How to Visit Venice on a budget

Are you planning a trip to Venice, Italy, but you don’t want to spend a fortune? Today, we will share some tips to make your trip budget-friendly. Rick and I live in Italy and travel around the country all the time, and today, we will share some essential tips on visiting Venice on a budget. Venice is one of the most stunning cities in the world, but it is also quite expensive to see, so follow our tips to save some money when visiting Venice.

When to Visit Venice

Seasonality is the first very important thing to consider when planning a trip to Venice on a budget. In fact, if you want to visit Venice during peak season, the city will be packed with tourists between June and September. But also, hotel prices will be much higher, more about that later. So if you want to save money while visiting Venice, consider going in the fall or early spring. Now, if you have to go during the summer, one way to do it on a budget is to book Hostels or Guesthouses. They probably won’t have fine dining or a view of the grand canal, but they’ll be cheap. If that’s not your style, the only way you’ll get a deal on a hotel is by booking well in advance – like a year. If you do, just be sure that it’s a flexible rate – in case something happens, you can cancel. 

If you are going between late October and the end of November, or January and March (with a significant exception that we will tell you in a minute), hotel rooms are cheaper, and the city is not as busy as it is during peak season. However, there are a few exceptions. The first is Carnival.

Carnival is a fantastic event that happens every year in the winter. During the Carnival week, the city is entire of people wearing very elaborate costumes, it is pretty stunning, I have to say! Carnival parties and events are everywhere, and the city is packed with tourists.

So when is Carnival you might ask? Carnival is always different every year and the last day of Carnival, called Martedi Grasso or Mardi Gras, is always 57 days before easter. Now to keep it simple, if you are planning to visit Venice in February or early March, just do a Google search “when is Venice Carnival this year” and you will be set.

Moving on to our next tip about visiting Venice on a budget, and we talk about where to stay:

Booking Accommodation in Venice

Hotels in Venice can be pretty expensive, especially if you want to stay right by St. Mark’s square, the Rialto Bridge, or a view of the Grand Canal. However, there are cheaper hotel options to visit Venice on a budget.

For example, in the Cannaregio area of the city, you can find plenty of hotels and B&B that are pretty affordable, and they are still within walking distance from all the prominent landmarks. Another good area to consider, when staying in Venice on a budget, is the Dorsoduro area, which you can see in this graphic. Here you can find some very good budget-friendly options still within walking distance from the main landmarks. Now when booking budget-friendly hotels in Venice, we strongly recommend you read the most recent reviews on Google to avoid surprises.

Lastly, the cheapest option to save some money while visiting Venice is to stay in Mestre. Mestre is located on the mainland and it is connected to Venice city center by train. In Mestre you can find good cheap hotels for less than €100 per night. To get to Venice city center from Mestre you can take the train from the Mestre station to Venezia Santa Lucia. The trains run every few minutes and at the time of recording costs €1.50 per person one way. The train ride is only 10 minutes. Now be careful about the return train from Venice to Mestre, at night because after midnight the train runs very infrequently or they don’t run at all. 

As a bonus, you might be thinking of withdrawing cash from your hotel’s ATM, or an ATM nearby… be careful of bank fees as they’ll likely try and get you on the foreign exchange. In my experience, it’s best to keep a hundred or two euros for incidentals on you, then use a credit or debit card from back home for everything else. 

Let’s move to our next topic about visiting Venice on a budget and we will talk about Transportation

Transportation

The best way to explore Venice is by walking and walking is free, so by walking you will save a lot of money in transportation. However there are a few places in Venice that can not be reached on foot. In fact if you want to visit the beautiful island of Murano to see the glass blowing or if you want to see the colorful houses on the island of Burano you will need to take the Vaporetto. Vaportto is the Venetian equivalent of a city bus. If you are on a budget, the best way to visit Murano and Burano is to buy a city pass that costs €25 (at the time of recording) for the entire day. In fact, without the day pass, you will need to buy a one way ticket from Venice to Burano that costs €9.50 and it is valid 75 minutes. Then if you stay in Burano more than 75 minutes, you will have to buy another ticket from Burano to Murano, and again you will need another ticket from Murano back to Venice. Now if you buy the day pass for the vaporetto to go to Murano and Burano you should use it to go down the grand canal at least once. In fact some of the most stunning buildings in Venice are on the grand canal and they can only be admired from the water.

Lastly, let’s talk about gondolas. A gondola ride is very cool and romantic, also it is the perfect photo opportunity for social media. However a gondola ride is not very budget friendly and it might cost you about €100 for half an hour on a shared gondola.

