Visit Venice - The Don'ts of Visiting Venice, Italy

From Overpriced Gondola Rides to Slippery Streets to Overpriced and Underwhelming Tourist Restaurants this Video Covers What You Shouldn't Do When you Go to Venice, Italy.
Italy is an amazing city, well worth visiting and exploring, but there are a few things tourists and travelers should avoid or not do when they come to Venezia, Italia.
Don't - bring too much luggage, having to lug it over all of those bridges and down long streets is not a fun thing to do,
Don't - be surprised if the locals have different lines than the tourists
Don't - pay for a toilet, go get a Spritz or a Coffee instead. You have to pay for something make it a treat, not a toilet.
Don-t - expect a cheap gondola ride. they are a bit pricey and you will need to pay more to get him to sing.
Don't - forget to explore outside the main island of Venice. There are great places to visit around Venice like the Murano glass factories or farther afield in Padova and Vicenza.
Don't - be surprised if you have walk on risers occasionally when the city floods.
Don't - wear skimpy clothes if you are hoping to get into Basilica San Marco.
There are a lot more don'ts of visiting Venice, but why don't you watch and learn more!
Filmed in Venice, Italy
Copyright Mark Wolters 2017

The SHOCKS of Visiting Italy

The Don'ts of Visiting Italy

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[hyljix]

The final "don't", don't go on a cruise ship, it's literally destroying the buildings because the waves are eroding the rock away

[Phigalilly]

Getting lost on my own in Venice after dark was my favorite part of my entire trip to Europe. It was like a dream. I wandered for hours, loving every moment.

[despicabledog]

My tip as an Italian for foreigners coming to Venice: DON'T act like a tourist and you'll be fine. I know that it's easy to get excited when visiting a new country but if you're not careful you're going to spend all of your money very unwisely.
Italy has been hit very hard by the economic crisis and if you don't know where to go they WILL try to screw you over, simply because tourist cities (Venice and Florence above all) are full of rich and spoiled tourists. Here are my tips:
1)Don't go to bars or restaurants near famous attractions (like St. Mark Square) because they ARE outrageously expensive. We Italians we call these places "tourists bars/restaurants" cause they are made to screw dumb tourists over. We Italians would never go to these places, and you shouldn't neither.
2)Don't take a gondola ride if you can't split the cost 4 or 6 ways.
3)Find accommodation in Murano island, it's a lot less crowded and a LOT cheaper.
4)Don't be that guy that comes to Venice to spend all of his time in St. Mark square, go visit the rest of Venice and Murano island

[martinamiao]

I live really close to Venice, I went there at least 30 times per year and I still get lost but every time I get lost I find some really cool place, so please, get lost, it's part of the experience

[marcoscarpa]

1st Don’t: don’t treat Venice as Disneyland... there are locals living and working

[valentinadona]

Being Venetian, I really appreciate when someone shows such a comprehsion of the city. Not everyone understands and respect Venice, you definitely know and love this place. Thanks :) ❤

[ATaylor]

The real magic of Venice happens away from all of its tourist sights! My advice is to avoid the crowd.

[christinesponem]

We were just in Venice, and were seriously upcharged for a meal when we first arrived. The menu prices seemed reasonable, so we stopped for a nice meal. ALWAYS ASK FOR THE PRICE!! if they offer anything like garlic bread or a nice local wine, ask for the price. The wine ended up costing us €150 a bottle, the fish was €120 with a minimum of 2 orders. I expected the bill to be €120, it was €500. Then the credit card reader wasn't "working" and they offered to escort us to the ATM. Fortunately we were with a local resident and he dealt with it. When we checked online, this particular establishment has a reputation of this behavior. In some places there is a price for not asking ahead of time. That experience aside, I found most restaurants to be honest and worth going to. The name of the restaurant was Ai Do Fradei.

[rmccabe]

Hi! Just a quick note about our trip to Venice this past September. We watched all of your videos and obviously some others including reading everything we could get our hands on. Long story short, we spent the majority of our 7 days in Venice not going to the normal tourist places but walking in no particular direction trying to get lost. WE did many of the big tourist sites but we put our spin on them. Three mornings we woke up at 5:00 and hit the streets by 5:30am. We were two of 5 people in Saint Marks square!! There are two Venice's, one calm and incredibly quiet and one that's full of thousands of people on a mission. We found so many tiny family restaurants that were actually highlights of our trip. Talking, as best we could to the owners who are so proud of their business and we never felt anything but warmly welcomed. Venice surpassed our wildest dreams of what it would be like and we'll be back same time next September too. Your advice, suggestions and enthusiasm greatly reduced a lot of anxiety that my wife had about being in a "foreign" land. Keep doing what you do so well!!

