~ MamakTalk ~: TSC Itinerary: Full On Guide To Venice, Italy

Susan is BACK ( aka Michael ) on The Skinny Confidential discussing his favorite subject: TRAVEL ITINERARIES.

You know we promised more travel with the new site launch so ta-da, VENICE, Italy. Florence will make an appearance this month too.

We want to make sure that if we’ve traveled somewhere, you guys get the 411 on what to do, where to go, & of course, the eating/drinking details.

So I’ll let Mr. Professional Itinerary Connoisseur take it from here because to be honest, I’m very much absorbed in Game Of Thrones right now:

As some of you know Lauryn & I recently went to Venice, Italy for her surprise birthday trip. If you follow along on Snapchat you have seen that I really took some time to plan out what I thought would be a really special trip to celebrate Lauryn’s birthday.

Before you ask or wonder, yes Lauryn really was VERY surprised & I was even more surprised that she didn’t figure it out! You would think after hearing 7 announcements, passing by 4 screens with the destination, getting on a connecting flight and watching video clips on the location that she would know exactly where we are going. She didn’t though! So thanks iPhone, social media, Snapchat, & email for keeping her so distracted…

Ok, let’s get into it. This was our second time in Venice & let me tell you…the second time around went much smoother than the first. The first time I had no clue what I was doing. Venice is a little confusing because you get off the plane and have to get to the dock and get on a water taxi or shuttle to get where you are going. It’s a real pain in the ass if you don’t do a little research in advance.

PRO TIP: Spend the extra money on a private water taxi and if you really want to be efficient have someone from the hotel meet you and escort you. A little expensive? Yes, but trust me when I say the convenience factor is well worth it, hold off on the stupid tourist mask and avoid sweating while stumbling around with that confused lost look.

Ok so I am going to list 5 things I think you should do once you get to your hotel. In my opinion you need 2-3 (3 max) days in Venice before it’s time to move on. Efficiency! That’s just my opinion. It’s a beautiful city but it gets repetitive after day 2 ( maybe 3 ) and there is plenty more to see in Italy.

THE SKINNY CONFIDENTIAL: VENICE ITINERARY:

1.) When you first get there, walk around ( if you listen to TSC Podcast you know to get the map of the city from your hotel concierge ) Venice is a really awesome city to walk around in. Grab some gelato, have a Campari soda. Walk over the bridges and finish with some drinks in Piazza San Marco. They usually have some smooth jazz or Bossanova playing & it’s a really good vibe.

2.) Before dusk go to Harry’s Bar, have a Bellini and people watch. This bar was a favorite of Ernest Hemingway’s and is a must if you are in Venice. Don’t screw this up!

3.) Have dinner at one or both of these places: Terraza is one of Lauryn’s favorite restaurants in the world ( it’s where we had her b-day dinner ). It has amazing views and it’s one of the most romantic restaurants we have been to. Terraza is located on top of the hotel we stayed at ( Hotel Danieli )— it’s a must-see. Club Deldoge is where we enjoyed some amazing seafood & chilled martinis, YUM.

4.) If you don’t get seasick take a gondola boat ride around Venice. We did this the first time we went and skipped it this time. Lauryn got a little sick the first time so we passed the second time but it’s one of those things you should do and it’s a great way to see Venice.

5.) On one of the days take a boat to Murano and watch some of the old glass blowing masters at their craft. This is one of the more amazing things you will see in Venice. It’s awesome to see what these guys can do by hand with glass. Then head over to Burano or Torcelo for lunch. We did this and it was a nice change of pace. The lunch was INSANE, so beautiful & delicious food.

BONUS: Walk around at night and be romantic, if any guys are reading this. If you take your girl for a stroll at night in Venice, you’re 100% getting it that night, lol.

I really think this covers everything for Venice.

It’s not a long list but for two or three days it will keep you plenty busy. I am sticking to my guns and saying Venice is an amazingly beautiful and interesting place but 2-3 days is enough. If you want to spend more time in Italy ( which I highly recommend ) jet over to the train station & head to another Italian destination ( we went to Florence, which I will talk about soon ) the train is another inexpensive & fast way to get around the country. We had a lot of fun on the train.

Hope you guys like these itineraries! I try to keep them short and simple, I don’t include the normal tourist traps as you can find those on the 50 million Google articles available on a simple search. This is the stuff we both really recommend experiencing!

Cheers!

– michael