Traveling to Carnival in Venice, Italy

Visiting Beautiful Venice, Italy
Carnival time in Venice offers many wonderful reasons to visit the beautiful Italian city. Since the 11th Century, Venice has celebrated this annual festival. In 2012, it's scheduled from February 11 through the 21st. As in all previous years, Carnival in Venice will include citywide parades, canal flotillas, costumed dances, the famed Venice masks, costume balls, street music, theater presentations and hundreds of other events.

There's a Casanova walking tour, done in costume, of course, as well as an official Venetian Pub Crawl, done by water taxi. For travelers who really want a true Venice Carnival experience, as wealthy citizens may have enjoyed 500 years ago, the Serenissima Grand Gala Dinner and Entertainment features a costumed evening of dining and dancing in an authentic 14th century palace. Tickets are $445 per person and costumes are mandatory.
venice-carnival-italy.com

The city's February daytime temperatures are in the mid-50s, and in the low 40s at night. We've been to Venice several times, but not yet during Carnival time. However, our visits are always full of great sightseeing, gondola rides, fine Italian dining and joy to be hosted by the very hospitable Venetians.

How to get to Venice
On our first trip, we arrived on a cruise ship, and took the water taxi right into the center of town, St. Mark's Square. On a later visit, we flew into Marco Polo Airport from London on British Airways, and after a 25-minute water taxi ride, we arrived at our canal-side hotel.

Hotel Ca' Dogaressa
The very reasonable room rates included daily breakfast on a sunny patio overlooking the Cannareggio Canal and some of Venice's most memorable sights. The rooms were comfortable and decorated in classic 18th Century Italian style. The hotel is a block or two off the main tourist track, which always offers something new to discover as we walk back each night after a day of sightseeing.

Rates are from $90, including breakfast, with some good last minute specials always available on the hotel's website.

Hotel Ca' Dogressa
Fondamenta di Cannaregio 1018, Venice Italy 30121
cadogaressa.com

Pane Vino e San Daniele Restaurant
This little cafe is located about a ten-minute walk away from the crowded tourist areas on the quiet Campo dell' Anzolo Rafael in the Dorsoduro district. We were there in early autumn, and dining outside was a good choice. Look for restaurants that cater to locals as the tourist places know they will never see you again and don't care about repeat business.

We enjoyed pasta figioli (in South Philadelphia, they call it pasta fazool), tasty prosciutto ham and zucchini with fresh local cheeses. We ate ricotta cake for dessert, along with glasses of red Veneto wine. The wine choice is almost endless, and includes many from Italian vineyards surrounding the city.

Pane Vino e San Daniele
Campo Anzolo Rafael, Venice, Italy
panevinoesandaniele.com

The Must-See Sights of Venice
The center of historic Venice is the Cathedral on St. Mark's Plaza, and it's surrounded by historic buildings, cafes and retail stores. The Basilica is the most dominant structure, with Renaissance architecture, marble pillars and onion dome. Inside are beautiful paintings, sculptures and enormous mosaics.

A soaring bell tower, the Campanile, stands more than 300 feet above the Plaza, and was first built in the Ninth Century. It collapsed in the early 20th Century and an exact duplicate replaced it. We rode the elevator to the top and had sweeping views of central Venice and the canals.

The Duke's Palace and Bridge of Sighs are two more sites visitors should experience. The medieval palace on St. Mark's Plaza has marble floors, many decorative rooms, winding staircases and secret passageways. The bridge, formerly used to transport condemned prisoners, stretches from one side of the structure and across the canal to another wing.

A Venetian gondola ride is a must
To top your memorable experiences in Venice, you can hire a gondola at many canal-front locations, ask at your hotel desk or call the city's gondola service for schedules, itineraries and prices. Gondola rides can cost from $70 per person for a 20-minute excursion to $300 for a two-hour evening ride that includes singing gondolier and dinner. Check with your hotel for a good recommendation.

If you just want to sight-see on the largest Venice waterway, the Grand Canal, the vaporetto water bus is much less costly. It ranges from a quick trip across the canal for $1 to $10 for a 30-minute ride along the busy and interesting waterway. Daily and weekly passes are available.

You can follow travel writer Ted Sherman on twitter, @travel4seniors and check out his blog, travel4seniors.com

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