Italy
Venice
Venice for groups who want more than a photo stop — the basilica at opening, the bacaro crawls, and the lagoon islands we'd build a trip around.
Currency
EUR
Language
Italian
Best months
April, May, June, September, October
Mid-range budget
$
200
/ day
Venice gets written off as a theme park by people who only met it between ten and four. The real city keeps different hours: fish barges unloading at the Rialto before seven, a basilica you can hear your own footsteps in at opening, and the long amber evening after the day-trippers recede, when the bacari fill with locals holding small glasses of wine and the lagoon goes flat and gold.
It's also, quietly, a perfect group city. There are no cars to argue about and no taxis to split — everything moves at walking speed or by boat, which means a group can scatter into the maze after breakfast and reconvene over cicchetti without anyone touching a map app in anger. Come with four or six people, book the two or three things that need booking, and let Venice misplace you. Getting lost here isn't a planning failure; it's the itinerary.
The soundtrack
Practical Stuff
Tipping
Tipping is not expected. The coperto (€2–4 per person) on your bill is normal and legal — it covers bread and the table. If service was genuinely great, round up or leave a few euros in cash. If the bill says servizio incluso, you're done. Nobody tips 20% here, including us.
Safety
Venice is about as safe as cities get — the real hazards are pickpockets in the San Marco crush and on packed vaporetti, so keep bags zipped and in front. Getting lost is harmless; every alley eventually hits water or a yellow sign. In autumn and winter, acqua alta can flood the low squares for a few hours around high tide — the city lays out raised walkways and the MOSE barriers now hold back the worst of it. Use only licensed water taxis with a license number on the hull.
SIM card
eSIMs from Airalo or Holafly activate the moment you land. If your plan includes EU roaming, you likely need nothing. For physical SIMs, there are Vodafone and Iliad shops on Strada Nova and near Santa Lucia station.