This year, the City of Venice will be charging a 5-euro entry fee to daytrippers on 29 days during the months of April through July. This will be a test period in advance of the full implementation of the program in 2025. And actually, 5-euros is quite a bargain for visiting this beautiful city. A one-day ticket to Disney World starts at $109, after all, and there is, of course, no comparison whatsoever between the two. Those who are staying overnight in Venice are exempt, but still need to register. The reason for all of this is that Venice welcomes an estimated 30 million visitors a year, and two thirds of them only come for the day (many, I imagine, off cruise ships). I have visited Venice three times, and really enjoyed it, but during the day the areas around the Rialto Bridge and Piazza San Marco, as well as the passageway between, are indeed packed with tourists. That is the time to explore the far reaches of the city, especially those obscure canals that have laundry hanging across them. And then, you can head back late in the afternoon, when the daytrippers have all gone away. And I do recommend actually staying in Venice itself. It makes all the difference. The photograph above, by the way, I took back in 2005. And no - I did not take a gondola ride. It would have been like the experience Woody Allen describes in the film Manhattan, when he took a horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park on prom night, but said it would have been much more enjoyable if he had had a prom date along with him.
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