Museums and attractions inVenice
Titian, Tintoretto and the Doge's Palace, on the water.
Venice painted itself. The Doge's Palace keeps Tintoretto's and Veronese's great canvases in the halls they were made for, St Mark's glows with gold mosaic, and the Gallerie dell'Accademia hold the Venetian school from Bellini and Giorgione to Titian and Tiepolo. Titian's Assumption still hangs over the high altar of the Frari, and Tintoretto filled the Scuola Grande di San Rocco with more than fifty paintings.
The twentieth century is here too, in Peggy Guggenheim's house on the Grand Canal and at Ca' Pesaro. This guide lists the museums and attractions of Venice, with what each one holds, how to visit and where to book, the islands of the lagoon, and the day trips to the Dolomites, Verona and the Brenta.
Museums in Venice
Gallerie dell'Accademia
Founded 1817, Old masters to modern
Venetian painting from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century, from Bellini and Giorgione to Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese.
Read more
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Founded 1980, Modern and contemporary
Peggy Guggenheim's house on the Grand Canal and her collection of twentieth-century art, from the Cubists and Surrealists to Pollock.
Tickets from €18.50
Ca' Pesaro
Founded 1902, Modern and contemporary
The International Gallery of Modern Art in Longhena's baroque palace on the Grand Canal, with Klimt's Judith II, and the Museum of Oriental Art upstairs.
Tickets from €15
Attractions in Venice
Doge's Palace
Since 1923
The Gothic palace of the doges and the government of the Venetian Republic, a museum since 1923, with Tintoretto's Paradise and the Bridge of Sighs.
Tickets from €35
St Mark's Basilica
Since 1094
The church of the doges, consecrated in 1094, with its five domes, its gold mosaics, the Pala d'Oro and the bronze horses.
Tickets from €18
St Mark's Campanile
Since 1912
The bell tower of St Mark's, rebuilt as it was after it fell in 1902, with a lift to the top and the lagoon below.
Tickets from €15
Basilica dei Frari
Since 1492
The great Gothic church of the Franciscans, with Titian's Assumption and Pesaro Madonna, Bellini's triptych and the tombs of Titian and Canova.
Tickets from €9.50
Teatro La Fenice
Since 1792
Venice's opera house, opened in 1792, where Rigoletto and La Traviata were first sung, burnt twice and rebuilt as it was.
Tickets from €12
San Giorgio Maggiore
Since 1610
Palladio's white church on its own island facing St Mark's, with Tintoretto's Last Supper, beside the cloisters of the Giorgio Cini Foundation.
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Things to do in Venice
The first 6 of the 20 best things to do in Venice, in the order this site would do them.
Picture: kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0
Number 1, Museum
Walk through the Doge's Palace and over the Bridge of Sighs
The palace of the doges and the government of the Venetian Republic, with Tintoretto's Paradise in the hall of the Great Council and the prisons across the Bridge of Sighs.
2 to 3 hours. Ticket, from €35
Read the guide
Picture: Yair Haklai, CC BY-SA 4.0
Number 2, Church
Stand under the golden domes of St Mark's Basilica
The church of the doges, built to hold the body of St Mark, with acres of gold mosaic inside, the Pala d'Oro and the bronze horses on its terrace.
45 to 90 minutes. Ticket with a time, sold by the basilica, from €18
Read the guide
Picture: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0
Number 3, Museum
See Venetian painting from Bellini to Titian at the Accademia
The great gallery of Venetian painting, from the gold grounds of the fourteenth century to Bellini, Giorgione, Carpaccio, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese and Tiepolo.
1.5 to 2.5 hours. Ticket at the museum, tours online
Read the guide
Picture: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0
Number 4, Monument
Ride up St Mark's Campanile for the view over the lagoon
The bell tower of St Mark's, nearly a hundred metres high, rebuilt after it fell in 1902, with a lift to the bell chamber and the whole lagoon below.
30 to 45 minutes. Ticket with a time, from €15
Read the guide
Picture: Peter K Burian, CC BY-SA 4.0
Number 5, On the water
Ride the whole Grand Canal on the vaporetto
Venice's main street, four kilometres of palaces from the station to St Mark's, seen from the water bus that goes the whole way.
40 to 60 minutes. A vaporetto ticket or pass, from €9.50
How to do it
Picture: Wolfgang Moroder, CC BY-SA 3.0
Number 6, Walk
Cross the Rialto Bridge and shop at the market
The stone bridge of 1591 over the Grand Canal and, beside it, the market where Venice has bought its fish and vegetables for a thousand years.
45 to 90 minutes. Free to walk, from €24
How to do it
Artists to see in Venice
The first 8 of the 12 most famous artists with work in the museums of Venice, in order of birth. Each page says which works to look for and where they hang.
Painter, 1430 to 1516
Giovanni Bellini
Venice was Giovanni Bellini's city, and its painting grew from his. The Accademia has his altarpieces and Madonnas, and his triptych still stands in the sacristy of the Frari, in the frame made for it.
Venetian Renaissance. 3 works in 2 museums
See the artist
Painter, 1465 to 1526
Vittore Carpaccio
The storyteller of Venetian painting, whose long canvases of the legend of St Ursula and the miracles of the True Cross are full of ships, canals and the life of the city.
Venetian Renaissance. 3 works in 1 museum
See the artist
Painter, 1477 to 1510
Giorgione
The most mysterious painter of the Renaissance, who died young of the plague, left a handful of pictures and changed Venetian painting with them.
Venetian Renaissance. 2 works in 1 museum
See the artist
Painter, 1488 to 1576
Titian
Venice is Titian's city: his Assumption still rises over the high altar of the Frari, where he is buried, and the Accademia has the Pietà he painted for his own tomb.
