I love bank holidays! They’re an excuse to get away for a few days, but use less annual leave…

If, like me, you work in an office and are lucky enough to get bank holidays off; they’re a great way to get away for a few days but keep your annual leave in tact.

Now, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend flying on a bank holiday, as flight prices will be high and your destination will no doubt be super busy, but if you can squeeze a break in around these bonus days, then its a win win situation.

Easter 2019, we decided to take a surprise trip to Venice for my husband’s birthday with some friends of ours. I had been previously for a few hours after a business trip (basically I just ran to St Mark’s Square to see it, just in case I never had the opportunity again) but my husband had never visited before.

Transfers - Airport to Hotel

To make this trip extra special, instead of catching the train, or getting a taxi from the airport, we opted to catch a water taxi from the airport’s jetty. There are various companies that offer this service although we used Venezia taxi.

It is possible to walk from the airport arrivals to the docks via undercover walkways, but the taxi companies offer an option to be driven round to the jetty so to make things easy, I decided on this option. This is more expensive than the traditional taxi or train, but it definitely provides a different perspective for arriving in Venice. Also, if there’s a party of you (there was four of us), dividing the cost makes it more cost effective. You can also opt for more luxurious boats, but as it happened, we just chose the standard.

On arrival to Venice, we travelled down the narrow waterways to get an up close view of the architecture Venice has to offer. The buildings and low bridges are stunning. The weather when we went was clear skies and bright sunshine, so we were able to stand up and have our heads outside the boat to get a better view.

Depending where you’re staying and what time of year you are visiting, the boats may be able to drop you right outside your hotel. Our hotel wasn’t actually directly on a waterway, so the driver dropped us a short distance away at the nearest jetty and we just walked down to our accommodation.

Accommodation

We booked and decided on this trip a little too late, plus it was over a bank holiday therefore we didn’t have a vast array of options when it came to choosing a hotel. We settled on hotel Amadeus which is situated close to the train station and the Grand Canal.

Whilst the hotel was lovely, it was relatively quiet and other than at breakfast I don’t think I actually saw a single other guest during my time there. Nevertheless, the staff were friendly and the accommodation clean, but very dated. To be honest, we didn’t really spend a whole lot of time here. I also didn’t see a pool or a bar.

So, we’re all settled in - now what? Luckily, I had that all planned out in advance…

Day 1 - (Arrival Day) - Taking in the sights

Venice is lovely to walk around and soak up the architecture. The abundance of waterways and bridges also provide stunning photo opportunities for both professional landscape shots and selfies. We spent the rest of our arrival day wondering through the streets and alleys getting familiar with our surroundings.

Day 2 - Private Tour AM, Doge’s Palace and St Mark’s Basilica PM

The tourist areas of Venice are super busy and not to mention expensive, however we really wanted to understand some history of the city and what the locals get up to. Therefore, we enlisted the help of a private tour guide from ‘secret venice’ who took us to places which you wouldn’t necessarily know about unless you lived there.

The walking tour lasted two hours and took us to places such as the boatyard where they manufacture gondola’s, the first ‘Ghetto’ and we even had the opportunity to cross the Grand Canal on a standing Gondola bus (which was a unique experience!). We also walked down less crowded streets, learned about authentic places to eat during our stay and had the chance to ask questions along the way. The guide was super friendly and also patient with photo opportunities and the fact that we over run.

The tour was also really easy to organise and pay for over email and paypal. It was also just our party on the tour and we were collected from the hotel. A tour like this is more cost effective if there is a group of you travelling together.

After the tour, we went straight to St Mark’s square to take a tour of the Doge’s palace. Definitely do your research before committing to a tour as there’s a variety of types to suit what you are looking for. The main thing I was keen to see was the ‘Bridge of Sighs' and this was included in the package we chose.

I’ll be honest, this sort of thing is much more Matt’s cup of tea than mine, nevertheless, it was enjoyable. The tour group was fairly large on this one and you had to wear headphones to hear the guide. There’s lots of history to hear about inside, as well as lots of paintings to look at, but the highlight for me was the bridge of sighs, where the prisoners had their last view of Venice through the tiny windows, before they were sent to prison.

Day 3 - The narrowest Street in Venice, Ice Cream & Ghost Tour

Today was Easter Sunday in Venice, so we had kept today fairly free on the agenda as we weren’t sure what would be available.

I’d seen the narrowest street online previously and was keen to search it out and see what it was really like. Narrow is the answer…

We gave it a quick measure at 53cm. Crazy. Good photo opportunities here (and it was quiet!)

We also stopped at the Magnum shop for a well deserved ice cream. Here you can choose your own ice cream interior, chocolate exterior, three toppings and sauce flavour and they make it fresh, while you wait!

I opted for a vanilla interior, white chocolate exterior, with marshmallows, chocolate balls and brownie pieces covered with milk chocolate sauce and it was… divine!

We spent the evening doing a Venice Ghost tour, this was arranged by ’Secret Venice’ the same company that did the private local tour on day two, and in a similar fashion, it was only our party on the tour which lasted around 2 hours.

Having never done a ghost tour before, I didn’t really know what to expect. We met our guide close to the Rialto bridge and he was incredibly knowledgeable. His personality also added a level of eeriness and suspense to the tour. He told us stories of gruesome historical murders and legends from the past. We didnt actually see any ghosts, but there was something about wondering round the streets of Venice in the dark, walking down alleyways being told about ghost stories. We loved it.

Day 4 - Murano, Burano & Gondola Ride

There’s lots of different options when it comes to booking tours of the other islands surrounding Venice. We booked a tour through Viator which offered transport to the islands as part of a large group. The pick up point was close to the Doge’s palace, which was across the other side of the city to where we were staying. We swapped our printed ticket for an actual ticket and boated the boat with the large group. The boat was fine; we sat up top to take in the views although it does get a bit windy up there!

The first stop was Murano, which is famous for it’s glass production. The tour included a factory visit, whereby one of the staff manufactures a glass horse while you watch. It was absolutely fascinating the level of detail that goes in to manufacture, compared to the speed the figure is created. Once the demonstration is over, you’re taken through to the shop where a large variety of glass figures are available for purchase.

We had a quick browse, but then moved outside to explore a little more of the island. In hindsight, I should have booked a tour with more time here, as we didn’t get to see hardly anything of this island which is a shame.

Back on the boat and the next stop was Burano. This island is famous for its candy coloured housing and we had a lot more time here to explore. There’s cute boutique stores and cafe’s to browse or grab a bite to eat. We opted to walk around the island to see what it had to offer before stopping for lunch. Just like Venice, there are waterways here too, but a lot less. The candy coloured housing also provides unique photo opportunities. There isn’t a whole lot else to see here, but it was lovely to sit and admire the scenery that Burano has to offer.

Once we were back in Venice, we made our way to a gondola stop close to St Mark’s Square for a Gondola private gondola ride. I would definitely recommend pre-booking and prepaying for any Gondola ride in Venice, so you know the price and duration before you begin. We booked through Veneto Inside and opted for a sunset journey. Different tours offer different experiences, so make sure you choose one which fully meets your requirements.

The other reason for booking a private gondola was so we could guarantee we would have the gondola to ourselves. To me, there’s nothing worse than having people you don’t know interrupting your experience and blocking your photos.

Our gondolier didn’t sing to us, which was slightly disappointing, but provided a lovely experience regardless, we went out a loop through the waterways, out on to the grand canal and back through the waterways. The tour we booked was 45 minutes, which is a longer duration than the standard rides of around half an hour which, in my opinion, was worth it.