What to see and what to skip if you only have one day in the Floating City

Hello wanderers!

This is your very first 24-hour city guide of what to see and what to skip if you only have one day to “see it all”. Whether you’re trekking it for business or pleasure, sometimes you will only have a day or a couple of hours in a given destination before having to move on to the next spot in your itinerary – when this happens, you’re faced with the challenge of prioritizing what to see and what to skip, knowing that you only have a short window to make the most of your experience. This has happened to me so many times on my travels – an evening in Nairobi, Kenya, a day in Toronto, a couple of hours in London, etc. It’s so hard to know what you should try to go see in such a short amount of time, especially when there’s simply so much to see!

These new 24-hour city guides are designed to help you figure out what’s most worth your time when you don’t have a lot of it. Do you spend the day in line at the Vatican or do you hop on a bus tour that hits all of Rome’s top tourist spots? Or is off-the-beaten track a better choice? These guides will be from my own experience or from friends who’ve lived in or traveled to exotic spots across the globe – hopefully we’ll give you some insight on what to see and what to skip the next time you’ve only got a few hours to see as much as possible!

First stop: Venice, Italy.

I love Venice – it’s the greatest city to just get lost in. With so many canals and tiny, winding streets, it’s the best place to simply wander. Grab a daypack armed with water and a trusty map (you can usually get these for free in hostel and hotel lobbies!), and start exploring!

What to See:

The Grand Canal
While there are many canals in Venice (canals being more popular than streets in this Floating City), the most famous artery in Venice is the Grand Canal. Follow the waterway all the way to the Ponte di Rialto, Venice’s most famous bridge (it’s the oldest of four bridges that crosses the Grand Canal). To be honest, there isn’t too much to see here, but it’s a great stop on the canal and is perfect for photo-ops. Keep going along the canal and you’ll hit Piazza San Marco.

Piazza San Marco
Dominated by St. Mark’s Basilica, a gorgeous church (one of many in Venice), the piazza is Venice’s main public square. There’s lots of history here, from the basilica to the Doge’s Palace (Palazzo Ducale) to the Campanile, and you’ll get a ton of great photos. Most of the historical buildings located at the square are open to the public and offer guided tours (very worth it if you want to learn the history of Venice and see a ton of cool things all at the same time. I’m a huge fan of guided tours – especially free ones!). You can spend all day here or just a half hour – it all depends on how much you want to see. My recommendation: give yourself a maximum of an hour to explore the square and take photos (you likely won’t have time to pop into the Basilica).

Murano and Burano
From here, I highly recommend popping on a  Vaporetto (like a long-distance water taxi) to visit Murano and Burano, two distinct islands off of Venice. Murano is famous for glass-blowing. Pop in a few shops and take in the marvels of glass artistry – but I wouldn’t recommend buying your glass trinkets and jewelry here. In my experience, you’re better off purchasing these items on Venice, where they aren’t so expensive! Burano is my favourite of the two islands – famous for it’s colourful buildings and lace production, Burano is tiny but full of life. Very worth the stop! Murano and Burano will likely take up your entire afternoon, but I highly recommend this excursion.

What to Skip:

There isn’t much to skip in Venice! I could spend days simply wandering the canals, plazas, and tiny streets taking in all the sights without getting bored. There’s so much to see, but you can see a lot of it in a day purely by walking around or hopping on a water taxi. If you’re really short on time, I would skip guided tours as well as line-ups at St. Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace – while both are beautiful, they’ll take up a lot of your precious time. I would definitely recommend spending a day or afternoon exploring Murano and Burano – and you don’t have to spend a whole lot of time on either island to take in a ton of culture, art, history, and delicious food. While 24 hours probably isn’t enough time in this enchanting city, you can see and do a lot!

What else do you recommend seeing in Venice when short on time? Is there any spot you love that I missed? Comment below or send me a message on Facebook – I love hearing from you! I’ll be back in Venice this summer and I’ll take every recommendation that comes my way.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the #WanderlustWednesday contest! I loved seeing your gorgeous travel photos on Instagram and Twitter (take a peak by looking up the hashtag #hopelesswandererblog). I’m so happy to announce that the winner of this contest is Miranda Lynn Bergen – congrats, girl! You won a sweet travel prize and I can’t wait to see how you use your prize on your next big adventure.

I’ll be back next week with more travel tips and tricks. Until next time, stay well!
Katrina