11:10
stay
Left luggage at Santa Lucia📍 in Google Maps
about €6 per bagin the station
Drop both bags at the station's left-luggage counter. You collect them here again at 14:45.
Timeline
Out at 7:30 on Wednesday and Thursday, back at the flat after Wednesday's lunch, and the train home at 17:00 on Thursday.
Day 1 · Tue
Cannaregio and the Ghetto
Venice👟 ≈ 5,000 stepsTrain at 11:00, check-in from 15:00, so the bags wait at the station while you have lunch and walk the Ghetto. Evening on your own canal, the Misericordia.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →12:00
food
Lunch on the Fondamenta di Cannaregio, in a canal-side trattoria📍 in Google Maps
€25–35 per person15 min walk, flat
From the station, walk 15 minutes (about 2,000 steps) along the Lista di Spagna and over the Guglie bridge to the canal. Plain local trattorias here, with paper menus and a fish of the day. They are cheaper than anywhere near San Marco.
Some small places take cash only, according to reviews. Ask before you order.
13:15
walkphoto ↑
Jewish Ghetto📍 in Google Maps
Venice's Jewish quarter since 1516, the place that gave the word 'ghetto' to other languages. Its houses rise seven and eight storeys because the quarter was not allowed to grow outward.
free to walkmuseum closed Saturdays
Enter from the Fondamenta di Cannaregio through the Sottoportego del Ghetto, 3 minutes from lunch. The main square, Campo del Ghetto Novo, is free and takes about half an hour, including the bronze Holocaust reliefs on the wall.
The Jewish Museum on the campo runs guided synagogue visits several times a day. It has been under long renovation, so check its site for opening and times before you plan an hour there. Kosher bakeries and shops line the Ghetto Vecchio on the way back out.
Allow up to 90 minutes in all. The ground is flat.
14:45
stay
Back for the bags, walk to the flat📍 from 🏁 Your flat, Misericordia
20–25 min, 3 bridges
From the Ghetto it is 10 minutes back to the station. From there, walk 20–25 minutes (about 2,000 steps) with the bags along the Strada Nova side to the flat, arriving around 15:20 for check-in. Check-in from 15:00 is the usual time; confirm it with your host.
18:30
food
Cicchetti bars on the Fondamenta della Misericordia📍 in Google Maps
€20–30 per personno booking
The wine bars line the canal a few minutes from your door, continuing onto the Fondamenta degli Ormesini. They are standing-room bacari with a few outside tables. Locals arrive after work, so you get a spot more easily before 19:00.
A few bars together make dinner. Most stay open until around 23:00, but some close one weekday, so walk the strip and pick what is open.
Day 2 · Wed
San Marco at dawn, Castello after the rest
Veniceup 06:45👟 ≈ 10,500 stepsOut at 7:30 for an empty Rialto bridge and Piazza San Marco, then the Doge's Palace and the Basilica on booked slots. After the midday rest, the quiet lanes of Castello.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →
07:30
walkphoto ↑
Rialto Bridge and Piazza San Marco, empty📍 from 🏁 Piazza San Marco
The city's oldest bridge over the Grand Canal and its main square, both packed with day-trippers from about 10:00.
freeday's first light ~07:10wet paving if acqua alta
From the flat to the Rialto is about 20 minutes on foot, some 2 500 steps, over the Strada Nova. From the bridge to the Piazza is another 10 minutes through the Mercerie, so you are in the square by about 08:00.
Coffee standing at a bar near the Piazza costs about €1.50; sitting at the cafés on the square itself costs €10 or more and adds a music charge.
09:00
sightphoto ↑
Doge's Palace📍 in Google Maps🎟 book palazzoducale.visitmuve.it
The palace of the rulers of the Venetian Republic, its courts and prison, linked by the Bridge of Sighs.
~€30 each, onlinebook the 09:00 slotallow 1½–2 hday's highlight
Opens at 09:00 every day; in November it usually closes at 18:00, worth re-checking.
Take the 09:00 slot on the official site: it is the emptiest hour and the price can be lower than at the door. The standard route takes 1½–2 hours and crosses the Bridge of Sighs into the prisons.
The Secret Itineraries tour (offices, the attic cells) is a separate guided ticket at about €32, only a few slots a day. Book it ahead if you want it.
Large bags go to the free cloakroom; the rooms are cold in November, keep a layer on.
11:00
sightphoto ↑
Basilica di San Marco📍 in Google Maps🎟 book basilicasanmarco.it
Venice's cathedral, known for its gold mosaic ceilings and domes.
€3 timed slot + extrasshoulders and knees coveredno backpacks
Entry is €3 with a timed slot booked online; the Pala d'Oro altar screen and the museum with the terrace over the Piazza cost extra, and the terrace is the one worth paying for.
Backpacks are not allowed inside: leave them at the free Ateneo San Basso deposit round the corner (one hour). Allow 45 minutes to an hour; hours change for services, worth re-checking.
