No place captures the spirit of romance quite like this city on a lagoon. Explore on water and on land to discover quiet alleys and thronging piazzas, beautiful palazzi, and world-class art. Our insider, Julia Buckley, is your guide.
For more than 1,000 years, visitors have approached Venice from the water, the city appearing like a will’o-the-wisp on the horizon: Dolomite peaks in the background, the shimmering lagoon in front of you, belltowers chiming the hours from the islands as you approach.
Since 2021, standard cruise ships can no longer dock in the city center, or sail past St. Mark’s Square. Instead, they call at the mainland that’s grazed by the lagoon. So, while you’ll no longer sail through Venice or see its buildings, docking at Fusina – three miles west of the floating city and half an hour by road – you’ll still go through the fabled lagoon, approaching it from the southern side instead of through the center. Yet the magic of the lagoon is as potent as ever. Gliding silently past sandbanks and mudflats, migratory birds such as African Sacred Ibises skimming overhead, you get a real feel for the wilder side of Venice, which you might have missed out on in the past.
Make no mistake, however – there’s little romance to the port itself. Fusina sits sandwiched between delta-like mudflats carved with undulating channels to the south, and the port and factory zone of Marghera to its north.
Fusina’s new, 32,000 square foot cruise terminal opened in fall 2024. The single-story terminal, which can service two ships at a time, is a simple affair, with five check-in desks, 450 seats, and a vending machine, plus parking outside for coaches, taxis and private hire vehicles (best booked ahead of time). It’s part of a “scattered port” approach, dispersing cruise ships around several lagoon-side berths, including at Marghera.
What to see in Venice
Luckily, the main sights of Venice are concentrated around one place: Piazza San Marco, or St. Mark’s Square, famously described by Napoleon as “the drawing room of Europe.” Today, it’s more like the drawing room of the world – and you can take it all in over a cappuccino or Aperol Spritz outside one of the square’s historic cafes. Quadri and Florian both date from the 1700s – the former enjoys the sunshine in the morning, while the latter is better in the afternoon. As live orchestras play, watch the rest of the world flit in and out between the porticoes, pigeons swoop overhead, and the gold-tinged mosaics on the façade of the Basilica di San Marco (St. Mark’s Basilica) glint in the sun.
Two hours gives you time for a whip round this area (pre-book entry tickets). Time allowing, ride the elevator up to the top of the Campanile – the 323ft brick belltower – for sweeping 360-degree views of the lagoon, city, and mountains beyond. Enter the Basilica, with its gold-mosaicked interior, which amped up Byzantine style with intricate geometric-cut floors and undulating domes.
Outside again, follow the pink-and-white façade to enter the Palazzo Ducale, or Doge’s Palace, the political seat of the ancient Venetian Republic. Speed up through the gruesome dungeons and cross the Bridge of Sighs, saving time for the art-clad walls. Venice’s greatest artists, from Veronese to Titian, painted these works – culminating in Tintoretto’s Paradiso, thought to be the largest canvas painting in the world.
Piazza San Marco may be paved over, but four hours gives you time to explore Venice’s famous canals. From San Zaccaria, take a number 1 vaporetto up the Grand Canal and under the famous Rialto Bridge, its carved white stone shimmering in the water below. Today the Rialto is a tourist trap – so snap a photo and continue to Ca’ d’Oro, a spectacular palazzo further along the Grand Canal (it’s two stops and seven minutes after Rialto, also called Ca’ d’Oro). From the outside this could be a mini Doge’s Palace with its candy-colored façade and gothic arched windows. In reality, it’s one of Venice’s most wonderful art galleries, stuffed with Renaissance works, from Titian to Mantegna, in a building lovingly restored by its former owner, Baron Giorgio Franchetti.
For lunch, down a nearby alleyway is Ca’ d’Oro alla Vedova, an atmospheric but welcoming bacaro, one of Venice’s centuries-old taverns. There’s sit-down table service or you can stand at the busy bar for an ombra (a small glass of wine) and cicchetti (tapas-like bar snacks). Wherever you sit, try the legendary meatballs.
