Crowd-Free Venice
- Lucy and the lens
- Jul 24, 2020
- 7 min read
I visited Venice in July 2020, at a point when the European borders had just opened following several months of Covid-19 quarantine measures. I decided to go to Venice at this time since visitors to Italy would still be limited to Europeans only, and the cancelling of cruises and group tours meant that Venice would be seeing a fraction of its usual tourist influx!
Despite this, I still did quite a bit of research into ways to see the city at its least crowded: where to get off the beaten track, and how to see usually popular landmarks without having to queue! Before I head to a new place, I really appreciate knowing which sights to see early in the day and which ones are safe to leave until later on, so I thought I'd do the same here.
I've split the sights into 3 categories:
A) Off the beaten track (places that probably won't be busy because they're little-known) B) Go early / go late (popular places that can be visited crowd-free with some careful timing, or improved with a good sunset!)
C) Go whenever you like (places that are great at any time of day, regardless of crowds!)
Off the Beaten Track
Scala Contarini del Bovolo
This beautiful, intricate spiralling tower attached to the Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo, is difficult to find - my GPS took me all over the place before I finally spotted a small sign pointing the way - and attracts very few visitors compared to the Rialto Bridge or St Marco's Campanile. It offers a fantastic rooftop view of Venice from its summit, with St Marco's Campanile taking centre stage. When I visited, pre-booking was required to limit visitor numbers due to Covid-19, but in a normal month I'd still recommend booking a slot, and ideally the earliest one of the day (10am). Even more luckily, the other visitors during my time slot were all Italian, so while they were being given an orientation talk in Italian, I was allowed to scale the tower all by myself, enjoying the view alone for at least ten beautiful minutes!
Rooftop view at the T Fondaco dei Tedeschi department store
I only discovered this rooftop view thanks to a food tour I did with a local guide. The swanky T Fondaco department store boasts a little-known view of the snaking Grand Canal from its rooftop. You have to book a 15-minute time slot in advance (although possibly only due to Covid-19) but otherwise, it's completely free and entirely worth your time!
The Campanile on San Giorgio Maggiore
The problem with climbing San Marco's Campanile is that you can't see San Marco's Campanile from the top of it! The solution: climb Venice's other campanile, over on the tiny island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Far fewer visitors bother to make the vaporetto trip over to the island, so there's no need to go early to beat the queues: there likely won't be one. The view from this campanile is even better than the one from San Marco's, in my opinion, as you get a great view of the Grand Canal and the Venice lagoon from every possible angle.
Libreria Acqua Alta
This bookshop looks so unassuming from the front that 99% of tourists just pass it by. Step inside, though, and you'll find books piled into a gondola, a hidden courtyard with steps made from old books leading up to a secret canal view and, best of all, actual cats guarding the shelves! Even if you don't buy anything here, you can still donate some change to buy treats for your new feline friends after enjoying the courtyard!
Take a Food Tour
A food tour is a great way to learn about local dishes, support local businesses, and visit bars and restaurants that most tourists don't know exist. Here's a full post about the food tour I took while I was in Venice!
Watch gondolas being made while eating cicchetti
A squero is a workshop where gondolas are made or repaired. You can watch this in action for free (well, for the price of a glass of Prosecco!) if you visit Osteria Al Squero, a wine and cicchetti (Venetian light bites) bar that sits across the water from the gondola workshop. Sit on the wall and enjoy the peace and quiet, but watch out for the seagulls!
Go Early / Go Late
Piazza San Marco
Go as early as you can, please. The photo below was taken at about 8am, and the square was unrecognisable from the way it had been during the afternoon and evening the day before. It helped me to appreciate the architecture of the buildings surrounding the square - the Doge's Palace, the Basilica - in a way that I couldn't during the day when tourists are jostling for prime photo spots and touts are shoving pigeon food or selfie sticks at you!