12:15
food
Lunch behind San Zaccaria, in a small osteria off the Riva📍 in Google Maps
€50–70 for two
Take a plain osteria in the lanes behind the church, five minutes from the Piazza: paper menus, house wine by the quarter-litre, half the prices of the waterfront. Then the vaporetto or a 25-minute walk back to the flat to rest.
15:30
walkphoto ↑
Castello: San Francesco della Vigna to the Arsenale gate📍 from 🏁 Arsenale gate
Castello is the residential east end; the Arsenale was the Republic's state shipyard, and its gate with stone lions faces a small canal.
freedark by 17:00
San Francesco della Vigna has a Palladio façade; the church is usually open until about 17:00 and free, worth re-checking. From there to the Arsenale gate is 15 minutes, about 2 000 steps, through laundry-hung lanes; allow an hour and a half with stops.
The Biennale Arte closes in late November and its Giardini pavilions are ten minutes on from the gate, around €30 each, closed Mondays — open today; if you want it, swap this walk for the Giardini.
If you want the BiennaleGo straight to the Giardini at 15:00 instead (about €30 each, usually until 18:00; check labiennale.org).
19:00
food
Dinner on Via Garibaldi, in a neighbourhood trattoria📍 in Google Maps
€60–80 for twobook a table
Castello's one wide street, with plain trattorie where locals eat; ask the flat host or call ahead, as the small places fill by 20:00. Home on line 4.1 or 5.1 from Giardini to Fondamente Nove, then 10 minutes on foot.
If you fall behind
- Drop the Basilica museum and terrace; the main church takes 20 minutes.
- Cut Castello to the Arsenale gate alone, straight from Via Garibaldi before dinner.
Day 3 · Thu
Rialto market, Salute and the Zattere
Veniceup 06:45👟 ≈ 8,000 stepsRialto market at 7:30, check-out by 10:00, bags into the station lockers. Then Dorsoduro by boat and a long lunch before the 17:00 train.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →
07:30
food
Rialto market📍 in Google Maps
Venice's main food market by the Rialto bridge, where restaurants and residents still buy their fish.
fish Tue–Satcoffee ~€1.50 at the barday highlight
Two parts: fruit and vegetable stalls in the open, and the fish market (Pescheria) under the arched hall on the Grand Canal. Thursday is a full fish day; stalls are busiest 8:00–10:00 and pack up around noon.
Floors are wet; wear shoes with grip. Stallholders do not like their fish being touched or photographed close up without asking. Allow an hour, then a 20-minute walk (about 2 000 steps) back to the flat to pack.
10:00
stay
Check-out, bags to left luggage at Santa Lucia📍 from 🏁 Santa Lucia left luggage
from ~€6 per bagcheck-out 10:00, confirm with host
Walk along the Misericordia and Strada Nova to the station, about 20 minutes and 2 000 steps with bags; the left-luggage counter is inside, by platform 14.
10:30
getting there
Vaporetto line 1, Ferrovia to Salute📍 from 🏁 Salute stop
line 1, ~30 min€9.50 single, re-check
Line 1 goes down the whole Grand Canal; sit at the open front or back for the view.
11:00
sightphoto ↑
Santa Maria della Salute and Punta della Dogana📍 in Google Maps
The large white domed church at the mouth of the Grand Canal, the one in most pictures of Venice, built after the plague of 1630.
church freesacristy ~€6closes ~12:00, reopens ~15:00day highlight
Entry to the church is free; the sacristy with its Titian and Tintoretto paintings is a small paid extra. It usually closes for lunch around 12:00 (hours worth re-checking), so go in first.
Then walk two minutes to the tip, Punta della Dogana, for the view across to San Marco and the Doge's Palace. The old customs building there is a contemporary art museum (~€15, open Thursday, closed Tuesdays); skip it unless you want an hour of modern art.
12:30
food
Lunch on the Zattere, in a waterfront restaurant📍 in Google Maps
~€35–50 per person
The Zattere is a long, sunny quay facing the Giudecca, lined with mid-range restaurants with tablecloths and covered terraces on the water. Ask for a table inside or under the heaters in November; take two hours over it, there is no flat to go back to.
14:30
walkphoto ↑
Campo Santa Margherita and San Barnaba📍 in Google Maps
A long, open square near the university, used by students and residents rather than tour groups.
spritz ~€3–5
Walk up from the Zattere through San Barnaba, past the Ponte dei Pugni with the vegetable boat moored under it, about 10 minutes. Bars on the campo have outdoor tables; a spritz here costs half what it does near San Marco.
16:00
getting there
Walk to Santa Lucia, collect bags, train at 17:00📍 from 🏁 Santa Lucia station
train 17:00
About 25 minutes on foot (3 000 steps) via the Tolentini and the Scalzi bridge; bags by 16:30, platform by 16:40.
If you fall behind
- Skip Campo Santa Margherita and walk from the Zattere straight to the station, about 30 minutes.
- If the Salute has closed for lunch, see it from the outside and the tip; it reopens around 15:00, too late for this day.
