the way.

If you visited the Doge’s Palace instead of St. Mark’s Campanile earlier during your one day in Venice and still want to get a glimpse of Venice from above, consider hitting up the Scala Contarini del Bovolo instead!

The view is not nearly as good as from San Marco Campanile, but it has a fraction of the crowds and the tower itself is gorgeous.

The odds of randomly stumbling across this tower during your time exploring Venice in a day are slim to none, so if you’d like to make the climb, we recommend plugging it into your GPS and heading that way!

Hit the water for another perspective on Venice.

When trying to see Venice in 24 hours or less, there’s one view you definitely can’t miss: the one from the water!

Whether you’re looking to splurge or hope to stay on a budget, there’s a way to admire Venice’s canals up close.

We go into more detail about each of these options on our 2 day Venice itinerary, so head there for more detail, but here are the three basic options.

Splurge: Private Gondola Ride

This will run you 90 Euros for a 30-minute ride during the day, and 110 at night (the price increased starting in November 2023).

The cost is per gondola, not per rider, and the gondolas can carry up to 5 people.

These prices are officially set, but if you book through a hotel or similar, you might be quoted something slightly different.

If you simply walk up to a gondola as you explore, though–which is what we do–that’s what you can expect to pay per boat.

Mid-range: Shared Gondola Ride or Grand Canal Cruise

Don’t have 5 people in your group?

If so, and you’re willing to share your view with strangers, a shared gondola ride is a great option!

Unlike private gondola rides, we recommend booking a shared gondola ride in advance–that way, you’ll have a time pre-set and won’t have to wait and see if anyone else is ready to join in and split the cost with you when you’re ready to ride.

Alternatively, a one-hour Grand Canal Cruise will get you more time on the water than a standard shared gondola ride.

Book your shared gondola ride in Venice today!

Budget: Vaporetto or Traghetto

Trying to spend one day in Venice on a strict budget but don’t want to give up experiencing Grand Canal views?

The vaporetto, or water bus, that runs up and down the Grand Canal will offer up the same views as above for 7.5 Euros/ride.

Sure, it won’t be as relaxing of an environment–but the views are still fabulous (though you may want to consider purchasing a full day pass if you go this route, depending on how much you plan to ride).

Alternatively, if you’re open to a bit of a scavenger hunt, you can enjoy one of our favorite things to do in Venice: riding a traghetto, AKA Venice’s 2-Euro gondola rides (not a typo).

Traghettos are a bit quirky–we go into the details of how to find them in this guide–but if you get a chance to ride one, they’re a fabulous way to cross the Grand Canal.

Try some cicchetti in Dorsoduro or Cannaregio.

There’s no better way to close out your one day in Venice than with cicchetti–aka Venetian tapas.

These delightful little snacks are served up in bars all over Venice, so when aperitivo rolls around from roughly 5-7 PM, sit down with a drink (maybe a Bellini? They were invented in Venice after all!) and a few pieces of cicchetti.

You can do this anywhere in Venice, of course, but Dorsoduro (you can’t go wrong with spending some time in Campo Santa Margherita) and Cannaregio are both quieter (and cheaper!) neighborhoods than San Marco and San Polo.

Either neighborhood will offer a more relaxed ending to your trip to Venice than busier spots and will be a nice change of pace from the hectic nature of Piazza San Marco earlier in the day.

These neighborhoods aren’t deserted by tourists, of course–you’ll see plenty of them–but they’re far, far less crowded.

Where to Stay for One Day in Venice

Since Venice is such a walkable city, and exploring it by foot is such a joy, you can stay just about anywhere in or near the center of Venice and easily work your way through this Venice itinerary.

With only one day in Venice, we don’t recommend staying in Mestre (the mainland) or Giudecca (a separate island that requires a ferry to visit the major highlights of Venice).

You can often find better deals there, but unless you are on an incredibly low budget, your trip to Venice will be greatly enhanced by staying in a hotel or Venice apartment rental within walking distance (even if it’s a long one) of Piazza San Marco.

We’ve stayed in 5 of the 6 sestieri in Venice (Cannaregio, San Marco, Dorsoduro, Santa Croce, and Castello–we’re only missing San Polo), and enjoyed our stays in all of them.

Here are a few well-reviewed properties we can recommend using as your base for this itinerary for Venice, Italy!

Budget

Hotel Casa Boccassini — This cute hotel easily met our needs during our first trip to Venice!

The room was simple but clean, and we found the shared bathroom a fair trade in exchange for their competitive prices in a great location in Cannaregio.

The bathroom was clean and we had a sink in our room, both of which always make shared bathroom situations much easier. The courtyard of the hotel was beautiful!

The hotel was a simple and beautiful 10-minute walk from the Rialto Bridge, and just a 5-minute walk to the vaporetto to the airport.

Check rates & book your stay at Hotel Casa Boccassini!

Mid-range

Hotel Lisbona — We decided to check into Hotel Lisbona for one reason: we wanted to stay on a canal!

