Venice Day Trip: One Day Itinerary

What better way to add another destination to your European vacation than a day trip? Venice is a quick 2-hour high-speed train ride away from Florence. If you’re considering a day trip to Venice, it is doable, although it does make for a long day. Keep reading to find out how we spent 9 hours in Venice!

If you’re coming from Florence, book a high-speed train around 7:30 AM to the Stazione di Venezia Santa Lucia. This should have you arriving in Venice around 9:30 AM. 

You will be starting your walking tour at the Rialto Bridge. To get here, you can either walk or take the vaporetto (water taxi) from the train station. We opted to walk, which took about 20 minutes. We saw a few recommendations to stop at the Basilica Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. This is only slightly out of the way, but I still don’t recommend the stop. Get to the Rialto Bridge around 10:30. Take photos and browse the Rialto market (shops on and around the bridge).  

This is the only time you will be near Suso, so even though you’ll be eating lunch soon, I highly recommend stopping for a scoop. 

PHOTO of Suso

If you’d like, from here you can walk to the Librairie Acqua Alta (7-minute walk). This is on all of the must-do lists for Venice, but we thought it was overrated. If you like browsing old bookstores, you’ll probably enjoy it. Most people in our group just thought it was an overhyped Instagram location that didn’t smell the best. 

PHOTO of library 

Now is a good time to get some lunch. I recommend Ristorante la Piazza for great pizza, pasta, and calzones! 

From lunch, walk just 5 minutes to the Riva degli Schiavone. This is a path right along the water. You can plug Doge’s Palace into your maps app and head in that direction. Walk around Doge’s Palace towards the water and cross the bridge, look to your left and you will see the Bridge of Sighs. Walk as far as you’d like, you can even get an Aperol spritz to-go along the path. Hotel Ca Formenta is a 12-minute walk (about halfway) or you can walk to the end to Giardini della Biennale (about 20 minutes one way). When you’re done, turn around and head back the way you came to Doge’s Palace. 

Continue towards Piazza San Marco and get in line for St. Mark’s Basilica. You could do the basilica before the waterfront path if the line doesn’t look too long. We did find the line moved fairly quickly for how daunting it looked. Make sure you are wearing pants or shorts that are at the knees. My sister and I were not allowed in with our dresses even though our shoulders were covered. They were very strict and we saw many other people get kicked out of line. You can purchase tickets on-site or ahead of time with skip-the-line passes at www.st-marks-basilica.com.

My sister and I paid to go up St. Mark’s Campanile since we were not able to go into the basilica. The views were great but we didn’t feel like it was worth the 10 euro price tag. We went during May 2022 and they were only doing elevator service, no stairs, due to Covid-19. 

After the basilica, wander around Piazza San Marco. Watch out for the birds! My whole family got pooped on. 

If you have time (it should be around 2 PM at this point), I highly recommend purchasing tickets for Doge’s Palace. You only need about an hour and it was fun to explore. 

Head to Ponte dell’Accademia for a great photo spot.

Next, walk towards rio degli Ognissanti. This is a picturesque area that was fun to walk around. On the way there, stop for a gondola ride on one of the side canals. It should be cheaper here than getting one on the grand canal. We paid 80 euros for 30 minutes. You’re able to fit 5 people into one gondola. 

Now it should be around 5 PM. Spend whatever time you have left before you need to head back towards the train station at a café for apertivo.  

We booked a 6:30 PM train back to Florence and felt like we were not stressed for time, we actually felt like we had extra time at the end of the day. Arrive back in Florence around 9 PM and either go out to eat or order takeout for dinner!

PHOTO

I hope you enjoyed this Venice day trip itinerary. Please note that the people of Venice do NOT recommend day tripping to their city. They are overrun with cruise ships and day trippers and Venice is supposed to be special in the evening when all the crowds dissipate. They are supposedly going to start charging an entry fee for day trippers and cruisers in January 2023. However, if this is the only way you will be able to see Venice, it is totally doable and worth it!