Venice

Venice is reached by air via Marco Polo airport (with a boat or bus to the city) or Treviso airport (low-cost carriers, bus to Piazzale Roma). High-speed trains run to Venice Santa Lucia station from Rome (4h), Florence (2h), Milan (2h30) and Verona (1h). The station sits on the Grand Canal; from there you travel by vaporetto or on foot.

Book the Doge’s Palace and the Secret Itineraries tour online in advance. St Mark’s Basilica is free but queues are long; book a timed entry if available. The Correr Museum and the Accademia are also worth booking ahead.

Allow two full days minimum. Venice rewards wandering, and the major sights (St Mark’s, the Doge’s Palace, the Grand Canal) plus the back quarters fill that time; a third day lets you reach the lagoon islands.

April to June and September to October are ideal — mild, bright and less crowded than July and August. Avoid midsummer if you can: the heat, the crowds and the queues at St Mark’s and the Doge’s Palace combine to make the city hard work. Winter is quiet, cold and foggy, and the most atmospheric time of all.

Comfortable shoes for the bridges and cobbles, a small map or offline phone (the lanes are easy to get lost in, which is part of the point), and a refillable water bottle. Bring waterproof boots in autumn and winter for the acqua alta.

Venice is one of the least accessible cities in Italy — the 400-plus bridges have steps, and the vaporetti are the only public transport. Some bridges have wheelchair lifts, and accessible routes are mapped by the city, but independent wheelchair travel is very difficult.