3 Days in Venice: Canals, Palaces and the Lagoon Islands

This three-day route works with the daily rhythm of the lagoon: hitting the famous squares before day-tripper trains arrive at 10:00, retreating into big churches or outer neighbourhoods at midday, and taking to the water at sunset. Buy a 72-hour ACTV vaporetto pass on arrival as explained in our transport guide.

Day 1: St Mark's Square, the Doge's Palace, San Giorgio and the Grand Canal

• 08:30: walk through Piazza San Marco while the arcades are quiet, then enter the Doge's Palace at opening time for the institutional halls and the Bridge of Sighs.
• 11:00: use your pre-booked slot at St Mark's Basilica (checking any backpack beforehand), including the Pala d'Oro and the upstairs Loggia dei Cavalli balcony.
• 13:00: walk ten minutes east into Castello to Campo Santa Maria Formosa and Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo for lunch and the Renaissance marble jewel-box church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli.
• 15:30: take Vaporetto Line 2 one stop from San Zaccaria across the basin to San Giorgio Maggiore and ride the lift up the bell tower for a panoramic view over the entire lagoon.
• 17:30: board Vaporetto Line 1 from Vallaresso (San Marco) all the way up the Grand Canal at dusk as palace chandeliers flick on inside the piano nobile windows.

Day 2: Rialto Morning Market, the Frari, Dorsoduro and Zattere

• 08:15: cross the Rialto Bridge to watch the fishmongers and vegetable barges at the Rialto Market, followed by espresso and pastry at a nearby bar and a traghetto gondola crossing at Santa Sofia to see the Gothic facade of Ca' d'Oro.
• 10:30: walk through San Polo to the Basilica dei Frari (Titian's Assumption) and the Scuola Grande di San Rocco (Tintoretto's masterpiece cycle).
• 13:00: lunch and coffee on lively Campo Santa Margherita in Dorsoduro.
• 14:30: choose between Venetian Old Masters at the Gallerie dell'Accademia or 20th-century art at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, then walk out to the Baroque dome of Santa Maria della Salute at Punta della Dogana.
• 17:30: stroll the sunny waterfront of the Zattere at sunset with a spritz on the wooden pontoon terraces.

Day 3: Murano, Torcello, Burano and a Cannaregio Cicchetti Evening

• 09:00: walk to Fondamente Nove and board ACTV Line 12 across the northern lagoon to Murano for the Glass Museum and the mosaic floor of Santi Maria e Donato.
• 11:30: continue on Line 12 to peaceful Torcello for the 7th-century Byzantine mosaics of Santa Maria Assunta, then hop five minutes across to colourful Burano for a late lagoon seafood lunch and a walk along its painted canals.
• 17:00: return by boat to Fondamente Nove and walk through Cannaregio: visit the gothic church of Madonna dell'Orto (where Tintoretto is buried) and the quiet square of the Old Jewish Ghetto.
• 19:00: finish your trip with a canalside cicchetti and wine crawl along the Fondamenta della Misericordia.