A wander through labyrinthine alleys and across canals rounds out the four hours. Winding back to San Marco, you’ll see some of the city’s less obvious jewels, including the Scala Contarini del Bovolo, a romantic Gothic spiral staircase tacked onto a mansion (climb it for sweeping views of the Venice skyline), and Santa Maria dei Miracoli, a jewel-sized church surrounded by canals on all sides, and clad entirely in marble inside and out.
Six hours is enough to explore San Polo, one of Venice’s oldest neighborhoods, unfurling west from the Rialto. Start at the Frari – the vast church known for its pyramid-sculpted tomb of Canova and Titian’s sublime altarpiece, the Assumption. Around the back is Venice’s answer to the Sistine Chapel. The Scuola Grande di San Rocco is clad entirely – including the ceiling – in paintings by Tintoretto, from Adam and Eve to a visceral Crucifixion. Necks aching, return to the 21st century with a coffee and chocolate bigné (similar to a profiterole) at Tonolo, a historic pasticceria (pastry shop) a canal away.
This area is also still home to some of Venice’s last artisans. Bookbinding here goes back to the medieval period; pick up a beautifully printed and bound diary at Paolo Olbi, or a marbled address book or recipe book at Il Pavone.
Towards the Grand Canal is the Rialto Mercato area, home to a market since medieval times (today only fish and veggies remain). The surrounding taverns have been here for centuries – those on Campo Erberia have sit-down service where your feet graze the Grand Canal as you munch on cicchetti (Bancogiro is always a good bet).
If there’s time, hop on a vaporetto to San Marcuola (10 minutes) in the elegant residential Cannaregio district. Take an audio-guided stroll through the “Ghetto” – the old Jewish quarter, where Renaissance synagogues hide amid the houses. On the way back, stop for a drink on the Fondamenta della Misericordia, Venice’s waterside bar strip. Vino Vero has a superb selection of natural and organic wines.
A full day allows you to experience the lagoon as well as the city. Arriving at San Zaccaria, swerve the waterfront walk to Piazza San Marco and head straight into the alleys of the Castello district, where you’ll find one of the city’s most atmospheric museums, the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, a noble family’s home turned note-perfect gallery. Take your fill of the Renaissance art upstairs (Bellini’s Presentation at the Temple is a masterpiece) but don’t miss the ground-floor wing designed by Venice’s great 20th-century architect, Carlo Scarpa, which allows high tides to flow freely in and out.
Across the square and plunging into the alleys again, you’ll pass Libreria Acqua Alta, often dubbed one of Italy’s most beautiful bookshops for its second-hand tomes piled in a gondola and a “staircase” of books facing the canal out back. Crossing more canals, you’ll reach Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo, a yawning square where you can break for Venice’s daintiest sandwiches and delicate patisserie at Rosa Salva, or visit the hulking church of Zanipolo, where past doges are buried.
From here, the wild north lagoon is within sight; there’s just time to take the number 12 vaporetto from Fondamente Nove, on the waterfront, to Burano (be aware there can be long lines to board on the return and the journey time is 40 minutes). This heart-shaped island is famous for its multicolored cottages and its lace – the Museo del Merletto tells the latter’s story beautifully, with volunteer laceworkers stitching upstairs. Grab a handmade souvenir at La Bottega dell’Arte, lace expert Fiorenza Rossetti’s family store.
How to spend an evening
As night falls, the crowds disappear and Venice shapeshifts back to its wildly romantic self. For a night to remember, dress to impress for cocktails at the Gritti Palace hotel, the grandest of dames on the Canal Grande, where fairytale bar tables are cantilevered over the water.
Then head to the La Fenice opera house. If you love opera or ballet, a show in this storied theater is a must. If you’d prefer dinner, opera stars such as Maria Callas have enjoyed the signature risottos at the nearby Antico Martini.
