Best For
Kids who like boats, short stays, once in a lifetime firsts
Recommended Nights
2
Getting There
Fast train to Santa Lucia, right on the Grand Canal
Known For
Canals, San Marco, the Rialto, getting lost on purpose
Overrun, Overpriced, And Still Worth Two Nights
I am not going to pretend Venice is undiscovered. Between about ten in the morning and four in the afternoon the route from the train station to San Marco is a slow moving human river, and in high summer the canals smell. All of that is true and none of it is a reason to skip it.
We came in October 2010 in the camper. We could not afford to stay on the island, so we parked at a campground on the mainland near a bus that dropped us at the edge of the city the next morning. Within about a minute of stepping off that bus we hit our first canal and that was it. Colors coming off the old buildings, alleys narrow enough to touch both walls, bell towers catching light over the roofs. It is a place that actually looks like the pictures.
Here is the thing I did not understand until later, and it is the single most useful piece of advice on this page. The Venice you have seen photos of, quiet, gold, empty, is the Venice that exists before nine in the morning and after six at night. Day trippers do not see it. If you sleep in the city you get it for free, twice a day.
Who it is for
Kids who like boats will lose their minds here, and there is no traffic anywhere, which parents feel in their shoulders about an hour in. There is nothing to run over your child. That is rarer in Europe than it sounds.
Who should skip it
If you are traveling with a big stroller and a baby, Venice is genuinely hard. There are over 400 bridges and almost all of them are steps. Come with a carrier or come when the kids can walk.
Getting There
General ranges, not exact schedules. Traffic and season move all of these.
Day Trippers Versus Staying The Night
This Is The Biggest Single Difference
Nothing else you decide about Venice matters as much. A day trip gives you the city at its worst hours, in its worst crowds, at its worst prices. Two nights on the island gives you two early mornings and two evenings when the streets are basically yours. Same city, completely different trip.
Mestre Saves Money And Costs You The Point
Beds on the mainland at Mestre are a lot cheaper and it is only about ten minutes in by train. We did the camper version of exactly that in 2010 and it worked. But you are back on the last bus and you never see the quiet Venice. If the budget can stretch to one night on the island, do that instead of two on the mainland.
Two Nights Is The Number
One night is not enough to get both an evening and a morning without rushing. Three starts to feel long with kids unless you are using a day to get out to the islands. Two nights, one full day in the city, one half day out on the lagoon.
What Is Genuinely Worth Your Hours
Piazza San Marco
Go at seven in the morning and it is one of the great spaces in Europe with nobody in it. Go at noon and it is a queue with pigeons. The basilica is worth the short line for the gold mosaics, the campanile has an elevator, which after Florence your legs will appreciate. Do not eat here. More on that below.
The Rialto and the Grand Canal
Skip the gondola if the price makes you flinch. Ride vaporetto line 1 the length of the Grand Canal instead, sit at the front, and you get the same water level view of every palace on the canal for the price of a transit ticket. The market by the Rialto is real, it is early, and the kids like the fish.
Getting deliberately lost
This is the actual attraction and it is free. Adam has a talent for having no idea where he is, and in Venice that turned into the best afternoon of the trip, ducking into one alley after another. Even my sense of direction, which usually works like a compass, could not keep up. Pick a direction away from the signs to San Marco and just go.
The Day Tripper Fee, And What It Actually Is In 2026
This has changed several times since it was introduced and most of what is written about it online is out of date. Here is where it stands for 2026.
The Two Hours Nobody Else Is Awake For
Before Nine, After Six
Set an alarm you would not normally set on vacation. Between roughly six thirty and nine in the morning San Marco is empty, the light comes in flat and gold under the arcades, and the only people out are locals going to work and delivery boats. Kids do surprisingly well with this if you promise them breakfast at the end of it.
The same thing happens in reverse after about six in the evening, when the last day trip boats and coaches have gone. That is when we ate. That is when the city stops performing and just exists.
Nap in the middle of the day. Everybody else is out there fighting the crowd from ten to four and you do not have to be.
Vaporetto, Strollers And Four Hundred Bridges
There are no cars in Venice, which is wonderful, and no wheels work well either, which is the trade. Plan the transport first and everything else gets easier.
Downtime Pick
The Giardini or Parco delle Rimembranze. Actual grass and actual playgrounds out at the eastern end of the island, past the crowds, where Venetian kids play. Twenty minutes on the vaporetto and nobody is queueing for anything.
