Places/Italy

Veneto

Venice

A city that is also a problem of luggage, bridges and crowds — and still unlike anywhere else.

Venice works if you arrive by train with a bag you can carry, sleep two nights, and walk early. It fails as a day trip bolted to a Rome week: you will see the queue for a vaporetto and a square full of people who also had ninety minutes.

There are no cars. That is the delight and the reason your hotel’s bridge matters. Ask how far the door is from a vaporetto stop before you book the cheaper room.

See

• San Marco at opening

  The basilica early, then out of the square. Staying for the orchestras is how an afternoon disappears into a bill.

• Dorsoduro

  The Accademia if you want painting, or simply the Zattere along the water. This side of the city still has a pace.

• A vaporetto with a purpose

  Line 1 once, sitting outside if you can, then get off and walk. An all-day boat pass is not a personality.

• One island, if the time is real

  Burano is colour and a crowd. Torcello is quieter and stranger. Neither is obligatory. The city itself is already an island.