Piazza San Marco and St. Mark's Basilica. Venice's gilded heart: an 8,000-square-meter Byzantine masterpiece encrusted with shimmering gold mosaics and crowned by five domes. The adjacent campanile offers a 360-degree panorama across the lagoon — book skip-the-line entry well in advance, dress modestly, and note that photography is only permitted on the open…
Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale). The political nerve-center of the Venetian Republic for seven centuries, housing the ornate Golden Staircase, the vast Hall of the Great Council, and the notorious Bridge of Sighs. Its opulent interiors and artwork by Tintoretto and Veronese make it one of the finest Gothic buildings in Europe.
Grand Canal and Rialto Bridge. Venice's main artery winds 3.8 km through the city, flanked by Renaissance and Gothic palazzos. The 16th-century stone Rialto Bridge — the oldest of four crossings — frames one of the most photographed river views in the world, best savored from a vaporetto or water level.
Murano and Burano Islands. Murano has been the world capital of glass-blowing since the 13th century; watch master artisans transform molten silica into intricate sculptures in working furnaces. A short lagoon hop away, Burano stuns with its candy-colored fishermen's houses and a centuries-old lacemaking tradition once prized by European…
Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Peggy Guggenheim's modernist palazzo on the Grand Canal houses one of Europe's finest collections of 20th-century European and American art — Pollock, Dalí, Picasso, Ernst, and Kandinsky among them — displayed across intimate galleries that spill into a Grand Canal sculpture garden.
Gallerie dell'Accademia. Venice's premier art museum traces five centuries of Venetian painting through masterworks by Titian, Bellini, Giorgione, Veronese, and Carpaccio. Housed in a former convent on the south bank of the Grand Canal, the collection is an essential companion to the city's churches and palazzos.
San Giorgio Maggiore Island and Bell Tower. Palladio's snow-white Renaissance church rises from a private island just across the water from St. Mark's — an €8 elevator ride to the campanile delivers arguably the best panoramic view in Venice, looking back across the Bacino to the Doge's Palace with none of the San Marco crowds.
Rialto Market (Mercato di Rialto). Venice's working market has supplied the city's kitchens since the Middle Ages — arrive before 10 AM to browse stalls piled with lagoon fish, violet artichokes, and seasonal moeche (soft-shell crabs) alongside local chefs doing their daily shop. Look for 'Nostrano' signs marking locally grown produce.
Top-rated tours & activities in Venice
Luxurious Photoshoot in Venice — 5.0★ (119 reviews)
Private Venice Family Tour with Saint Mark’s & Doge’s Palace — 5.0★ (78 reviews)
Professional Photographer in Venice, Italy — 5.0★ (74 reviews)
Brunetti's Venice: A Culinary Journey Through Leon's Mysteries — 5.0★ (72 reviews)
The Secrets of Venice - Private Tour — 5.0★ (62 reviews)
Market Tour and Cooking Class with a Venetian Sailor — 5.0★ (59 reviews)
Private boat tour of the Venetian lagoon Murano Burano Torcello — 5.0★ (15 reviews)
Secret Venice, an unusual walk - Private Walking Tour — 5.0★ (61 reviews)
Luxurious Photoshoot in Venice — 5.0★ (119 reviews)
Private Venice Family Tour with Saint Mark’s & Doge’s Palace — 5.0★ (78 reviews)
Professional Photographer in Venice, Italy — 5.0★ (74 reviews)
Brunetti's Venice: A Culinary Journey Through Leon's Mysteries — 5.0★ (72 reviews)
The Secrets of Venice - Private Tour — 5.0★ (62 reviews)
Market Tour and Cooking Class with a Venetian Sailor — 5.0★ (59 reviews)
Private boat tour of the Venetian lagoon Murano Burano Torcello — 5.0★ (15 reviews)
Secret Venice, an unusual walk - Private Walking Tour — 5.0★ (61 reviews)