Venice: Festivals and Events Calendar
Venice runs a full calendar of festivals, and each one changes what the city costs and how crowded it feels. Some, like Carnevale, book out hotels months ahead. Others, like Redentore, are free and belong as much to residents on their boats as to visitors. Below runs roughly through the year, with the pattern to plan around rather than a single year’s exact dates, which move and are worth confirming.
Carnevale (late January to February)
The masked carnival is the city’s best-known event, roughly two and a half weeks of costumes, balls and dense crowds ending on Shrove Tuesday, usually falling from late January into mid-February. The free spectacle is in the streets and on the water; the ticketed balls run to hundreds of euros. Book accommodation far ahead, because this is the single hardest stretch of the year to find a room in the historic centre.
La Festa della Sensa (spring, Ascension)
Forty days after Easter, the city re-enacts its old “marriage to the sea,” when the Doge sailed out to the Lido and cast a gold ring into the Adriatic. There is a boat procession and a rowing regatta, and it draws far fewer tourists than the headline festivals, which is part of its appeal.
Festa del Redentore (third Sunday of July)
Redentore marks the end of the 1576 plague. On the Saturday night a bridge of boats crosses the Giudecca Canal and a long fireworks display lights the water; families raft their boats together for dinner on the lagoon. It is free, deeply local, and one of the best nights of the Venetian year. Arrive early for a spot on the Zattere or Giudecca waterfront.
Regata Storica (first Sunday of September)
A historic water pageant on the Grand Canal, opening with a parade of 16th-century-style boats and costumed crews before the racing begins. Grandstand seats are sold, but the free view from the fondamenta along the canal is generous if you claim a spot in good time.
The Biennale and the Venice Film Festival
The Art and Architecture Biennales run in alternating years from roughly spring to autumn across the Giardini and the Arsenale in Castello; check which discipline falls in your year. The Venice International Film Festival, running since 1932, takes over the Lido in late August and early September, one of the oldest film festivals in the world and a reason the Lido gets busy at the tail of summer.
Planning around the calendar
Festival weeks push up both prices and crowds, and several overlap the roughly 29 access-fee days between April 3 and July 26, 2026, when day-trippers pay EUR 5 to EUR 10 to enter the historic centre (verify on site at cda.ve.it). Overnight guests are exempt, so a festival trip is a strong argument for staying in the city rather than day-tripping in.
Read more: the main Venice guide covers the sights around any festival, the Venice travel tips handle etiquette and crowds, and the 7 day Venice itinerary leaves room to build a trip around one of these dates.