6.Venice Art Tours

A few tips about visiting Venice...best times, flooding, restaurants, etc.

When to Visit. The busiest months of the year, i.e., with the most tourists, are June, September and October, especially September and the first three weeks of October. Not only do foreigners come in droves, but so do Italians, especially from the local countryside, especially on weekends. While the weather may be more comfortable, the discomfort caused by the crowds is far worse than hot weather. Also, in mid to late October we can get acqua alta - flooding - which makes St Mark's Square and other places a disaster area for the 4 hours of the flooding, if it happens.

November traditionally sees acqua alta (high water) which may happen 15 times per month or as few as 5. It lasts for 4 hours and since the crowds are gone, it is manageable. Approximately 65% of Venice floods. In November, you'll probably need wellies - rubber or plastic boots, but you can get them here. Check with your hotel about acqua alta activity immediately before coming: you don't want to be stuck at the train station without boots when you arrive and see acqua alta. Or look at this website http://www2.comune.venezia.it/maree/  for the graph. When the apex of the curve exceeds 105cm or so, you have flooding. On 31 October 2004, we had 137cm and the city was a disaster area, especially for tourists.

Alitalia Airline. Seems that most of my customers who take Alitalia have their luggage lost in transit. Carry an extra shirt in your carry on.

Restaurants. All the guide books tout dozens of restaurants, many quite well known. but be aware that Venice is not Paris, or London, or New York, i.e., no great restaurants. Most visitors come to Venice for 2 or 3 days and the restaurants which serve them - and most customers are tourists - have no obligation to establish any a  relationship with a customer and the food and service reflect this. Especially offensive are the big names which are very very expensive and often serve only adequate food. Service standards here are not on a par with America. Since you have to eat, I recommend the trattorias which, while never scoring 10 out of 10, will provide decent meals at relatively reasonable prices, considering that Venice is the most expensive city in Italy. Most trattoria offer a house wine.

Medical: If you need emergency assistance go to the hospital with your passport. Basically no insurance card needed for emergency care. If you need  pharmaceuticals (antibiotics, volteran, blood pressure pills, etc.) just walk into any farmacia and they will sell to you over the counter - assuming you look normal.

Tipping: Proper restaurants add a service charge - usually 12.5%. That is the tip. Never ask the waiter if he gets that, he'll say no, which is true: waiters here are on salary. However, if the service was good, it is reasonable but not mandatory, to leave a few more Euros. If the bill arrives with no service charge (say it's handwritten) then the tip should be at the 12.5%. Most restaurants charge a cover charge of something like €2.50 in addition. Do not tip taxi drivers and gondoliere. At coffee bars, if you stand at the bar an espresso costs 80 cents. Sit down and the cost is €2.The extra is the bar's service charge. Restaurants which accept credit cards will not allow you to put a tip on the card.

Money. Traveller's Cheques are generally not accepted (except at the Amex office or in some hotels). However, there are hundreds of ATMs in Venice. Dollars are useless here.

Transportation within Venice:  Walk, there are 3 bridges across the Grand Canal. Take a vaporetto (waterbus). Waterbuses are expensive (prices doubled one year ago). Click here to see the agency's fare schedule If you are using a waterbus to simply cross the Grand Canal, it will cost €1.80 as opposed to the €6.50 here normal fare.   Taxis cost about €55 within town.

Transportation from airport and train station.

Arriving by air. There are four methods of getting into Venice...

1. Water taxi. Cost €95 (cash) to your hotel. Will accommodate up to 12 people with luggage, but will not make only one dropoff. If you wish to economise, organise a group of fellow passengers before you get to the taxi desk and agree with them on a central dropoff point. Taxi desk is out of arrivals, make left, see desk about 50 metres.  After organising with the clerk, take free shuttle bus to the dock (4 minutes) and get water taxi - takes 35 or so  mins to Venice. Ask him to take you down the Grand Canal.(He'll probably ask for another €10, but it's worth it for the views.)

2. Land bus (blue ATVO). tickets and as above but cost €3. 15 minute ride to Piazzale Roma, Venice's bus station. When you exit the land bus look across the station and you will see the ACTV office, that's the waterbus. Take a water bus (vaporetto) down the grand canal to a stop near your hotel. Tickets cost €6.50 per 60 minutes, see for the full schedule. Takes from 15 to 40 mins depending on hotel location. You will probably want the no.1 going to the right - down the Grand Canal.

3. Water bus (ALILAGUNA) from airport. Get tickets at the same office at the airport. Take shuttle bus to dock. Costs approx €14, takes 50 mins and arrives at S Marco. There is a Gold (direct) Alilaguna service which costs €25.     Click for info about Alilaguna. http://www.alilaguna.it/

4. Land taxi...takes you to Piazzale Roma, costs about €27. The least advisable choice.

Arriving at train station (Ferrovia).

1. Take a water taxi to your hotel. Costs €55 (cash) for the taxi.

2. Take vaporetto (waterbus) going left down Grand Canal. See ticket prices here http://www.actv.it/english/navigazione.php?pagina=tariffe_vaporetto