The Doge's Palace
This palace sits right on Piazza San Marco, so if you want obstruction-free photos of its beautiful pink-and-white exterior, you'll obviously need to go early! If you want to visit the inside, I'd recommend pre-booking tickets!
San Marco's Campanile
If you book a visit online (recommended), there's no need to show up early to climb this famous tower, but if you don't, I'd recommend either visiting during the first slot of the day, or waiting until lunch time, when there seems to be a bit of a lull!
Rialto Bridge
Aside from Piazza San Marco, this was hands down the busiest place in Venice. If you want a photo of the bridge without hoards of people standing on it, you'll need to go early. Really early. By about 9am it was already starting to get busy, and by the time the stalls along the bridge began to open, there was no hope!
Burano
The island of Burano is known for its brightly coloured houses that make all of your photos look like you turned the saturation up to the maximum! It can be reached in about 50 minutes by vaporetto from Venice, and I chose to go as early as possible. The 8:10am boat got me there at around 9am, and there were only two other tourists on the boat with me. Until 10am it was just the three of us and the locals, which was definitely preferable to the alternative: by the time I returned to the boat dock at around 10:30am, the visitors were flooding in.
Sunset at Riva Degli Schiavone
This is the iconic 'street' running along the banks of the Grand Canal just off Piazza San Marco. You'll see rows of gondolas tied up along it, and beyond them, the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. You'll likely already have been here to see the Bridge of Sighs, but you should return in time for sunset. The way the sun sets across the water is perfection!
Sunset at San Marco Vallaresso
I discovered this gem of a sunset-viewing spot by chance, because I happened to step off the Number 1 vaporetto at San Marco Vallaresso station with my luggage just at sunset! Just to the right of the dock you'll see the below view of Santa Maria della Salute church, with gondola posts in the foreground. I was the only person who lingered there, lucking out with this evening view across the Grand Canal!
Night Walking
At night time the canals take on a different quality. It's cool, it's peaceful, and blue hour is just beautiful! Take the long way home after dinner, and enjoy the lights reflected on the water.
Go Whenever You Like!
Ponte dell'Accademia
This wooden bridge is known for its iconic and spectacular view of the Grand Canal. I visited it several times during my visit, morning, afternoon, and sunset, and the view was equally perfect at each time. This bridge is nowhere near as busy as the Rialto because it takes a little longer to get to from the centre, so even though you certainly won't find it empty if you go later in the day, this doesn't detract from the splendour of the view! If you want a calmer experience, choose sunrise or sunset, however.
Bridge of Sighs
The viewing point for the Bridge of Sighs will be busy if you go during the day, but if you show up too early you'll run into a different problem: instead of the gondolas that you'd probably like to see drifting beneath this iconic bridge, you're just going to get the much less photogenic freight boats transporting supplies into the city for the day! It's your choice!
The Canals
The issue of the early-morning supply boats applies to pretty much every canal in the city, in fact. Go too early, and that's all you'll see. Later in the day, once you get out of the St Mark's area and start ducking down narrower streets, you'll find that the crowds drop off anyway, leaving you free to photograph the canals and the gondolas that traverse them.
Santa Maria della Salute
If you've already been to the Ponte dell'Accademia, you will have seen the domed roof of the Santa Maria della Salute church. Get off at the Salute vaporetto stop on the opposite side to Piazza San Marco and enjoy views back across the Grand Canal. The courtyard and steps outside the church are great places to sit and watch the world go by, and the church itself is a calm oasis.
Vaporetto ride from Piazza Roma to San Marco
This boat route takes you right along the Grand Canal. It doesn't matter what time you do it, although during peak times you might not be able to score one of the open-air seats at the front or back of the boat, or any seat at all, really! Whenever you choose to go, the views of the buildings that sit along the Grand Canal are wonderful - but if you intend to take photos, go for an earlier or later departure time to avoid competing for a clear view!
I hope these tips have helped you to plan your mornings, afternoons and evenings in Venice a little!
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