Eleven years of welcoming guests means we hear the same questions, in the same order, every week. This is the list. The short answers are at the top of each section, ready to read in thirty seconds; the longer context follows for travellers who want it. The order is roughly the order guests ask, from the practical (water, transport) to the existential (how long to stay).
Can you drink the tap water in Venice?
Yes. Tap water in Venice is potable and good. It arrives from the Italian mainland through an aqueduct opened in 1884, treated and tested to the same standards as the rest of Veneto. The taste is slightly more mineral than bottled water; some travellers prefer it, some buy bottled anyway. Public fountains, called fontanelle, are scattered across the city.
The longer story is older than the aqueduct. For roughly a thousand years before 1884, Venice had no source of fresh water. The lagoon under the city is brackish; groundwater would be undrinkable. The city’s solution was to turn every campo into a rainwater collection device. The pozzi you still see in every square were not wells reaching groundwater, but the visible top of underground reservoirs ten to fifteen metres across, lined with clay, fed by drains in the four corners of the campo. The campo paving acted as a catchment, the drains directed water through a sand filter, the filtered water collected below, and Venetians drew from it twice a day with buckets. Records from the 16th century list more than 6,000 pozzi in the historic city. They fed a city of up to 200,000 people.
The pozzo well-heads are still in place because they are heavy Istrian stone, sculpted, signed, often dated. The underground reservoirs are mostly sealed, but you can read the system above ground in any campo if you look for the four corner drains.
How deep are the canals of Venice?
The Grand Canal averages 5 metres deep. Internal canals are typically 1.5 to 2 metres. The lagoon’s shipping channels reach 15 metres along the routes the city dredges.
None of these depths are natural. The Grand Canal is a former branch of the Brenta river, deepened and walled over centuries. The internal canals are kept shallow on purpose: easier to dredge, faster to repair, less expensive to wall, gentler on the wooden pilings of the buildings on either side. The shipping channels are kept deep by continuous dredging by the city.
Beneath the mud of the canal beds, the city’s foundations: forests of wooden pilings driven 7 to 25 metres into the lagoon clay. The pilings are typically larch and oak from the Veneto and the Carso. They have lasted, in some cases, since the 9th century, because the absence of oxygen below the mudline prevents rot.
Can you swim in the canals?
No. Swimming in the canals is forbidden by city ordinance, and the practical reasons are good: continuous vaporetto and water-taxi traffic, walls that are not designed to climb out of, water that mixes storm runoff with lagoon biology. The acceptable bathing surfaces are the Lido beach (twenty minutes by vaporetto from San Marco) and the Alberoni (further south, longer sand, fewer crowds). The Adriatic begins there.
Can you drive in Venice?
You cannot drive in Venice, and no Venetian does. The historic centre is fully pedestrian; the only sestiere reachable by road is Santa Croce, at Piazzale Roma, the terminus of every bus, taxi, and private car from the mainland. From Piazzale Roma you continue on foot or by vaporetto. No scooters, no bicycles, no Vespas, no rental cars. The city has been pedestrian since the Republic.
For arrivals: park at Piazzale Roma (€26 to €36 per day), at the Tronchetto island parking (€21 to €30), or at one of the mainland park-and-ride lots in Mestre (€6 to €15) and take the tram or train across the bridge. Mestre parking plus a day vaporetto pass is usually the cheapest option.
How does the vaporetto work?
The vaporetto is the public water bus, operated by ACTV. A single ticket costs €9.50 in 2026 and is valid for 75 minutes on any line, including transfers. Travel passes for 24 hours (€25), 48 hours (€35), 72 hours (€45), and 7 days (€65) are better value if you plan more than two single journeys per day.
The main lines you will use:
- Line 1: slow Grand Canal, all stops, from Piazzale Roma to the Lido. The scenic ride.
- Line 2: express Grand Canal and the Giudecca canal, fewer stops, faster.
- Lines 4.1 / 4.2: circular route via Murano, useful for islands.
- Line N: the night line, runs all stops on the main routes after 23:00.
Tickets are bought at the dock kiosks before boarding, or via the AVM Venezia Official app. Tap your ticket on the dock reader before each boarding. Inspectors check randomly; the fine for travelling without a valid ticket is €60 on the spot.
When is acqua alta, and how bad is it?
