Things to do in Venice

Two nights minimum so you can see Venice after the day-trippers leave — that's when the city becomes magical. One day for San Marco, the Doge's Palace and a vaporetto down the Grand Canal; one for Dorsoduro and the Accademia; a third for Murano, Burano and Torcello in the lagoon.

St Mark's Basilica — book the skip-the-line ticket and arrive when it opens. The golden Byzantine mosaics covering every surface of the upper chambers, the Pala d'Oro behind the altar (encrusted with 1900 gems), and the horses up on the loggia overlooking the piazza.

Cannaregio — north of the train station, with the original Jewish Ghetto (the word originated here), wide canals for sunny terraces, and Fondamenta della Misericordia full of bacari (wine bars) where locals do cicchetti. Castello east of San Marco is the other quiet pocket.

Cicchetti — Venetian tapas at standing bars like All'Arco or Cantina Do Spade. Order baccalà mantecato (creamed cod) on polenta, sarde in saor (sweet-and-sour sardines) and a small glass of wine called an ombra. For sit-down, look for risotto al nero di seppia and bigoli in salsa (whole-wheat pasta in anchovy sauce).

Walk and use vaporetti (water buses). A multi-day Vaporetto pass pays for itself fast — line 1 is the slow Grand Canal scenic option, line 2 is faster. Avoid gondolas as transport (they're for a photo experience). Get genuinely lost — that's half the point. Google Maps lies often.

The cloister of San Francesco della Vigna in Castello — a quiet double cloister behind the church, almost always empty. Combine with a vaporetto out to San Michele cemetery island (Stravinsky and Diaghilev are buried there) and a coffee in Sant'Elena, the calmest district in the lagoon.