Best Time to Visit Venice

Surrounded by water, Venice has its own microclimate: humid in high summer, misty and atmospheric in winter, and at its sharpest and brightest in late March to May and late September to November.

Spring (late March to May) brings mild walking days, wisteria spilling over brick garden walls in Dorsoduro and longer evenings before the summer humidity sets in. From May through November every year, the Giardini and the historic shipyards of the Arsenale in Castello host the Venice Biennale (alternating between the International Art Exhibition in odd-numbered years and the Architecture Biennale in even-numbered years), opening dozens of otherwise closed Renaissance palaces across the city as free national pavilions.

Summer (June to August) is hot, humid and busy along the Rialto to San Marco corridor, though the sea breeze on the outer Zattere promenade and the Lido beach helps. On the third weekend of July, the Festa del Redentore (Feast of the Redeemer) builds a temporary floating pontoon bridge across the Giudecca Canal to Palladio's Il Redentore church and lights up St Mark's Basin with a midnight Saturday fireworks display watched from thousands of decorated boats. Late August brings the Venice Film Festival on the Lido.

Autumn (September to November) offers golden light across the lagoon and the first seasonal dishes (soft-shell moeche crabs and wild lagoon duck). On the first Sunday of September, rowers in 16th-century dress race down the Grand Canal during the Regata Storica. Late autumn and winter can bring high tides (acqua alta), though the offshore MOSE flood barriers now hold back severe surges, and raised walkways (passerelle) keep low-lying St Mark's Square passable during medium tides.

Winter (December to February) is magical if you dress for damp cold using our packing list. Aside from the two-week spectacle of Venice Carnival in February, January and December give you empty bridges, quiet churches and clear snowy views of the Dolomite peaks across the northern lagoon.