If you’re looking to stay right on a canal in Venice without paying luxury prices, we can heartily recommend Hotel Lisbona.

The building is beautiful and definitely has that oh-wow-I’m-in-Venice effect (especially when you look out the windows), the customer service great, and the included breakfast tasty.

The central location (it’s around a 5-minute walk to Piazza San Marco) couldn’t be better.

The downside? The room we stayed in was tiny–but to be staying right on a Venetian canal in such an amazing location, we definitely considered the trade-off worth it.

Check rates & book your stay at Hotel Lisbona!

Luxury

Hotel Danieli — If you’re looking for a true luxury experience for your 2 days in Venice–the kind of hotel stay that you’ll remember for the rest of your life–look no further than the iconic Hotel Danieli, located inside 3 former palazzos along the Riva degli Schiavoni.

Every detail has been looked after here, and everything from the furniture to the breakfast to the location (mere steps from the Bridge of Sighs) to the truly stunning lobby will ensure you have an absolutely unforgettable trip to Venice.

Check rates & book your stay at Hotel Danieli!

Tips for Spending One Day in Venice, Italy

Avoid the temptation to squeeze in visits to outlying islands.

As tempting as it is to squeeze in trips to glass-blowing Murano or colorful Burano, with only one day to explore Venice, we recommend sticking to the city center–it’s more than big enough to explore, even for travelers looking to avoid the beaten path!

The only possible exception?

Giudecca or San Giorgio Maggiore, which are close enough that the time eaten up in transportation is much smaller.

When it comes to attractions, less is more.

Venice is packed full of wonderful things to do… but if you have 24 hours in Venice or less, consider picking just a few of them.

While some cities are all about sights and museums, Venice is more about the atmosphere than anything–so enjoy it!

If you’re not much of a museum person and would rather spend all afternoon sitting along canals, you’re still going to walk away having seen some of the best of Venice.

Don’t sit down at a restaurant without checking reviews.

Every city with a heavy tourism presence struggles with the existence of mediocre to just plain bad restaurants that exist purely to separate visitors from their money… but Venice has a higher ratio than most.

While you can find delicious food in Venice, it’s easy to find duds, too.

To avoid any issues, be sure to do a quick check of the online reviews of a place before sitting down (and if someone is beckoning you off the street and trying to hurry you to a table, you can virtually guarantee the food isn’t great–so just keep moving).

If you’re overwhelmed by crowds, just keep walking.

We’ve had several friends tell us that they didn’t like Venice because of the crowds–and while we understand the city isn’t for everyone, that makes us so sad to hear, because Venice’s crowds are very easy to avoid.

If you find yourself overwhelmed and not having a good time due to the congestion, simply set your GPS to an out-of-the-way destination (Punta della Dogana or the Basilica di San Pietro di Castello are just two ideas of many) and walk that way.

Even on the busiest days of the year, you’ll quickly find that the crowds disappear–but the canals, footbridges, beautiful churches, and charming buildings do not.

Spend time in Venice after dark if you can.

Even if you’re not spending the night in Venice, try to schedule your departure for later in the evening!

Venice after dark is absolute magic, thanks not only to the atmosphere of winding canals lit by restaurant lights but to the dramatically decreased crowds (and in the summer, heat).

It’s one of our absolute favorite times in the city, and if you have a chance to experience it for yourself, be sure to take it.

If you’re visiting Venice on a day trip, be aware of potential fees.

As you’ve been researching your one day trip to Venice, you’ve quite possibly come across some confusing information about Venice charging a day trip tax to visitors who don’t spend the night.

… Or that they will soon, or that it has been postponed, or some combination thereof.

Long story short, after years of debate and delays, Venice is charging some daytrippers an entry fee as of April 2024. For 2024, the tax (or entry fee, if you will) applies to people visiting Venice for the day on one of these specific dates.

You can check if your date qualifies, see if you or anyone in your party (like children under the age of 14) qualifies for an exception, as well as pay the fee, on the official website.

If you’re spending at least one night in Venice, this fee doesn’t apply to you, as your contribution to the city is covered via the tourist tax you pay directly to your hotel.

… and plan enough time to get back to the train station!

Getting from the center of Venice’s sightseeing hotspots (like Piazza San Marco, for instance) to Piazza San Marco to the Venezia Santa Lucia train station takes roughly 30 minutes on foot, or possibly slightly less via vaporetto, depending on how you catch the schedule.

If you have to catch a train back to accommodation in a different city after spending the day in Venice, be sure to leave plenty of time to get to the station, especially if you know you’ll be tempted to stop for photos, souvenir shopping, or gelato along the way.

Your One Day Venice Itinerary Map

Take This Map With You! Click each highlight to pull up the name of the destination. To save this map to “Your Places” on Google Maps, click the star to the right of the title. You’ll then be able to find it under the Maps tab of your Google Maps account! To open the map in a new window, click the button on the top right of the map.