Venice: Practical Tips and Etiquette
Venice runs on a few rules that are not obvious until you have paid a fine or hauled a suitcase up ten bridges. Get these straight before you arrive and the city is easy, cheap and welcoming. Most of them come down to the same fact: this is a living city on water with no roads, not a theme park.
Transport
There are no cars, scooters or bikes in the historic centre, only foot and boat. A single vaporetto ride is EUR 9.50 and lasts 75 minutes in one direction; a 24-hour pass is about EUR 25, rising to a 7-day pass near EUR 65 (verify on site), and travellers aged 6 to 29 can cut the multi-day passes sharply with the EUR 6 Rolling Venice card. Always tap your ticket to validate it at the dock, even a pass, or an inspector can still fine you.
Luggage and getting around
Pack light. There are 400-plus bridges, most still stepped, between any dock and most hotels, and a hard suitcase becomes a real burden. Follow the small yellow signs (Per Rialto, Per San Marco, Per Piazzale Roma) between the hubs, and accept that you will get lost; treat it as the point rather than a problem.
Churches and dress
St Mark’s Basilica is an active church with an enforced dress code: shoulders and knees covered, no large bags, which check for free nearby. The same modesty applies at other churches. Keep your voice down inside, and do not photograph where signs forbid it, including the Basilica interior.
Money and eating
Restaurants must post their full menu outside, with the coperto (EUR 1 to 5 a head) and any servizio (around 10 to 12.5 percent) shown; read it before sitting. Standing at the bar for a coffee or cicchetti avoids both charges. Tipping is not expected beyond rounding up. Tap water from the public nasoni fountains is safe and free, so carry a bottle.
Gondolas
Rates are fixed by the city, not negotiable: EUR 90 for 30 minutes daytime, EUR 110 evening, per gondola, cash. A cheaper quote means a shorter or unofficial ride. Gondolas loop the side canals, not the Grand Canal itself.
The rules that carry fines
Do not picnic or sit to eat on bridges, monument steps or in Piazza San Marco, do not feed the pigeons, and do not swim in the canals; all can draw on-the-spot fines. On the roughly 29 access-fee days between April 3 and July 26, 2026, day-trippers must register and pay EUR 5 to EUR 10 before entering the centre (verify on site at cda.ve.it), and overnight guests still need their free QR exemption voucher.
Weather and timing
Summer is hot, humid and crowded; spring and autumn are the sweet spot. From late October to early March, acqua alta can put a few centimetres of water in low squares, so pack shoes that handle wet cobbles whatever the MOSE barriers do that week.
Read more: the main Venice guide puts these tips in the wider trip, the Venice eating guide expands on coperto and the bacaro, and the 3 day Venice itinerary shows how the transport and timing advice plays out day by day.