Acqua alta, the high water of the lagoon, happens from October to March, mostly between 06:00 and 11:00, driven by spring tides and southerly winds (the scirocco). It rarely lasts more than three hours per event. Since 2020, the MOSE barrier system has been operational; the system raises mobile gates at the lagoon inlets when a tide above 1.10 metres is forecast, preventing the catastrophic floods that used to occur every few years (the 1966 flood and the 2019 event are now in the past).
The Piazza San Marco floods first because it is the lowest point in the historic city (the paving sits at about 64 cm above mean sea level). Castello and Cannaregio flood last, sometimes not at all on a given event. Dorsoduro and the Lido barely flood at all.
For ordinary travellers: bring waterproof boots or low rubber overshoes between October and February (sold at most newsstands when needed), check the city’s tide forecast the night before, accept that one morning may begin ankle-deep, and enjoy a quieter city for the duration.
How long should you spend in Venice?
Three to four nights is the sweet spot. Less than two and the city remains a checklist; four or more and you stop using the map. A week lets you learn one sestiere, eat in places no guidebook lists, and take a half-day to Burano or Torcello. The longer you stay, the better the city becomes.
Most apartments require a three-night minimum stay. We host minimum-stay nights per apartment; check the listing for specifics.
If you have read the where-to-stay guide, you already know our position: the day-tripper version of Venice is the one residents complain about. Stay overnight. Stay at least three.
Do you need to book restaurants in advance?
For dinner in high season (April to October, December), yes. A day or two ahead for the well-known places (Trattoria Corte Sconta in Castello, Anice Stellato in Cannaregio, Bistrot de Venise in San Marco), the morning-of for bacari and trattorie. Lunch is more relaxed; many places hold the bar for walk-ins. Sunday and Monday evenings reduce options; many restaurants close on Mondays.
In low season (January to March, November), you can usually walk in. The exception is Carnival (the two weeks before Lent) when everything fills.
What should you actually pack?
A short list. The longer the list, the wronger it gets.
- Comfortable walking shoes, broken in. You will walk 8 to 12 km a day on stone bridges and uneven masegni (the trachyte paving stones). Heels lose to bridges.
- A small umbrella, year-round. Sudden rain is common.
- Waterproof low boots between October and February. Rubber overshoes work if you forget; newsstands sell them.
- A refillable water bottle. The fontanelle are everywhere.
- A power adapter for European Type C/F outlets if you come from the UK, US, or non-EU countries.
- Layers in shoulder seasons. The lagoon wind cools mornings and evenings even when the afternoon is warm.
You do not need a guidebook. You do not need a Venetian-themed scarf.
Is Venice expensive?
Yes by Italian standards, no by global luxury-destination standards. A practical breakdown:
- A modest lunch: €25 to €35 per person, including wine.
- A serious dinner: €60 to €120 per person, depending on the menu and the location.
- An espresso at the bar: €1.50 across the city; €5 to €7 at a Piazza terrace.
- A bacaro spritz with two cicheti: €6 to €10.
- Apartment rates range from €150 to €600 per night depending on size, sestiere, season. Three-night minimums in most.
- Museum tickets: €15 to €25 each; the Civic Museum Pass (€40) covers eleven for seven days.
- Vaporetto 72-hour pass: €45.
The real cost of Venice is opportunity: the longer you stay, the better the value. A four-night stay in an apartment with a kitchen and breakfast at home is half the per-day cost of two nights in a centrally located hotel.
Where do you find public toilets?
Public toilets in Venice are operated by Venis SpA and cost €1.50 to €2 per use. They are at the major piazze (San Marco, Rialto Mercato, Piazzale Roma, the train station) and well-signposted. Carry small change.
A more Venetian approach: bars and cafés will usually let a paying customer use their toilet. Stand at the bar for an espresso (€1.50), ask for the bagno, leave one euro on the saucer. You pay less and learn the bar.
Can you visit Venice as a day trip?
You can. You will see the Piazza, walk to Rialto, queue for the Basilica or the Doge’s Palace, eat poorly at lunch, and leave by 18:00 with the rest of the day-trippers. This is the version of Venice the residents have been complaining about for forty years.
A single overnight stay transforms the visit. The city changes character at 19:00 when the cruise passengers and the bus tours leave; the calli empty, the restaurants fill with people who are not on a clock, the canals lose their motorboat hum. Anyone who has spent one evening in Venice without a return train to catch has had a different city than the day-tripper has.
If you have read this far, the twenty apartments are listed by sestiere with photos, specs, and direct inquiry. If you have not yet chosen where to stay, the companion guide walks through the trade-offs sestiere by sestiere.
