Venice Holidays 2024/2025
Venice is one of Italy’s most famous destinations, and is always a popular pick for good reason. Think gorgeous gondolas, beautiful bridges over vast waterways and plenty of romance – a holiday to Venice has it all. With it’s fascinating historic architecture and festivities that celebrates its artsy and opulent past, plus a whole host of sights to tick off your to-do list, we won’t be surprised if you want to go back, time and time again!
Known as Italy’s floating city, it really is the place for romantic escapes with centrally-located charming hotels and a hodge podge of mouth-watering dining options. But all this allurement doesn’t have to come with the price tag, there’s plenty of affordable ways to make cheap Venice holidays just as magical.
Venice Holiday Deals
Wonderful waterways
Venice is built on a group of 118 small islands and is connected by more than 400 bridges! There are no roads in the city either, so getting about means packing your sensible walking shoes or heading to the water and taking advantage of the city’s fantastic water taxi system – this is great for the environment and your wallet.
Venice was first listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987 and is fondly known as a living museum. It includes the lagoon, and some of the stunning monuments found in the city centre.
The most famous waterway in Venice is, of course, the Canal Grande, which splits Venice in two. Across the Grand Canal, you’ll find four impressive bridges and the oldest of the four bridges is Rialto Bridge which, though it has been rebuilt several times, was first constructed in 1173. There are several beautiful shops along Rialto Bridge with a particular speciality in glass and linen – but you do need deep pockets to shop here, but a bit of window shopping has never hurt anyone!
A living museum
Venice has long been regarded as a great proprietor of history and culture, fostering innovation in the arts for centuries, and Venice holidays are the perfect excuse to soak up everything it has to offer. Just wander through the streets and you’ll see what we mean – passing Renaissance, Gothic and Baroque architecture, strolls here are journeys back in time. Gondola rides are also a popular way to see the sights, and have been for almost 1,000 years.
Piazza San Marco, or St Mark’s Square to us, is another place that should definitely be on your Venice hit-list. It’s the city’s main public square and contains its most famous buildings such as St Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace.
St Mark’s Basilica. Known for its ornate domes and highly-decorative turrets capped in gold, it’s the top dog as far as Venetian churches go. It was seen as a status symbol back in the day, so opulent in decor with gold-ground mosaics that it became known as the ‘Church of Gold’.
Around the square you’ll find a variety of charming coffee shops and restaurants. Cheap Venice holidays are not hard to achieve, just pick a spot and enjoy an espresso while watching the world go by.
Authentic Venice
Over the years, Venice has become legendary for its celebrations. Just take Venice’s Carnival. Those elaborate masks and costumes aren’t just in movies – they’re the real deal, donned at the city’s big festivities and grand balls in the lead-up to Lent in the springtime. There’s plenty of opportunity on holiday in Venice to buy your own extravagant carnival mask to take home.
Indeed, Venice is also known for its celebration of the arts. The Venice Film Festival is the oldest in the world and it famous attracts actors and film-makers from all over the world.
Venice Biennale is another long-standing tradition in the area, where the city turns its focus to the fine arts with massive exhibitions highlighting some of the finest global artists every odd-numbered year.
Feasts For All
Of course, one of the biggest draws to Italy is its divine cuisine, so if all you need is one reason to holiday in Venice – you’ve got it.
Venetian cuisine is characterised by its abundance of seafood, which probably comes as no surprise, considering the city’s surroundings. And, if you’ve come for classic Italian favourites, you’re in the right place – the vast majority of restaurants in Venice dish up fresh pastas, delicious pizzas and cicchetti – the Italian version of tapas.
Cicchetti is popular with locals and tourists alike, especially accompanied by pre-dinner drinks. One of the most common dishes you’ll find on the menu is olive ascolane – green olives stuffed with meat and then deep fried.
Trying new dishes is always a must, wherever you are. Sarde in saor is a sweet-and-sour dish served as an appetiser in authentic Venetian restaurants, it’s made up of fried sardines marinated in a tangy mixture of vinegar, onions, pine nuts and raisins.
It’s important to remember not to judge a book by its cover here. Many of the area’s top restaurants are hidden down side alleys far from the public eye, or behind unsuspecting shopfronts in which the tables and chairs are no more than a few barrels gathered around the canal’s edge. Holidays to Venice evoke romance in every way, and what says romance more than a candlelit dinner with barely anyone else around.
When in Venice
To wash it all down, we definitely recommend giving a Venetian spritz a try. It’s Venice’s go-to cocktail, so you’ll have no trouble finding it on bar menus. It’s made with a bitter, red Italian liquor like Aperol, prosecco, a splash of soda and an orange garnish.
As the lights come up on the darkened canal waters, so too does Venice’s energy and nightlife scene. The city has a surprising number of jazz clubs where connoisseurs and budding enthusiasts alike can sit back with a glass of wine and enjoy live music.
Venice’s historic district is largely limited to cool cocktail and wine bars, though there are a handful of places for dancing through the night. For especially late nights out, you’d be wise to head to the outskirts of town where the noise restrictions are low and the cocktails are strong. That’s where you’ll find neon lights, DJ sets and a whole lot of moving and grooving.
You’ll tend to find prices in Italy similar to those in the UK, which is super helpful when budgeting for a cheap holiday to Venice – but you’ll always find you get great value for the money you do spend.