Last visited: Summer 2024
Folks often scoff at Venice. Rightly so, in some parts. Endless mask shops, endless queues, endless Americans. But there is a real beauty about Venice that is worth experiencing and appreciating (before it’s gone).
I first visited Venice on a day trip from Milan, where we travelled by train. I highly recommend this option if you are staying in Northern Italy. The second time I spent a few days there with friends. We stayed in Cannaregio, which was lovely for a less busy, more local vibe.
Two standout restaurants we visited were:
- La Corte 1642
- A small joint with a beautiful patio and a friendly chef, who patiently explained to us that we absolutely should not be cutting his chichetti in half to share. I had a truly excellent guanchiale pasta. He also revived my friend who was incredibly hungover with a shot of grappa
- Al Covino
- Small restaurant serving creative modern European food, predominantly inspired by local dishes. Run by a husband and wife team; excellent quality food. The tasting menu was good value.
Highly recommend the private boat taxi to the airport - great fun and you arrive in style. Well worth the EUR140. We initially tried to take the ferry, and were rushing through town with all our bags to make it. Unfortunately, the ferry was full so we couldn’t even get on. We were running late for our flight so eventually just got the taxi and had a great old italian geezer as our driver who told us “get ready, we’re going to go fast!“. It was an excellent end to our trip.
If we had more time I would have liked to have visited the Peggy Guggenheim museum and Milan and Burano islands.