Visiting Venice

Nearly 3 million visitors flock to Venice each year, and the tourism industry accounts for a large percentage of Italy's GDP. This translates into bustling business for hotels, restaurants, retail and local attractions. It's always high season in Venice (except January and February) so unless you want to spend a fortune, read on.

Airfare
Dirt cheap flights via EasyJet or Ryanair fly daily from the huge hub at London Heathrow into Treviso airport, an hour outside Venice. From Treviso, take a 4 euro ATVO bus (ticket counter located within airport right after exiting Customs area) for an easy transfer to Piazza Roma, the main square in Venice.

Accommodation
The best way to save on accommodation in Venice (besides staying a cramped, rundown budget hotel or a raucous student hostel) is to stay on The Lido, a blissfully crowd-free island nearby with tree-lined boulevards and pretty beaches. The crowds in Venice can really wear a traveler out: it's tight quarters and all on foot. By comparison, Lido's wide pink quartz sidewalks provide literal and cognitive breathing room plus a touch of glamor. The Lido is a 10 minute, 6.50 euro water bus ride from the city and constitutes the last stop on lines #1, #51, #52. The water taxi runs 24/7 and offers some of the most spectacular views of the lagoon.

Hotel Reiter on The Lido has single rooms available for 35 euros/night with an en-suite (in room) shower. It's clean, basic, cheap, more spacious than the accommodation in Venice and only a few blocks from the vaporetto stop. Several restaurants and cafes are located on the same street. For even more savings, opt for a shared bathroom, which is common in European hotels and usually worth the minimal inconvenience.

Restaurants
Italians don't tend to eat a hearty, eggs-and-bacon style breakfast. They usually grab a quick coffee and pastry standing up at the cafe bar. Breakfast shouldn't cost more than 2 euros for a steaming beverage and freshly baked, chocolate-filled croissant. A short instructional video on the ritualized process of ordering coffee Italian style can be found here.

Tourist menus ("menu turistico") seem like a budget-friendly alternative, and you'll want to satisfy your curiosity at least once during your trip. Three courses for 15 euros is almost always too good to be true. The food from these menus is usually microwaved and/or caters to North American preferences (i.e. french fries and onion rings). You're better off skipping the appetizer and side dish and sticking to one entree off the regular menu. Stay away from restaurants close to the station, San Marco and Rialto bridge; these always charge more and offer inferior food. Takeaway pizza by the slice and grilled paninis are sold widely and offers a cheap lunch alternative to a sit down restaurant.

More budget friendly restaurants include the small local pizza chain Ae Oche (6-10 euros for a large personal pizza), Brek self-service restaurants and Spizzico, a fast-food joint with cheap pizza combos.

Dining out in Italy can be filled with unpleasant surcharges. A bread basket fee, a service fee and a table fee are usually tacked onto the final bill. It's always much cheaper to take your food away. Kebab places serve the cheapest takeaway food and there are plenty of benches where you can enjoy a simple al fresco lunch without being hit with all kinds of unnecessary fees. It's common to see tourists and locals alike enjoying food and drink on public square benches. Keep in mind that public restrooms charge 1 euro for entry and are not widespread.

Also look out for local wine stores, where you can take an empty water or wine bottle to have it filled up with decent table wine for about 3 euros.

Sightseeing
Basilica San Marco, Doge's Palace and the Clock Tower are the Big 3 sights and they're all in one handy spot. Admission is 5-10 euros for each and the clock tower is probably the least impressive. Try to visit these before 10 a.m., when large, rambunctious tour groups of European schoolchildren are out in force.

Window shopping in the labyrinthine alleys behind the Basilica is one of Venice's purest pleasures and costs nothing.

A gondola ride can cost 70 euros for 40 minutes, but split between six passengers it's quite affordable. Gondoliers are always standing near canal bridges peddling rides, so simply request they find you some ride sharing and you're in.

Skip the heavily advertised and guidebook-recommended Peggy Guggenheim Museum. Her palace on the Grand Canal is lovely but the art collection is small-ish for the admission price (15 euros). Instead do Accademia which houses one of the country's most important art collections and offers much more viewing for a reasonable 7 euros.

Venice is replete with small, well-preserved churches with famous religious paintings and many of them are free to enter. After tiring of religious art, visit Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana, two spectacular new modern art museums which showcase the private collection of French billionaire Francois Pinault (Salma Hayek's husband). 20 euros gets you access to both museums and serves as an express primer on who's who in the contemporary art world.

Skip Café Florian and Bellini bar. While these established places do offer good locations and mythic histories they're are also heaving with tourists (not to mention pigeons). Prices are exorbitant and the charm overrated. Instead: find a no-name café off the beaten track and takeaway.

Venice is unlike any other city in the world and its architecture, history and atmosphere are worth every penny. Just use a little strategic planning to make those pennies count.