🇮🇹 Italy · Europe
Venice
No cars, 400 bridges, and light on water painters have chased for centuries.
citycultureslow☀ best: Apr – Jun & Sep – Oct
SHOESTRING
€69/day
dorms, street plates, transit
COMFY
€122/day
private room, sit-down meals, a treat
FLASH
€243/day
nice hotel, good dinners, no maths
🧮 Trip maths
€851 total
What Venice costs, day to day
🛵 Getting around
Vaporetto (water bus)
Water taxi
Traghetto (gondola ferry)
Vaporetto single (75 min)€8.2
24-hour vaporetto pass€22
48-hour pass€30
Alilaguna airport boat€13
🛏 Stays
Per night
Hostel dorm (Giudecca/Mestre)€26–€43
Airbnb 1-BR€87–€148
3-star hotel€104–€174
Canal-view boutique€217–€434
Monthly
Studio€1,042–€1,562
1-BR, decent area€1,302–€1,996
🛒 Groceries & daily life
Esselunga / Coop — quality at fair prices
Lidl / Eurospin — the discounters
Mercato comunale — produce + lunch counters
Water 1.5 L€0.3–€0.6
Milk 1 L€1.2–€1.6
Eggs ×10€2.4–€3
Bread loaf€1.3–€1.9
Rice 1 kg€1.6–€2.3
Chicken breast 1 kg€6.9–€8.7
Bananas 1 kg€1.5–€1.8
Local beer 0.5 L (shop)€1–€1.5
🍜 Eating out
Cicchetti (each)€1.3–€2.6
Tramezzino + ombra wine€3.5–€6.1
Risotto al nero€12–€19
Osteria seafood dinner€26–€48
Michelin lagoon dinner€104–€217
🎡 Things to do — with kids
Doge's Palace€26
Murano glass + Burano boat day€0–€8.7
Naval History Museum€4.3–€8.7
🌙 Things to do — grown-ups
St Mark's Basilica + terrace€2.6–€13
Gondola (30 min, shared cost)€69–€78
Bàcaro cicchetti crawl€17–€35
Peggy Guggenheim Collection€14
🌤 Climate
Day °CSea °CRain
Best: Apr – Jun & Sep – Oct · Wet: year-round
Summer is hot, humid and mobbed; 'acqua alta' floods can hit Nov–Jan. Spring/autumn are ideal.
✈️ Getting there
RyanairWizz AireasyJetITA AirwaysVoloteaLondon€22–€65
Paris€26–€69
Athens€35–€82
Treviso for Ryanair/Wizz (bus 40 min); Marco Polo for the rest (Alilaguna boat or bus into town).
🏧 ATMs & money
Fees: Bank 'bancomat' machines add no local surcharge; independent boxes (Euronet and friends) at stations and sights do.
Limits: Commonly €250–500 per pull.
Best machines: Intesa SanpaoloUniCreditBPER
Withdraw at real bank branches, always in euros. Skip airport/tourist exchange counters entirely — rates are ceremonial robbery.
🩺 Health & safety
Vaccines: Routine only.
Health: Tap water is excellent — Milan's is alpine. Pharmacies (farmacia) handle minor everything. August heat in Florence is real: museums at noon, piazzas at dusk.
Tap water: ✅ Excellent everywhere — Rome's 'nasoni' street fountains are free, safe and delicious. Refill constantly.
Safety: Violent crime toward visitors: statistically tiny. Pickpocketing near Milano Centrale, the Duomo and Florence's buses is professional-grade — money in front pockets, backpacks worn forward on transit, and you're invisible to them. That's the whole briefing.
Emergency: 112
🌱 Vegan, veggie & gluten-free
Plant-based: Pasta al pomodoro, pizza marinara, contorni (side vegetables), and the whole aperitivo spread — vegetarian Italy is effortless; vegan needs 'senza formaggio'.
Gluten-free: The pasta country is also a coeliac leader: 'senza glutine' pizza and pasta are certified (look for AIC signs) in most cities.
'Senza glutine' · 'vegano' is understood everywhere north of clichés.
🛂 Visa & entry
This is a Schengen-area country. Most US, UK, EU, Canadian, Australian, NZ, Brazilian, Japanese and Korean passports enter visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the whole Schengen zone. From 2025 the EU's ETIAS pre-authorisation applies to visa-free non-EU visitors — check before you fly.
Rules change — always verify with an official source for your nationality before you book.
💬 Traveller tips & reports
Cicchetti standing beats sitting — Duck into any bàcaro, point at the little toppings on bread (€1.50 each), grab an 'ombra' of wine (€2–4), eat at the counter. Three or four and a glass = dinner, for the price of one seated pasta.
@ombra.hour · Jun '26 · ▲ 141