obscure2k

That is a great location and the apartment looks wonderful. I rented an apartment in that area some years ago and it was such a good experience. Nice that it has air conditioning. Easy to get over to the Rialto to shop for food you wish to prepare. Really happy for you. Please post updates.

unknown786

Hi,

I am looking for some tips on my upcoming trip to Venice. I am surprising my wife with a quick weekend trip without the children, and we will be staying at Hotel Bisanzio. I currently have the following itinerary. I am very open to ideas/currently have lots of free time!

The plan so far:

Saturday

Get to hotel approximately 1900
Dinner - 2000 @ Taverna Scalinetto
Walk to St Marks Square and look around

Sunday

Breakfast at hotel
10 am - Venice tour (La Bussola Free Tours) - meet at Campo Santo Stefano
Lunch - anywhere!
Dinner - 1930 Covino

Monday

Gondola Ride
Flight departs at 2355

Perche

KLouis

Very, very true, and not only for Venice. Rather, thoughout the whole civilized and not civilized world; especially the former!

unknown786

The reviews on tripadvisor are very good - https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attrac...ce_Veneto.html

To be honest, I completely expect to (and would want to!) give a tip - so not "free" - but they seem to be an established tour company?

KLouis

Two things:

1) Tripadisor reviews are often fake. For example, a couple of years ago, the best restaurant in town according to the reviews was a σουβλατζίδικο (souvlaki place) that, for me, was perhaps even made some of the worst souvlakia I had ever eaten. Although not in the very centre of the city, all reviewers were tourists who, through sheer magic, walked 2 km to have a snack and felt obliged to submit a TA review...

2) One never, ever, ever tips in Italy! Not in restaurants and taxis, not for a haircut, well NEVER!

obscure2k

I am interested in knowing where the Free Tour takes you. It is really nice to do some research and see what would interest you. Bear in mind, Venice is a small city. I have seen the tours led by leaders and I feel sick just knowing that with a little bit of reading a tourist can educate himself and discover a wonderful city without being in a group led by a tour leader holding a sign. There are great resources in this Italy Forum and people willing to share their knowledge.

Perche

Agree, there is no tipping in Italy. If you buy a coffee for .90 euros, you can leave the remaining .10 on the counter. But there is no tipping in Italy. No one turns down free money, but locals hate to see this largely American habit creeping into their culture. You pay for what you get. Try tipping in Japan. The waiter will think you forgot your money on the table, and come racing down the street to find you and give it back to you.

These, "free tours" are unethical, very questionably illegal, and are something that Italy is struggling with how to deal with.

I cannot over-emphasize enough how difficult it is to become a licensed tour guide in Italy. It's like becoming a taxi driver in London: it takes years of study, and you must pass extremely difficult exams.

These free tours are illegal. REPEAT: illegal. In order to be a tour guide in Italy you must be licensed and pass a difficult exam. These people skirt the law and do not get a license, saying they are not commercial operations because they are, "free." What they do is mostly hire students from the USA, Australia, New Zealand, and pay therm zero money. Then the guides who don't have to obey any laws because it is, "free," give you hard pressure to tip, even though there is no tipping in Italy. These guides just live off of the tips they pressure you to give them. Their average duration of employment is about two months. They are run by a, "manager." They usually take a group photo and have to send it to the manager so that the knows the number of people and the, "expected" amount of tips, a percentage of which the guide has to give to the manager. If they don't get good tips, then they can actually work and have to owe the manager money for that day, because they don't get a salary. That is why it is, "free."

REPEAT: there is no tipping in Italy.

These, "free tours," are spouting out all over Italy, to take advantage of Americans' desire to tip. I believe that Florence recently just banned free tours.

TripAdvisor is absolutely worthless in Italy, unless you use it to find out where not to go by taking their top choices and crossing them off of your list. Of course, people give just about every place good reviews, because they are tourists who don't know any better. That's why people write on TripAdvisor that they had the, "best pizza in all of Italy," when they were in Venice, when pizza is more or less illegal in Venice (To be classified as authentic Italian pizza it must be cooked in a wood-fired oven in under 90 seconds. Such ovens are so hot they they would burn the ancient Venetian wood buildings down, so Venice banned pizza. They let frozen pizza come from Germany or England, and it is cooked in a microwave, or some other type of oven.).

unknown786

This is all very useful information - thank you for taken the time to reply. I will do a bit more research and try and do my own tour!

With regards to the restaurants, I have gone with Taverna Scalinetto and Covino based on this forum and also tripadvisor (before I had your above advice!).

We also wanted to do a gondola ride - but the individual most highly recommended (Padoan Luca <[email protected]>) is not available.

Any further guidance would be most appreciated.

Perche

There is no such thing as a "recommended gondola" ride. No such person as "luckyluca6" in Padova who is a gondoliere exists.

unknown786

OK! Guess I really need to get off Tripadvisor! Any thoughts on the restaurants or any other food recommendations?

rickg523

On my last trip to Venice, a family trip, staying in Castello, Perche recommended Osteria Oliva Nera. I wasn't able to get in with a party of 6, but we got seated at their sister restaurant Trattoria da Remigio next door.
It was very good. We also enjoyed Osteria Ae Sconte in Castello and Al Paradiso near San Silvestro.
For a more creative take on Venetian cuisine, my wife and I took a meal on our own at Ai Mercanti back behind San Marco. We loved it, but I wouldn't recommend for this one for families.

obscure2k

Suggest taking a look at this thread
Dining in Venice

rickg523

If you haven't booked yet, check out
​​​​​​Ca' Navagero Apartments
We were a party of 4 adults and 2 children. We stayed in Apartment 1. It was truly a Venetian Palazzo. Apartment 3 might work for you.
With 6 of us it broke down to something like 60€ per night per person. In the Castello, but on the Riva. Our family members, all excerpt the kids, have been to Italy separately many times, still remember this as far and away the most memorable place any of us have ever stayed.

brandie

Unknown,

Also the below thread is a bit dated. It is linked to in the above dining thread. BUT THERE IS REALLY GOOD
info in Oliver's thread and THERE IS REALLY GOOD CULTURAL INFO AND DISCUSSIONS OF WHAT TO DO IN VENICE.

Help with Venice restaurants please!

What time of year are you going to Venice?

Stay off of Trip Adviser. I had a great trip to Venice by trusting the posters on Flyer Talk.

For your short visit to Venice I'd recommend skip the tour guide but just walk around. Walking around is amazing!

We liked restaurant Da Carletto. This was recommended by Obscure on Flyer Talk. Food was mid price point for Venice. Food was fresh. Food was local.
There were a lot of options. We loved server George (the nephew) and we met the owner, his aunt. For those with kids, this would be very kid friendly too.

You need reservations for dining in the summer. Be aware there are a lot of overpriced tourist trap restaurants in Venice. Oliver's dining thread and my
dining thread listed above are well worth the read.