I have been friends with Laura Henderson (a.k.a. Hendo) for nearly a decade. She is potentially the most generous and adventurous person I know so when she suggested we take a trip together I knew it would be fantastic. We narrowed our potential destinations down using a very simple formula: somewhere we could easily fly to from Edinburgh, somewhere warm and sunny, somewhere not too expensive. And surprisingly that came out to be Venice (you may not have thought that would be the case but clearly the flight prices swayed us!). We booked for the end of May which I think is almost just the right timing – the weather was lovely and warm, it wasn’t too crazy busy and also the Venice Biennale had just opened.

We flew with Ryanair from Edinburgh, it is around a 2.5 hour journey but sadly the downside of cheap Ryanair flights is landing no where near where you want to be, in our case Treviso Airport which is around 40km from the island of Venice. If you chose to fly with a more, shall we say, upmarket operator you will likely land at Venice Marco Polo Airport which is just a short boat ride to the island. For us though it was a 40 minute bus ride from the airport. There are no vehicles in Venice apart at the end of the causeway to the mainland, so this is where the bus and train station are located. From here you can jump onto one of the vaporetto (water bus) which service the various islands which make up Venice. If you think of their route map a bit like the map of the London Underground, with different colours meaning different services – here is link to the map and timetable (2021). These are so handy and make it much easier to get around, it can be a long walk otherwise. We hopped on one from the bus station to Arsenale which was near where we were staying. It was at this point that Hendo announced she gets very sick on any kind of boat – not the best when we were in a city on water but she took it like a boss and survived every one.

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We had a quick food and drink stop on the sea front, obviously a Spritz (Aperol spritz) and bruschetta, we met our Airbnb host and checked into our apartment. Picking an apartment is tricky in Venice as it is all so crammed in that google does not show all the streets or alleys, but we knew we wanted to be away from the tourist crowds and Arsenale was perfect for this. Our apartment, which was perfect, looked onto the Naval Museum and was next to Campo de L’arsenal which has a lovely little bakery where we had breakfast each day.

We had most of the afternoon to explore and decided to go on a walking tour as we both agree this is a great way to get the feel of a place. We joined the Venice Free Walking Tour and I can’t recommend it enough! We started in Campo Santo Stephano and walked around much of the local area including St Mark’s Square, Campo Santa Maria Formosa and finished at the T Fondaco rooftop terrace. The tour took 2 hours+ and our guide was very knowledgeable – he was an architecture student at Venice university so we got on great! Finishing at the roof top terrace was brilliant. It is free to visit (it is on top of a department store) but you usually have to book at least a day in advance for a space so to just walk up was a real treat. We had a great dinner that night at Traverna Scalinetto which is just off Campo Bandiera e Moro where there are a lot of restaurants.

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The next day we knew we wanted to explore wider Venice, but at relaxed pace. We had done a little research but mostly just wanted to wonder around, so we thought our best bet was take a water bus to the west end and work our way back. We walked through Arsenale up to the northern edge of Venice to the vaporetto stop Celestia – top tip make sure you buy your vaporetto tickets before going to a stop as there are often no ticket machines so we had to double back and find a newsagents to get tickets. The vaporetto routes along this north edge are worth a trip as you get a good view north to the other islands such as Burano and also the cemetary Cimetro di San Michele. As it’s a bit more on the open water it is a bit more rough, but once again Hendo survived, though was happy with the idea of walking back! We got off just at the end of the north edge at S. Alvise stop as we wanted to explore the north eastern corner of the island. This area is very residential and a lovely area to wander through as it feels quiet and relaxing compared to the central tourist areas. There are some lovely small bars which pepper the streets especially along Fondamenta dei Ormesini. We stopped at Bierria Zanon which has the best array of cicchetti which are small bits of bread with delicious toppings. We sat on the side of the canal in the sun with our cicchetti and spritz and watched the world go by.

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We continued to walk down through the western end of Venice, through the shopping streets of Rio Tera S. Leonardo and past the train station again. We had been told of another bar with great cicchetti so we headed to Bacareto da Lele which is a tiny bar on the corner of Campo dei Tolentini. It was crammed with Italians so we knew it was a good find, and with 50 cent glasses of wine we knew we had hit the jackpot! Next door was a separate cicchetti stand so Hendo and I divided and conquered with one going for wine and one for food – it was very successful! Incredibly cheap but brilliant tasting. We sat on the church steps and devoured our feast.

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After our leisurely lunch we walked south and literally stumbled (not due to the wine!) across the Banksy mural which turned out to only be a day old. It was exciting to see, especially with the buzz of the Biennale in the air. It was a very hot day by then so we had a couple more pit stops as we worked our way back home, one in Campo San Barnaba and also pick up a tiramisu from the famous I Tre Mercanti – the best tiramisu in Venice!

Our final full day in Venice we had ear marked to go to the Biennale. The year we went it was the art Biennale so we knew it would be interesting. We went along to Giardini della Biennale, you pay an entry fee and that allows you into the park and all of the permanent pavilions. The park itself is impressive so I would recommend a visit even when the Biennale isn’t on. Each country has their own pavilion which is used to house their entries into the Biennale. We explored the park for the morning, but there are also other temporary pavilions dotted around the city which we visited too. Some installations were a bit beyond my understanding, but overall it was very impressive.

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The rest of our trip we spent walking around the city. We ventured over to the island opposite, Giudecca to have a drink at the Hilton Molino Stucky Venice. This is a very nice hotel, with a rooftop swimming pool and bar, with views out over Venice. It isn’t cheap, we only had one drink, but it was worth it for the view.We sat there and watched the sunset on our last night which was a perfect end to our trip.

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We loved our trip to Venice, it was the perfect blend of sightseeing, culture, food and fun. Plus Hendo was amazing company, we can’t wait to start planning our next trip.