Impressions From Our Trip To Venice, Italy

We spent four nights in Venice on our recent trip to France and Italy. We stayed at two hotels, the St. Regis Venice and the Gritti Palace Venice. I wanted to share my impressions of Venice in this post.

I traveled to Venice only once when I was a kid, but the last time I was there was more than 20 years ago. I felt like I was in Venice for the first time.

Venice is unbelievably magical

Venice is probably one of the most recognizable places in the world. Venice is such a special place that it almost doesn't feel real. It's small, but there's so much to see, and it's so perfect that it almost seems fake.

It is easy to get around Venice for people with good mobility. The canals are all connected by bridges and paths.

When we arrived in the city, we took a cruise through the city on a boat.

There are so many things to see in the city. At every corner there is something new and beautiful, and at some point I had to stop taking pictures.

We lucked out with when we visited

Traveling to Venice in late March can be risky. We had perfect weather for three of the four days we were there. It was in the 60s during the day, and it was sunny all the time.

Venice felt pretty empty when we visited. Venice is overcrowded in the summer so to be able to visit when it was empty was a treat.

In the summer, Venice can get really hot, so I will take the city in the low 60s over the 80s.

On our first night in Venice, we were jetlagged and decided to go on a late night walk. The city has a completely different feel at night.

Venice has great Italian food, but…

Great dining experiences are one thing that many people like about traveling. Don't expect Venice to be like Milan, if you like great food.

• Venice has phenomenal Italian restaurants; of course Italian food is tasty, but sometimes it’s nice to get a bit of variety, especially if you’re staying for a longer period
• Venice doesn’t exactly have a great international dining scene, so if you’re expecting world class international cuisine, you might feel a bit restricted in Venice; I’m sure there are some good non-Italian hole-in-the-wall options, but based on Googling and asking concierges, I couldn’t come up with many great options

If you are planning on staying in Venice for a longer period of time, having varied dining experiences is important. I'm sure OMAAT readers will correct me if I missed all the great non-Italian restaurants.

We want to return to Venice (surprisingly?)

I think there are some places you are excited to visit once, but don't feel the need to return to, while there are other places you want to visit multiple times. There is nothing wrong with a destination being in the former category since there are lots of places to visit.

I was expecting to be happy about visiting Venice again, but wouldn't want to go back. We would like to go back at some point, maybe even in the winter. We decided this could be a fun place to go over Christmas because we like the idea of traveling over Christmas, but not to places that are way overcrowded.

Even though we can't put our finger on it, there was something we loved about the experience. We lucked out with amazing weather, Venice was quiet, and we didn't think it would be our favorite place.

Bottom line

I was pleasantly surprised to visit Venice for the first time since I was a child. Venice is so popular because it is unlike anything else. We enjoyed the combination of the scenery and walking opportunities.

I think I would have had a different experience if I had visited in the summer. The risk of rain and cold weather is part of going in March.

What do you think about Venice?