Venetian Renaissance. 4 works in 2 museums
See the artist
Painter, 1518 to 1594
Tintoretto
The dyer's son who painted faster and on a vaster scale than anyone in Venice, filling the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and the Doge's Palace with his dark, dramatic canvases.
Mannerism. 5 works in 3 museums
See the artist
Painter, 1528 to 1588
Paolo Veronese
The painter of Venetian splendour: vast feasts under marble arches, silks and crowds, and the ceilings of the Doge's Palace.
Venetian Renaissance. 3 works in 2 museums
See the artist
Painter, 1673 to 1757
Rosalba Carriera
The Venetian painter who made the pastel portrait the fashion of Europe, sought by the collectors and courts of Paris, Dresden and Vienna.
Rococo. 3 works in 1 museum
See the artist
Painter, 1696 to 1770
Giambattista Tiepolo
The last great painter of Venice, whose ceilings of light and air spread from the palaces of the city to Würzburg and the royal palace of Madrid.
Rococo. 2 works in 1 museum
See the artist
Where to eat in Venice
The 6 highest rated of the 19 tables near the museums that this site lists in Venice: historic cafés, brasseries and grand restaurants, in the order their customers rate them on Google.
Picture: Michael Burgholzer, CC BY-SA 4.0
Locanda Cipriani
Restaurant and inn, Torcello
4.7602 Google ratings
The inn Giuseppe Cipriani made on the island of Torcello, where Hemingway wrote part of a novel in 1948, a few steps from the ancient cathedral.
See the restaurant
The street the pastry shop is on.. Picture: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0
Pasticceria Tonolo
Pastry shop, San Pantalon
4.63,053 Google ratings
A pastry shop near the Frari since 1953, from a family of pastry makers that began in Mirano in 1886, known for its focaccia veneziana.
See the restaurant
Trattoria Ai Cugnai
Trattoria, Accademia
4.62,853 Google ratings
A small trattoria near the Accademia, in the same family since 1911 by its own account, its name meaning at the in-laws'.
See the restaurant
Al Covo
Restaurant, Castello
4.51,067 Google ratings
A restaurant near the Arsenale since January 1987, cooking the fish and vegetables of the lagoon.
See the restaurant
The canal-side street the café is on.. Picture: Bouzinac, CC BY-SA 4.0
Caffè dei Frari
Café, Frari
4.5218 Google ratings
A café of 1870 across the canal from the Frari, with its old murals, wooden bar and gallery upstairs.
See the restaurant
Cantina Do Spade
Bacaro, Rialto
4.44,142 Google ratings
A tavern by the Rialto market that dates itself to 1448, serving cicchetti and wine at the counter.
See the restaurant
Where to stay in Venice
The 6 highest rated of the 8 five-star hotels this site lists in Venice, in the order guests rate them on Google.
Picture: Wolfgang Moroder, CC BY-SA 3.0
Aman Venice
Five-star hotel, Grand Canal
4.8867 Google ratings
The Palazzo Papadopoli on the Grand Canal, a palace of the sixteenth century with rooms painted by Tiepolo, a hotel since 2013.
See the hotel
Picture: Morn, CC BY-SA 3.0
Hotel Cipriani, A Belmond Hotel
Five-star hotel, Giudecca
4.7690 Google ratings
The hotel Giuseppe Cipriani of Harry's Bar opened on the tip of the Giudecca in 1958, with gardens and the largest pool in central Venice.
See the hotel
Picture: Mister No, CC BY 3.0
Hotel Londra Palace
Five-star hotel, Riva degli Schiavoni
4.7563 Google ratings
A hotel on the Riva degli Schiavoni since 1853, where Tchaikovsky worked on his Fourth Symphony in 1877.
See the hotel
Picture: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Gritti Palace
Five-star hotel, Grand Canal
4.61,387 Google ratings
The Gothic palace a doge lived in, on the Grand Canal facing the Salute, a hotel since 1895.
See the hotel
Picture: Wolfgang Moroder, CC BY-SA 3.0
The St. Regis Venice
Five-star hotel, Grand Canal
4.61,350 Google ratings
Five palaces on the Grand Canal by St Mark's, the old Grand Hotel Britannia and Europa e Regina, a St. Regis since 2019.
See the hotel
Picture: Dimitris Kamaras, CC BY 2.0
Danieli, Venezia, A Four Seasons Hotel
Five-star hotel, Riva degli Schiavoni
4.52,335 Google ratings
The Gothic Palazzo Dandolo by the Doge's Palace, a hotel since 1822, reopened in 2026 after three years of restoration.
See the hotel
Visiting Venice: common questions
- Do you need to book the Doge's Palace and St Mark's in advance?
- It is wise. Both sell timed tickets, and without one the queues on St Mark's Square can be long by mid-morning. The Campanile is timed too.
- Which day are museums closed in Venice?
- It depends on the museum. The Accademia and Ca' Pesaro close on Mondays, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection on Tuesdays. The Doge's Palace and the Campanile open every day, and St Mark's opens to visitors on Sundays only in the afternoon.
- How do you get around Venice?
- On foot and by vaporetto, the public water bus. There are no cars. Line 1 runs the length of the Grand Canal, and a pass for a day or more pays for itself in a few rides.
- Is there a dress code for the churches of Venice?
- Yes, at St Mark's and most churches: shoulders and knees covered.
- How many days do I need for the museums of Venice?
- Three days cover the essentials: one for St Mark's Square, the basilica, the Doge's Palace and the Campanile, one for the Accademia, the Peggy Guggenheim and the Salute, and one for the Rialto, the Frari and San Rocco. A fourth allows the islands of Murano and Burano, and a fifth a day in the Dolomites or Verona.