Glass-blowing in Murano

Where to go and what to see in Venice to get the most from your trip – a 3-day itinerary from destination expert and travel writer Nicky Swallow.

Where to go and what to see in Venice to get the most from your trip – a 5-day itinerary from destination expert and travel writer Nicky Swallow.

Crammed with picturesque canals, Renaissance palazzos and artistic masterpieces, this unique and alluring city is heaven-on-earth for art lovers and romantics.

Surely the most exquisite, beguiling and opulent place of worship in Italy, St Mark’s cathedral was built to satisfy the wildest dreams of the Doges and is rich in glittering Byzantine mosaics, Gothic carvings and sumptuous treasures.

It’s huge, and often crowded, but St. Mark’s square is one of the most emblematic spots in the city and is lined with over-priced cafés that offer live music. But out of season, on a foggy winter’s evening or at dawn, it’s undeniably atmospheric.

A glittering monument to the Golden Age of Venice – ducal, divine and downright decadent. From Casanova’s rooftop escapade to the twisty tale behind Tintoretto’s enormous Paradise paintings, these walls have seen Venetian history at its most decadent and devious.

The Grand Canal is Venice’s busy, trafficked high street and an essential part of Venetian everyday life. Its winding two-miles of double waterfront is lined with magnificent palazzi and is crossed by four bridges.

Way off-piste in northern Cannaregio, Madonna ‘of the Garden’ (1399-1473) is stuffed with paintings by the great Venetian master who is also buried here along with his son and daughter. A highlight is his beautiful painting of St. Agnes in the Contarini Chapel.

Venice’s original Jewish ghetto dates from 1516 and is a fascinating, atmospheric neighbourhood. It remained home to the city’s Jewish population until 1797; today you can take a guided tour of the five magnificent synagogues and museum and eat in a neighbourhood Kosher restaurant.

The little-visited Palazzo Grimani is one of the city’s great Renaissance palazzos, now a museum housing an extraordinary collection of classical sculptures, stuccoes, elaborate frescoes and paintings by Hieronymus Bosch.

Venetians have shopped and haggled at this food market on the banks of the Grand Canal since 1097 AD. It’s a mosaic of stalls piled with aubergines, tomatoes, vats of artichoke hearts and (under the arched Pescaria) a zillion varieties of wriggling, glistening fish.