[monjardin]

If you want to eat well, with the locals and at a reasonable prize look for "Bacari". They are small shops, with just few tables, they look like small pubs and serve the so called "cicchetti" which are many different kinds of appetizer/finger food. Each appetizer coasts between 1, 50€ and 2€. Some examples of cicchetti: croutons with smoked salmon and cheese, croutons with different kinds of ham or salami, or with grilled vegetables, croutons with creamed cod or anchovies and onion, fried zucchini's flowers stuffed with mozzarella cheese and anchovies :D, meatballs, fried cod, mini hamburgers...these are just few examples of what you can find! :D Just few suggestions:1) look for the bacari in the hidden roads (no need to go super far from the main tourist attractions, but maybe don't go 2 minutes far from piazza San Marco), for example there are many good bacari not far from the the jewish quarter. 2) bacari are very small and get closed early between 9-9.30 p.m. so, if you go at 8 pm you may have problems finding a table, I suggest to go before that time. I usually took 4 cicchetti and a glass of white wine, the average bill was 12€!! Of course, if you eat more cicchetti you will spend more :D anyway, the Bacari is a highly recommended experience!

[travis]

I was always skeptical of his videos thinking it was random BS. But after traveling to Venice and a few other places, this guy really does his research and he is speaking the truth.

[eliskakordulova]

The "getting lost" thing is so accurate, I got completely lost as well. I stood in a corner for at least 15 minutes, wondering where I am, studying the map, then gave up, went along the street and found out I was just like 100m away from my hostel. The narrow streets all look so similar!

[CP]

We spent a week in Venice... rented apartment... just off the Grand Canal... loved every minute of it.

And yes, wandering the back "streets" is a lot of the fun...

[ltcm]

I will offer a few tips of mine:
1. Stay within Venice at night. Not Mestre or the Mainland. Because you want to see a beautifully lit up and quiet San Marco at midnight when all daytime tourists are gone.
2. Get a museum pass and use their washrooms during visits. You can time it so that you can use the washroom again at the restaurant next, then at another museum again.
3. If all else fail, there is one single McDonalds in Venice where everyone is using its washroom for free, if you do not mind the lineup of course.
4. Pick a hotel that is nearby a major water bus station so even if you have to, you do not need to carry your bags too far.
5. Visit Santa Maria Della Salute. Also the Academia on the way too.
6. Take the Secret Tour itinerary from the Duce Palace. Costs extra but well worth it.
7. Take the organized tour offered for the Basilica as well and you can avoid the line up.
8. Take the gondola to cross the Grand Canal standing up, just like the locals do. Quite a few stations you can try this out, just search for it. Much cheaper than the expensive ride.

[LeonardoMizar]

Hi Wolter, if you are now in Venice I am one of the few Venetians survived, I live in S.Margherita square and if you want to take a spritz with me and other venetians to learn something new tell me and it will be my pleasure to meet you.
Tonight I'll be at Filo's bar in s.giacomo.
I tell you this because I saw lots of your videos and I think that the real tourism is when you can live togheter with the locals.
Bye!

[johnhaines]

I'd add - Don't go in the Summer. I've been there twice out of season, April and early June, and it was busy but not overwhelmingly so.
I think it's wonderful. It has a sort of magic.

[janinejohnson]

#12 - When walking in narrow streets or over busy bridges with crowds of people, don't stop suddenly blocking the way for others behind you so you can take a picture. Think of it as being in traffic in your car - you wouldn't suddenly come to a complete stop and block the cars behind you. Some people are not tourists with all the time in the world - they are trying to get to work or go home. Step to the side, out of their way if you want to stop.

[DirectionlessStudent]

Getting lost in Venice is actually a "must do."

You're on an island -- or more accurately a bunch of tiny ones. Point being, if you just keep wandering you will eventually hit either the Grand Canal or the larger lagoon and at that point it will be easy to get your bearings.

Venice was made to be walked in order to experience its charm. There is this startling contrast that happens when you wander lost through a bunch of shadowy, cooler narrow streets and alleys only to unexpectedly emerge onto a busy piazza or wide avenue along the Grand Canal and be bathed in warm, Mediterranean sunlight. 😮😮😎 The constant interplay of light and shadow is a part of Venice's architectural and artistic charm -- it's a major part of what makes Venice so unique and if you are limited in time it would be better to spend it experiencing that interplay than to go into the many museums.

I have been fortunate to travel all over this great world in my life and I tell you truly that there is no place like Venice for wandering aimlessly -- it's almost like it was built for that.

[fudzzz]

My wife and I are planning to leave for our long overdue honeymoon to Europe in November and we've gotten addicted to your videos. Thanks so much. We have 2 days in Venice as part of the itinerary and were so happy to see you just uploaded this! Very useful advice, salut!

[whitetyger]

As someone's who's had the pleasure of visiting Venice, I can confirm all of this!