Because very often, when we visit Italy, we generally only have 1 day or 2 to visit the most emblematic cities of the country.

So, if this is your case, here is a guide to fully enjoy your 1-day visit to Venice. Indeed, you will see that with a well-planned itinerary you can discover the main attractions of Venice and learn more about its fascinating history.

This is how I discovered this magnificent city myself by following a self-guided walking tour for which you will find the Google maps itinerary below.

How to visit Venice and what to see in 1 day?

If you want to visit Venice in one day without staying 1 night, consider paying in advance. new access tax to Venice.

That said, to visit Venice in a single day, you have several choices depending on your desires:

• Guided group tour of central Venice + Doge's Palace + Saint Mark's Basilica
• Private tour of Venice with a guide just for you
• Discover Venice by boat
• Visit Venice on foot following my self-guided tour which takes a full day and allows you to see the essentials of Venice. See itinerary details below.

The trap to avoid, when you only have 1 day to visit a city like Venice, is to go to the heart of the city and go a little randomly without any particular program. Indeed, there is nothing like wasting time, struggling to find a site or traveling miles and not seeing half of the things.

To optimize my day and make it pleasant, I established in advance the list of the most interesting sites to visit in 1 day. Then, I organized them to do a nice circuit on foot but not at a run. Indeed, it is possible to visit all the emblematic monuments of Venice in one day, provided you are well organized.

For this day of discovery, I had to eliminate visits to museums and many churches. The majority of the stages of this route are to be visited from the outside because to visit them in depth, it would be necessary to pass at least 2 days in Venice especially because of the endless queues, even with a pass or a skip the line.

Where to park your car, what parking in Venice?

If, like me, you arrive in Venice by car via the Liberty Bridge, you can park for the day at the car park in Piazzale Roma, which is a central square from which all the bus and vaporetto lines depart and where my walking tour starts from.

Itinerary to visit Venice in 1 day

To make the most of your day, it's important to plan ahead and follow a well-organized itinerary. Start your day early and follow my self-guided tour to visit the city's top attractions.

To help you organize your day in Venice, here is an idea for an itinerary:

• Morning: Visit the most beautiful monuments located in the historic heart of Venice
• Noon: Lunch in a local trattoria and tasting of Venetian specialties
• Afternoon: Walk along the canals and explore the picturesque neighborhoods further east of Venice
• Evening: Gondola ride and dinner in a romantic restaurant

Don't forget to take the time to soak up the unique atmosphere of Venice by strolling along the canals and getting lost in the charming alleyways.

Finally, end your day by dining at one of the many Venetian restaurants and enjoying a glass of local wine.

The most beautiful visits to do in Venice in 1 day

My itinerary with the map below takes a tour of the most beautiful monuments of the Venetian capital and ends with a romantic little gondola ride at dusk.

Here are the most beautiful visits to Venice that you can do by following my walking route:

• Place de Rome (start of the tour);
• Venice Santa Lucia Station;
• Church of San Stae;
• Rialto Bridge;
• Saint Mark's Clock Tower;
• St. Mark's Square;
• St. Mark's Basilica;
• Bridge of Sighs ;
• Doge's Palace ;
• Pont della Paglia;
• Sant Giorgio Maggiore viewpoint;
• Danieli Gondola Station for a romantic gondola ride.

Walking tour to visit Venice

If you follow my self-guided tour, you will need to walk between 3 and 4 kilometers during the day. This is quite little because you can do 2 kilometers in the morning and 2 kilometers in the afternoon. It all depends on your pace but it's very easy.

From Piazzale Roma, you can follow my route step by step, the interactive map of which you will find below.

And this is how your day in Venice will go

Here are the detailed steps of my walking tour which allows you to visit Venice in 1 day:

• Once you arrive in Venice, either you leave like me from Piazzale Roma, (start of my journey on foot), or you leave from my 2^rd stage (from Venice-Santa-Lucia station).
• So from the Piazzale Roma parking lot, you have to go to Fondamenta Santa Chiara avenue and turn left towards the Constitution Bridge which the Italians call Ponte di Calatrava after the architect who designed it.
• By taking this bridge you cross the Grand Canal and continuing straight ahead you will arrive at the Venice Santa Lucia Station.
• From the station, you will have to continue left to take the Degli Scalzi bridge or Pont des Chaussés (2nd bridge which crosses the Grand Canal).
• Continue towards the Church of San Stae where you can take a short break and have a little coffee... From there, it will take you 10 minutes to walk to the Rialto Bridge (the oldest and most famous bridge in Venice). ). You can climb to the top to admire the view of the Grand Canal and take beautiful photos!

• After crossing the Rialto Bridge, you will walk about 5 minutes to arrive at the Clock Tower of Saint Mark, which is one of the must-see attractions of Saint Mark's Square.

• From St. Mark's Square which is one of the most famous squares in the world, you will go directly to St. Mark's Basilica which is opposite.

• The famous Bridge of Sighs is located just behind the Basilica. It represents the obligatory passage of the Gondola ride (see at the end of the article). Legend has it that if two lovers passed in a gondola under the Bridge of Sighs at sunset, their love would be eternal. But in reality, its name comes from the sigh of the prisoners who crossed the bridge before being locked up in prison...

• After Saint Mark's Basilica, you will turn left to reach the Doge's Palace in 2 minutes, which is a simply magnificent example of Venetian Gothic architecture. It was the residence of the doges of Venice until the end of the XNUMXth century. The palace also housed a prison which once housed a certain Casanova.

Now, it’s time for romance with the unmissable gondola ride!

If it is in the San Marco district that we find the most gondoliers, notably at the Bacino Orseolo stations and near the Campo San Moise bridge, I preferred to go via the Paglia bridge to the Gondola station located in front of the Danieli Hotel. Thus, I was able to enjoy one of the most beautiful views of Venice (Sant Giorgio Maggiore viewpoint).

Note that the prices of gondolas are the same everywhere in Venice regardless of where you board. It's 80 to 85 Euros for 30 minutes during the day and 100 € at night.

Unless you book in advance via the Internet: Gondola ride on the canals

Where to stay to visit Venice on foot?

Obviously, I would have dreamed of spending a night in a real Venetian palace and I know that there are magnificent ones transformed into luxury hotels or Palaces.

But my small budget did not allow it. So I opted for a nice hotel but above all very well located in the historic heart of Venice and at a price that I would qualify as reasonable for Venice!

The rooms are small, but well equipped and clean. In addition to its perfect geographical location in the most beautiful district of Venice.

The biggest advantage of this hotel is its roof top from where you can see the Doge's Palace! For my budget, it was the best value for money hotel that I found and which I can recommend. See this hotel on Booking

Want another city tour in Europe? So stay in Italy and visit Rome on foot ou Florence in 1 day or why not a little one weekend in Lisbon?