But there is a secret gondola ride that will cost you only €2.00 at the time of recording. This is the Gondola traghetto, there are a few along the grand canal, but the most famous one is the Traghetto di Santa Sofia, just a few steps away from the Rialto Bridge. Here you can cross the Grand Canal on a shared gondola and take the perfect picture for your social media, and for €2.00 each time you can do it two or three times if you like! We will leave a link in description for more information about the Gondola Traghetto. (https://www.comune.venezia.it/it/content/traghetti-parada)

Time to explore another aspect about visiting Venice on a budget and we talk about food

Budget-friendly Food to Eat in Venice

Eating in Venice does not have to cost a fortune, you just need to know where to go and what to order. The first tip to save some money for food is to pick a hotel that has free breakfast, this way you can have a nice big breakfast and then you will only need a small lunch. At lunch we strongly recommend you to have the typical Venetian lunch cicchetti. Cicchetti are the venetian equivalent to tapas, but please don’t call them tapas!

In Venice, there are plenty of places that serve cicchetti for lunch, in our experience, the best and most authentic ones are in the less touristy areas like the Cannaregio or Dorsoduro area. 3-4 pieces of cicchetti with a glass of wine (that is called ombra in Venetian) will cost you around €15. 

There’s also little wine bars known as bacari – there you’ll also get cicchetti and other little snacks and food items as well. 

Here is another important tip to save some money, and this is valid all over Italy, not just in Venice. If you want an espresso or a cappuccino at the coffee shop don’t sit at a table but have it at the bar (al banco as they say in Italy). Al banco an espresso will cost you around €1.50 even at the super fancy Caffe Florian in Saint Mark’s square! (at the table will cost you way way more believe us!)

Also, don’t forget about tap Water: Venice’s tap water is safe to drink – so there’s no need to buy your water. Carry a reusable water bottle instead of buying bottled water all day.

Dinner will be your most expensive meal, but again if you stay away from the most touristy areas you can find a good traditional Venetian meal for around €30 to 40 per person. One of our favorite areas for dinner in Venice is around the Rialto market, where you can find plenty of traditional Venetian Trattoria that do not cost a fortune.

And if you’re staying at a place that give you access to a kitchen, why not cook your own Meals? There’s lots of local supermarkets or markets where you can buy fresh meat and produce so you can save a lot doing it this way.

Now there’s one thing to mention about cafes and restaurants, they almost always have free wifi. So, if you’re on a budget and don’t have a cell phone plan that covers Italy, use the free wifi at your hotel, restaurant or wherever you might find it.

Let’s move on to our last tip about visiting Venice on a budget and we talk about: attractions

Attractions

Venice is an open air museum and the whole city is an attraction. In fact you can walk for hours in the city and admire the amazing buildings, the beautiful bridges and the romantic canals. Actually, it’s our favorite thing to do in Venice. Also you can take one of many free walking tours of the city. These tours are tip based and you can decide at the end of the tour how much you think the tour was worth it.  

Now, when it comes to attractions, you can save money in Venice by looking for Museum Passes: If you plan to see multiple museums, such as the Doge’s Palace or the Correr Museum, consider a city pass like the Venezia Unica City Pass that allows you entry to several places at discounted pricing.

Speaking of passes – there’s also Church Passes. Some major churches charge admission (like Basilica di San Marco’s museum areas), but you can find combo tickets or buy a Church Pass to enter multiple historic churches.

Speaking of churches, the entrance to St. Mark’s Basilica is generally free, but there may be a fee to visit certain sections, like the museum upstairs or the treasury. Try to go early to avoid long lines, or book a skip-the-line option if the queue is too long (weigh the cost versus your time).

Regardless, always Look for Discounts: Students or seniors (EU citizens over 65) can often get reduced or free entry to museums. Always carry a valid ID. And if you’re under 26 or have an ISIC card, always inquire about discounts at museums, attractions, and even some transport options.

And if you’re wondering, yes, you should visit at least the Doge Palace and Saint Mark’s basilica. The Doge Palace is not free, but we think that is totally worth the money. Also you can buy a combined ticket that includes the skip the line ticket to the Palace and the skip the line ticket for Saint Mark’s basilica. And believe me you will need the “skip the line” ticket for Saint Mark’s! You can scan this QR code for tickets or check the link in the description to buy the ticket.

As usual, if you have any questions, please leave a comment below. We will try to answer them as best we can.

Ciao!