For a trendier night, try a bar crawl on the Fondamenta della Misericordia. – Start with dinner at Anice Stellato, then bar-hop for drinks (see above
– Vino Vero and Al Timon – are good bets). Returning to port, sit outside on the vaporetto as the boat slices silently down the Grand Canal, the reflections of the palazzos twinkling in the water.
How to get around
Crystal runs shuttle buses to the nearest town or city on many of its cruises. When onboard, check departure points and times in your copy of our daily bulletin, Reflections.
To book a taxi, please inquire at the Concierge desk. While there’s a taxi rank just outside the main terminal building, there are only usually one or two cars there, so it’s advisable to prebook any transfer. Fusina is a 25-30-minute, 11-mile drive through Venice’s industrial heartland to Piazzale Roma, the sole road terminus in Venice, in the northwest of the city. From there, to reach Piazza San Marco, on Venice’s southern border, you can walk (45-50 minutes), get a vaporetto, or waterbus, (about 40 minutes) or take a water taxi (20 minutes down the Grand Canal).
By far the most atmospheric way to reach Venice is by water. Ferries (line 16) depart Fusina roughly every hour for Zattere, the sunny waterfront of the Dorsoduro neighborhood, a 30-minute journey. From there you can take a vaporetto (lines 2 or 5.1) to San Zaccaria (17 and seven minutes respectively) for St. Mark’s Square, or walk (around 40 minutes).
However, be aware that the ferry stop at Fusina is on the other side of the port, far from the cruise terminal, closer to the extremely busy ferry terminal. It’s not advisable to walk – the area is congested with heavy goods vehicles. If you want to take the ferry, it’s best to pre-book a taxi from the cruise terminal to the ferry stop.
There are no buses to Venice from Fusina. There is a route to Mestre railway station, from where it’s a 10-minute train ride to Venice’s Santa Lucia station, but it’s not advisable to attempt it, since the bus stop is a 12-minute walk from the cruise terminal along congestedextremely busy port roads, and it requires a change of buses (53 and 18). It would take a long time, too – the entire journey could take nearly two hours to Venice. For bus timetables and fares go to avm.avmspa.it.
To take the train to Venice from Fusina, you’d first need get a bus (above) to Mestre, though it’s not advisable to do so. From there, trains depart every few minutes to Venezia Santa Lucia, the city’s station on the Grand Canal. The ride takes 10 minutes.
This is the industrial heart of Venice, and the second largest port in Italy, while the road to Venice is a multi-lane highway. It’s not recommended to cycle or walk.
It’s not possible to walk to Venice. Three miles west from the city as the crow flies, the port is reached via a 12-mile loop by road, on multi-lane highways.
Venice is tricky but not impossible when it comes to accessibility: it is famously made up of 118 islands linked by more than 400 bridges. Luckily, the main waterfront along the Riva degli Schiavoni (which leads off from Piazza San Marco) has ramps overlaid across its bridges, as does the Zattere waterfront, where ferries from Fusina dock. Piazzale Roma (the taxi drop-off) also has ramps to the vaporetto stations. Get a vaporetto from Piazzale Roma or Zattere to San Zaccaria, for step-free access (via ramps) to St. Mark’s Square, the Doge’s Palace, and the Bridge of Sighs. Another step-free sightseeing option is to ride the length of the Grand Canal on the number 1 vaporetto (either from Piazzale Roma or San Zaccaria), past staggeringly beautiful palazzos and under the Rialto Bridge.
If you’re exploring further in Venice, it’s likely to be on foot. The vaporetto network loops the city and cuts up the Grand Canal, but it’s usually faster to walk – and this requires crossing bridges. Be aware that Venice is paved with large stone slabs which can be uneven, and pushing a wheelchair requires real effort – even on the level surfaces. Luckily, there are plenty of places for a break. Those with step-free access include the famous 18th-century cafes of Florian and Quadri in Piazza San Marco, and Oke, a breezy pizzeria on the Zattere waterfront.
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