An Insiders Guide to Exploring the Best of Venice

Updated On: April 17, 2024 by   Ciaran Connolly

A Tour Through The Best of Venice

From the best street food you’ll taste, to the most stunning art and architecture, Venice has a wide variety of activities you can take part in while you’re visiting.

Our placement student Daire Cullen, who has recently been to Venice, Italy, and has experienced much of what the city has to offer, gives his view of the best of Venice.

An Insiders Perspective to the Beauty of Venice

This guide will show you the best that Venice has to offer when it comes to the best art and the most delicious places to eat when you visit, it will take you around the canal city and show you the most beautiful architecture you can experience and the cheapest way to travel the city without hurting your legs from the abundance of walking.

If you are visiting Venice for whatever reason this guide will help you find the most stunning spots to truly make your trip a memorable one; places such as the Rialto Bridge or Saint Marks Basilica.

To begin, the best place I have visited in Venice for street food is…

Paco’s Pizza & Pasta

Paco’s Pizza & Pasta is a street food cafe for the hungry traveller, this is located in San Marco and sells some truly delicious pizza and pasta which I tried both of while I was there.

You can order a singular slice of pizza that averages at about 8 inches in length and is truly delicious, a calzone with any filling of your choice or pasta with any sauce of your choosing. This tiny cafe is definitely worth a visit and sometimes depending if the song on the radio is enjoyable, the chef will sing along!

60/40

Gelato is the best in Venice, but even then there is still the best of the best which in my opinion would be 60/40. when I was in Venice this was the last place we visited but it was still a delicious treat to have before we left the city, 60/40 definitely offers the best flavours compared to all the other gelato shops in Venice and it also offers the best service.

Just a tip, this shop doesn’t accept cards which I learned when I didn’t have anything to pay with BUT a card.

Rialto Bridge

The Rialto Bridge is a must-see tourist attraction for when you visit Venice, it offers a magnificent view of the canal beneath the bridge and the city surrounding the bridge. I got a good view as I visited the city when there weren’t that many tourists about, just beware that you’ll struggle a bit getting across the bridge when the months where Venice is most popular for tourists come about, it won’t be much of a problem if you’re tall though.

Peggy Guggenheim Collection

The Peggy Guggenheim was something that I will never forget as it is a beautiful art collection that would impress almost anyone, the place is a bit crowded but that can be fixed if you visit earlier in the morning as the crowds won’t be there to block your view.

There are many pieces of classical art there to observe and it is truly stunning, definitely worth your time to look at and admire the pieces.

Doge’s Palace

The Doge’s palace is a beautiful palace in the San Marco square that has a very unique Gothic style about it. The palace itself is a building that was made for one person who was the Doge of Venice and had a lot of power in early Venice. However, nowadays it is a museum showcasing the early styles of Venice and the how the Venetians lived at the time, especially how royalty lived and the luxury lifestyles that they adopted.

Osteria Ae Sconte

This restaurant’s name translates into “hide and seek” which is something you should take literally as the restaurant itself is a hidden gem and will take a bit of effort to find. The restaurant itself offers a lot of delicious food that will make the process of finding it very much worth it. The restaurant has a lot of seafood so if you like seafood then you will really enjoy this gem.

The Grand Canal

The Grand Canal is a sprawling Canal in the middle of Venice that is basically the main road for transport. there are boat buses that run through the canal and it is the best way to get for point A to point B. there are plenty of shops alongside the canal and many people shop there for some rare things you can only get in Venice. The transport system is the best way to get around Venice and the best way to make getting around easier on your legs.

Caffe Brasilia

By pure luck, I stumbled upon this café and it was a pure treat as the place sells very nice drinks for pretty cheap by Venetian standards. They sell coffees and lattes, all of which are very tasty and worth the price that they are sold for. The prices of the drinks aren’t the best thing about the café though, there are chairs outside that offer a relatively nice view of the old buildings that surround the café.

The Beauty of Venice Discovered

Venice is a brilliant destination with many shops and attractions to keep you busy for weeks, granted you have to have money to afford the expenses that come with it, the hotel is brilliant are accustomed to making tourists feel right at home in the city.

There will always be a lot of tourists Venice too, the city always has lots of tourists all over the place but don’t let the detour you from the distinct beauty the city has to offer to everyone who visits. And just hope it doesn’t flood.