Venice, Italy, is a unique and enchanting city known for its beautiful canals, historic architecture, and rich cultural heritage. Venice is located in the northeastern part of Italy and is is situated on a group of 118 small islands in the Venetian Lagoon. These islands are separated by a network of canals and linked by bridges.

Venice is often a bucket list location and it is obvious as to why! The town is extremely unique which allows for a different experience than you will get anywhere else. Let’s hop into what we did and didn’t like on our visit. **Side note: we had a very short time here so we did not get to explore the far southern islands. From what we were told, that area is vastly different due to the beaches.**

The Bad of Venice

Starting with what we didn’t like because I like to get that out of the way first.

1. Gondola rides start at 80€ for 30 minutes. We enjoyed the info provided and it was fun to say we did it but we will not be doing it again.
2. The weird smells from the canals. Some spots are worse than others but the gross water smell definitely happened a lot.
3. Buildings looking very sad. Many of the buildings looked like they could use a serious update and appeared to be deteriorating (not in the cute way either).
4. Struggling to find breakfast. Ok this might just be me but I really want more than a coffee and croissant for breakfast which was nearly impossible to find.
5. Using Maps 24/7. There are so many small alleys and courtyards that the roads didn’t quite go straight. This made it easy to get turned around or lost.

The Good of Venice

Now you know what to prepare for, how about what to look forward to in Venice, Italy?

1. No cars. Everyone was walking because cars are not allowed. It was so easy to get around without being worried about getting hit by a car or even a bike!
2. So. Many. Bridges. This is good because there was tons of opportunity for cute photos and people were generally kind with taking turns and moving to be out of your shot.
3. Arriving by train was so easy! It is no problem to head anywhere in the city you need to go after arrival.
4. Decently affordable. Even with all of the tourists, we found everything to be reasonably priced including wine and food.
5. The sweet treats! Of course we stopped for a cannoli and gelato. Ross got 5 scoops of gelato for 5€!!!!! (I recommend the wine flavor!)

Recommendations

As previously mentioned, there is a lot of walking. Wear comfortable shoes and pack layers if you plan to be out in the morning. I was definitely chilly until the sun was fully out. Then we didn’t stop sweating all day. For sure grab an aperol spritz to go! There are tons of spots to get these and they are generally well priced. Bring a battery pack for your phone, we like this one – Powerbank. Keeping your phone charged is a must if you plan to use maps and take a bunch of photos!

Are you planning a trip to Italy? We would love to hear about! Need other recommendations? Check out our other posts here —

---

**That Adventure Couple utilizes affiliate links throughout our posts to assist you in getting access to the exact experiences and products we talk about. If items are bought through these links, we will earn a small commission which helps keep our site running at no cost to our viewers.