VENICE, 5 June 2003 — The most beautiful city in Europe, possibly on Earth. Also legendary for being cripplingly expensive. The first part is undeniable: Venice has the architectural and art treasures of half a dozen major European cities, all in an ethereal waterborne setting the size of a small town. The second, that Venice will maim your credit card horribly is, in my experience, something of a myth.
Take accommodation. A fiendish nightmare supposedly: sky-high prices, always in short supply. Incorrect, except during Carnival (which always runs for 10 days ending on Shrove Tuesday; next year it’s from February 14-24). In recent years the municipality has relaxed planning regulations so that the number of budget hotels has substantially increased. If you book before you go you’ll find somewhere cheap — trust me.
On this trip I was exposed to the kindness of the Venetians before even reaching the city. I reserved a room in a one-star hotel, the beguilingly named Al Gobbo, which I then had to cancel after confirmation and faxing off my credit card details (mostly you can’t book budget hotels by email). Cancelling was no problem at all and there was no charge.
If you don’t fancy doing the donkey work of creating your own package and want a more upmarket deal, check out the ready-made packages. You’ll be surprised at the prices: two nights’ bed and breakfast in a two-star hotel plus flights should be approximately £50 more per person than similar deals for Barcelona.
Plus you’ll never match the room rates that holiday companies can extort from posh hotels. At £59 and £85 respectively (per person, per night in a double, plus breakfast) the hotels which hosted me, Nuovo Teson and Bonvecchiati, would have been well outside my means if I’d booked them outside of a package deal. One caveat: cheap packages often base you on the Lido. The Lido is a pleasant seaside resort, but it’s not Venice proper and most of the time it’s very quiet. If that’s what you want, fine; if not, avoid.
One area where perhaps there is a need for caution is food. Few of us go to Venice for the cuisine, which is unremarkable.
So if you’re cash conscious, it’s not worth paying upwards of £15 a head for what will probably be an unmemorable meal. Eat pizza or hit the supermarkets — there are several big ones near the center. It is worth bearing in mind that two of the best supermarkets have branches on the islands: Billa at the Lido (Santa Maria Elisabetta stop) and Prix on Giudecca (Redentore stop). This means that you can combine your shopping with a boat trip across the lagoon and a relaxing stroll away from the hustle and bustle of the centre.
Some guidebooks recommend bacari as a substitute for straightforward restaurants. Basically, bacari are pubs providing snacks — Italian tapas. Ever had a cheap and satisfying meal in a tapas bar in London? Me neither. Bacari are no different, so be wary if you’re on a tight budget.
When you’re looking for pizza, ignore the guidebook advice about traveling away from the center to eat out. Your feet will be throbbing enough after a day’s sightseeing. Search out the center’s more discreet trattorias, hidden round the back of churches, down alleyways and so on.
Two of you should be able to share a large pizza and a mixed salad for £5 each (in the obvious tourist traps it’s at least half as much again). Despite all the horror stories, you can get a reasonably priced cappuccino in St Mark’s Square — so long as you sit inside. At Bar Americano next to the Basilica it’s £1.26.
Further along the prices creep up, but apart from the obviously posh cafes they are all less than Starbucks back home. Make sure you taste the shop ice cream to go, because it’s far better quality than the UK equivalent. Near the centre a two-scoop cone is around £1.50; further out three scoops for £1.30 is typical.
My top tip for food and drink, which I share with some reluctance, is to go to San Lucia railway station. Take the canal-side exit.
Turn right and walk for about 150m. Enter the door nestling in the right angle of the L-shaped railway office building. You’re in the Ristodlfve railway workers’ canteen, also open to students and the public. You’ll get a three-course meal — salad, primo, secundo - for less than a fiver. Canteen food, yes, but it’s Italian canteen food of a much higher quality than you’ll find in the majority of British workplaces.
You have a choice of olive oils to dress your salad.
Don’t be too obsessed with saving costs. The best part of Venice consists of simply wandering round the streets and that’s free.
Admiring the gondoliers and their uniforms for those so inclined (more than half the tourist population, so I’m told) costs nothing either. And when it is time to leave, don’t bother getting a bus to the airport. Get the boat instead. You can’t do that anywhere else in the world, it’s only £7.41 and it’s the best way of saying goodbye to this achingly splendid city.
Sightseeing
Get a discount museum card for £8.15 to save costs, but bear in mind, again, that it doesn’t give you access to the Accademia (£4.82) or the Peggy Guggenheim (£5.93), two of the main galleries.
Don’t bother paying £4.44 to ascend the belltower in St Mark’s Square. Head to San Giorgio Maggiore and climb the tower in the eponymous church that dominates the island. It’s only £2.22, the view is better and the queues are shorter.
Gondolas, schmondolas. Get a traghetto instead (that’s a gondola-like ferry that takes you across the Grand Canal where there is no bridge handy). Contrary to what the guidebooks say, you can sit down in a traghetto, though it is best to ask nicely first. It’ll cost you the princely sum of 30 pence.
Further information
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