Get Out On The Lagoon
Burano, Murano, Torcello
Burano is the one to do with kids. Forty five minutes north on the vaporetto, and every house is painted a different color because the fishermen wanted to find their own place in the fog. It is small, it is flat, and it is the single most photogenic half day in the lagoon. It also has far fewer people on it than Venice does.
Murano is closer and is about glass. A furnace demonstration is genuinely good with children, about twenty minutes, and then you are done. Torcello is quiet, half ruined and beautiful, and is wasted on anyone under about twelve.
The boat ride is half the point. Buy a day pass, get seats outside, and let the lagoon do the work.
Five Things To Eat In Venice
Cicchetti
Nero di seppia
Fritto misto
Spritz
TiramisuNicole’s Perspective
Our First Real Stop In Italy
This is my own photo from October 2010, one of the small canals off the tourist route. Venice was our first stop in Italy after weeks of driving down through Europe, and I remember the feeling of arriving somewhere I had only ever seen in movies and finding that it actually looked like that.
We were on a camper budget. We stayed on the mainland, we came in on a bus, and we walked until we were lost. We stopped for red wine and pasta to mark the occasion and we still talk about that lunch. Adam called it bellissimo and he was not wrong.
I taught social studies for eight years before I ever saw any of this. The thing I tell families now is that Venice is not a checklist city. There is one square everybody photographs and about a thousand corners nobody does, and the corners are the trip.
I have Rome, Sicily and Tuscany on my books for clients this winter. Send me your dates and I will tell you whether Venice belongs in your route and how to do it without the crowds.
Acqua Alta, Heat And The Months That Work
Where The Money Is Actually Worth Spending
The Bed On The Island Is The Splurge
If you are going to spend extra on one thing in Venice, spend it on sleeping there. Not on a canal view, not on a suite. Just on being inside the city when the day boats leave. A plain room in Cannaregio or Dorsoduro beats a nice room in Mestre every single time.
The two upgrades I actually push. A private boat transfer from the airport, which turns a logistical slog with luggage over bridges into the best twenty minutes of the trip and is genuinely worth it with children. And if the gondola matters to your family, book it at dusk on the small canals rather than at noon on the Grand Canal, and split one boat between everybody.
Two Nights, One Full Day, One Half Day Out
Evening one, arrive and walk
Get in, drop bags, and go out after six when the day is emptying. Walk with no destination. Eat cicchetti standing up. This is the evening people remember and it costs nothing.
Day one, early then quiet
San Marco at seven, basilica when it opens, vaporetto line 1 down the Grand Canal, Rialto market. Back to the room in the early afternoon while everyone else is out in the crush, then out again at six.
Day two, the lagoon
Boat out to Burano in the morning, back in the afternoon, train onward. Or spend the whole morning getting lost in Cannaregio and Dorsoduro, which is just as good and cheaper.
Things I Tell Every Client Before Venice
More From Us In Italy
The real posts from the 2010 camper trip, plus the guides. A note on the photos. The featured image on the old Venice post is broken in the archive and points at a photo from Dieppe in France, so this card uses a real photo from that stop instead.
Venice With Kids, Answered
Is Venice worth it when it is that crowded?
Yes, if you sleep there. The crowd is a daytime phenomenon between roughly ten and four. Before nine and after six it is a different city and that is the one worth the trip.
Do we have to pay the Venice access fee?
Only if you are a day tripper, only on 60 specific days between April 3 and July 26 in 2026, and only in the daytime. It is 5 euros a person booked at least four days ahead, 10 euros later. Under 14 and anyone staying overnight in the municipality is exempt, but exempt people still have to register and carry the QR code.
Can we use a stroller in Venice?
You can, badly. There are over 400 bridges and nearly all of them are steps. A carrier is the honest answer with a baby or toddler. If you must bring wheels, bring the smallest fold you own.
Is a gondola worth the money?
It is a set price for the boat, not per person, so it is better value with a family than with a couple. Book it at dusk on the small canals. If it is not in the budget, vaporetto line 1 down the Grand Canal gives you the view for the price of a bus ticket.
Should we stay in Mestre to save money?
It is cheaper and it is ten minutes by train, and it costs you the entire point of Venice. If the budget only stretches to one night, do one night on the island rather than two on the mainland.
Does using a travel advisor cost me extra?
No. I am paid by the suppliers, not by you. You get the routing, the bookings and somebody to call when a vaporetto strike lands on your travel day.
Ready To Put Venice On The Calendar
Send me your dates and your kids’ ages and I will tell you which two nights to book, whether the access fee touches you, and how to see this city without spending the day in the middle of the crowd.
Plan Your Venice Trip