Travel Guide | Venice, Italy
I know it has been a hot minute since my first blog post for this series (thanks for bearing with me!), but I am so excited to share all about our quick two night stay in Venice, Italy. I will be totally honest by saying that Venice might have been the stop I was least excited about…at first. I had heard so many things going into this stop that “you can just do it all in a day” or “skip Venice, it isn’t worth it” but let me tell you, we LOVED Venice and I highly recommend going if you are ever given the chance. Venice is in fact a sinking island and there could be a time where it is no longer there to visit. So, if you are ever presented with the opportunity to travel there, I cannot recommend it more. It definitely took us by surprise with how much we fell in love. Two days was plenty of time to feel like we got to experience all that it has to offer. So take that for what you will! Let’s get into it.
Travel from Paris to Venice
Let’s kick things off by chatting a little bit about how we got to Venice from Paris. This was one of the only transfers where we had to take a plane vs. the train (aside from arriving in Paris and leaving Rome to come back home). Overall, it was pretty seamless. We did have to show our negative COVID tests that we had taken in Paris in order to board the plane to Italy. Again, depending on when you travel to Europe, you will just need to double check that area’s COVID protocols for what you will need upon entry. It was pretty much changing daily back when we went in September, so it could be totally different now. I have included our travel agent’s information at the very end of this post because we couldn't have had such a seamless trip without her. Every detail was perfect, despite the current COVID circumstances. I cannot recommend Kim and her agency more!
On the taxi boat on our way to our hotel!
Once we got to Venice, we got our luggage from baggage claim and met our driver to transport us to our hotel. Little did we know (Coop and I were both shocked by this!) we would be getting to our hotel by TAXI BOAT! It was so much fun. I shared a little behind the scenes of our boat ride to our hotel over on my Venice highlight on my Instagram. It was also a great way to see the island as we circled around to the dock by our hotel.
Where We Stayed | Hotel Savoia & Jolanda
We absolutely loved our short stay in Venice. This hotel was right off the water and right by the transportation dock to catch a ferry, a taxi boat, etc., so getting to and from our hotel with our luggage was a breeze once we got off our boat and once we needed to head to our next destination. If you have ever been to Venice, you know there are a ton of connecting bridges and steps, so this was a blessing.
Hotel Savoia & Jolanda in Venice, Italy
We got a complimentary breakfast during our stay, which was wonderful. This hotel was also around (and maybe even less than) a five minute walk from St. Mark’s Square, so we were in a pretty centralized spot, which was really nice too.
All in all, we weren’t in our hotel room THAT much anyways, so keep that in mind too if you are ever planning a trip to Venice. You do so much walking and exploring, you are barely in your room, but I loved our little hotel. Anyone who greets me with a bottle of champagne gets an A+ from me - hah! Link to our hotel’s website can be found here.
Venice Itinerary
Day One
On our first day we got into Venice late morning from Paris, so we still had a good chunk of our first day to explore the island and we did just that, EXPLORED! Once we got checked into our room, we quickly freshened up and started to venture our way around the island. We started out by checking out St. Mark’s Square and grabbing a quick lunch at an outdoor cafe. There are TONS of restaurants right there surrounding the interior of the square and they are all good, so you can’t go wrong and the people-watching there is AMAZING - hah! St. Mark’s Square is also known for its pigeons (which was interesting to say the least lol). People were actually paying to take pictures with them. It was slightly bizarre but again, that is what makes Venice, Venice!
Our first day we basically just walked around for a few hours and explored. Let me tell you, it is easy to get lost. There’s so many hidden churches and stairways and everywhere you look something new catches your eye. Again, I know a lot of people will say you can do it all in a day, but I think you need at least two days to truly enjoy all it has to offer. There are so many cool nooks and crannies on the island and we would have never found them if we were only there for one night!
For dinner that night we got cocktails at the St. Regis Venice Hotel and their view of the Grand Canal is breathtaking (also on my Instagram highlight and pictured below). We then went to dinner at probably one of our top five favorite dinner spots from the entire two week trip at a restaurant called, Bistrot de Venise. If you are EVER in Venice, I highly recommend it. We sat outside in a little alleyway by candlelight and it was just so romantic and their food was PHENOMENAL.
Day Two
For our second full day there, we woke up early and decided to catch the ferry to visit Burano Island, which was about a 45 minute ferry ride away. Highly highly recommend visiting Burano if you can. You can walk around the island in just a couple hours and you're done. Not a huge island but worth it to check out the colorful houses and grab some gelato while you are at it 😉
Once we got back, we freshened up and grabbed happy hour back in St. Mark’s Square. It was then where we discovered that Italy gives you snacks at happy hour and this is something I wish we did here in America. After a cocktail or two, we decided we wanted to do a gondola ride before dinner during sunset. I know it might seem cheesy or whatever, but please do not skip doing it! It was SO SO romantic and honestly a memory I will never forget. We took a bottle of champagne on our ride and got to enjoy seeing the island in a different way being on the canals.
We ended up walking around some more after dinner, did a little shopping at Zara (I am who I am 😂) and ended up grabbing some pizza and wine to top off our night at Taverna San Lio. There are so many amazing looking restaurants with outdoor seating, you can’t go wrong with any spot you choose. However, my main piece of advice when picking out any restaurant when you are in Italy is to find a spot that doesn’t have a TON of options. A restaurant that has a smaller menu is going to be AMAZING vs. one that has like 300 things on their menu. Trust me on this. Again, you can’t go wrong, but the gems are the ones with a smaller menu–you know you’re getting something that the chef specializes in.
Traveling from Venice, Italy to Sorrento, Italy
Again, our travel agent had coordinated all the travel for us from our hotels to our next destinations, so that was so nice to not have to worry about. Because we were staying in Italy for the remainder of our trip, we did not have to get another COVID test in order to get to Sorrento. On our last morning there, we took a boat taxi where they took us to the Venice train station. From there we took the train to Sorrento which was about a five hour trip. That was my first time taking a train and it was SO nice and SO affordable. I wish we had a train system like they do in Europe - it would make travelling so much more fun and affordable for everyone.
If you have any questions about Venice specifically, please feel free to email me or you can DM me over on Instagram. I know this was a shorter post, but I am already excited for my next blog post on Sorrento. Happy New Year, friends! I hope your first week back to work has been wonderful so far.
Travel Agent Information
Kimberly Shannon
Acendas Travel - Kansas City
kimberly.shannon@acendas.com
With love,
~Katie