How To Travel In Venice On A Budget

Venice is Italy’s most picturesque cities and it’s also known as the city of canals and the floating city.  Venice is also known as one of the most expensive cities in Italy.  Some people may choose to spend their money on private Gondola and fancy food in Venice, for us as budget travelers, we just want to explore the beauty in a budget-friendly way.  So, we are going to share our experience on how to travel in Venice on a budget. 

1. Season / Time of year
A lot of people like to travel to Venice in Summer to enjoy the nice warm weather, however, it will be super crowded everywhere.  We are not a fan of crowding with tonnes of people, so we chose to our trip in January which was amazing.  It may be a little bit cold, but with the sun shining on us, the coldness seems to be nothing.   If you are travelers like us who always like to have the place to yourself, you should definitely consider coming in winter time.  But, keep in mind to avoid February, as the world's most famous carnivals - Carnivale will be held in Venice every year.  During the Carnivale, it’s the busiest season in Venice.  So it is extremely difficult to travel on a budget. So, do check out the date which Carnivale will be held of your year of travel before your plan your trip.

2. Accommodation
accommodation is one of the things that could chew up your budget easily.  Venice is an island city.  The historic center is a tightly integrated cluster of 118 small islands that are linked by more than 400 foot bridges.  The historic centre is the main tourist area where most tourists will stay there.  While we may be able to enjoy the sunset, sunrise or night view of the beautiful Venice if you stay on the mainland, we chose to stay in Mestre – the closest city to Venice, which is just a 10-minute train ride away. The accommodation in Mestre is more affordable.  We got a place for around CAD70 (low-season price) very close to the Mestre Train Station and every day we just took the train in and out of Venice to tour around.  The train ride costs on 1.5EURO each way.  A lot of the hotels in Mestre also offers dormitory option as well.  So when you are traveling to Venice on a budget, definitely consider Mestre as an accommodation option.

3. Transport
The best way to explore Venice is with your own effort, on Foot! We spent two days just walking around the whole Mainland area.  Just walking and sitting along the canals, looking at the Gondola crossing the canals is a relaxing and inexpensive way to spend a day or two.  

There are a few islands further to the mainland that you could visit on a day trip.  We highly recommend to buy a waterbus day pass to capture the islands in a day.  We visited 2 islands, Burano and Murano in a day with the waterbus day pass.  It is not cheap, but considering we could visit 2 islands in a day plus a water bus trip instead of renting a private gondola to enjoy Venice from the water, it is totally worth it.  With the waterbus pass, you could ride any waterbus within the day, it is definitely the BEST choice for budget travelers like us who do want to see Venice from the Water but cannot afford a water taxi or gondola.

4. Free Scenic Spot
A lot of churches and museums in Venice requires entrance fees, but we mostly visit places that are free of charge only.  Walking around Venice without going inside would probably keep you busy for a few days.  One of the hidden gems is a FREE rooftop view that you have to register in advance to go there for free. You got 15 minutes to enjoy the view of Venice from the top. Considering it is free of charge, even though you got 15 minutes only, it is not too bad.  

The other recommendation is checking out the Glass blowing demonstration session Murano, the outlying island in Venice.  Murano is very famous of Venetian glass making.  There are a lot of glass blowing shops in Murano and to attract customer traffic, they open up the glass blowing work area for visitors to check out for free.  It was pretty cool!