Getting around
There are no roads here, only canals, and navigation apps get it wrong on a regular basis.
- Vaporetto
- €9.50, valid 75 minutes. €60 fine without a ticket
- Water taxi
- From €250 airport to the centre, priced per boat
- Gondola
- €90 for 30 minutes by day, €110 for 35 minutes after 19:00, per boat for up to five
- Traghetto
- About €2 to cross the Canal Grande on a working gondola
A vaporetto ticket is validated before you step onto the floating stop, not on board. Take your rucksack off your back: the gangways are narrow.
Only four bridges cross the Canal Grande, which is why Venetians use the traghetto and cross standing up. Gondola fares are set by the city; there is nothing to negotiate, and music is charged separately.
What we do. We arrange a launch at any point in your visit, including the meeting at the airport.
Money and the bill
An Italian bill carries lines that do not exist in your country, and all of them are lawful.
- Coperto
- €2 to €5 a head for the cover and bread. Not a tip
- Servizio
- Sometimes included, 10 to 12 per cent
- Music charge
- Always added on Piazza San Marco
- Tipping
- €5 to €10 for a good dinner, the change in a bar, a couple of euros for a porter
There is no twenty-per-cent rule in Italy. If servizio is already on the bill, nothing further is expected.
Cards are taken everywhere, kiosks included, but keep €50 in small notes: terminals fail, and gondoliers and taxis prefer cash.
Eating and how to order
The vocabulary that separates a guest from a tourist.
- Ombra
- A glass of wine, about 100 ml, €1.50 to €2.50
- Cicchetti
- One-bite dishes on the counter of a bacaro, eaten standing
- Baccalà mantecato
- Whipped salt cod on bread. Start here
- Sarde in saor
- Sardines with onion, vinegar and raisins
Ombra means shade. Wine sellers on Piazza San Marco moved their stalls to follow the shadow of the campanile so the wine would not warm, and "let us go into the shade" came to mean "let us go for a drink".
Spritz Select is a ruby bitter from Castello, first made in 1920. Drier than Aperol and served with an olive. Order it because you like it, not to pass for a local.
What we do. We take you to bacari that have no menu, and get tables where the book is closed for months.
Water, lavatories, small things
The basics cost less than you would expect.
- Drinking water
- 120 public fountains across the city, free
- Public lavatory
- €1.50
- Coffee at the bar
- About €1.20
Bring a refillable bottle: the fountain water is cold and clean, while a bottle in a shop costs €3. You may use a bar’s lavatory as a customer, and a coffee standing at the counter costs less than the public one.