2 Days Itinerary in Venice | 5 Days Road Trip – France to Italy Series

3 Comments

5 Days Road Trip Series - 2 Days in Venice

Initially, we are planning only a Milan Drive trip since it is like 7 Hours away. But I looked at Venice, it's just 3 hours away from Milan. So why not do a Venice too!

We have always been wanting to visit Venice so we are actually pretty excited on it. During my past research, I remembered Italy having a lot of car restrictions zone. Hence, I done more research on Italy then on Switzerland.

This is one part of our 5 Days Italy Road Trip Series.

TOTAL DRIVING STATISTICS


2153 km Total
132 Toll Fee
120 Fuel Cost

Do note that driving in Switzerland Highway requires a Highway Decal which cost 40CHF.

5 Days Italy Road Trip: Day 0

Drive: To Mulhouse, France

380 km Distance
4.5 Hrs On the Road
14.80 Toll Fee

We decided to take route coming from Basel as crossing by France to Italy near the Mont Blanc area will incur a custom toll of €44.20. Whereas going by Basel will incur zero cost. So why not?

We also stayed a night at Mulhouse and plan to start our drive in Switzerland in the morning as we are not familiar with the roads.

Stay: Airbnb in Mulhouse

€25 for a night

Free Parking

Breakfast included!

Pretty value stay for a night, for €25 and 2 person. This is a good comfortable stay. Check in is fairly easy. What surprise us the most is there is breakfast provided!

 I would highly recommend this place for a stopover.​

Get Discount Off Your
1st Airbnb Stay

5 Days Italy Road Trip: Day 1

Drive: Pass Switzerland To Venice

This is our 2nd time driving into Switzerland. The first time we drove, we were in a no car zone in Basel and was fined 100CHF. We had some difficulty to pay as there is a 70€ charge for currency conversion. But we paid only S$6 for using Transferwise platform.

Driving along Switzerland will require a Highway Toll Sticker which cost CHF 40. We bought 2-3 weeks in ​advance so that there will not be any issues when driving pass the border. In fact, you can also purchase it at the border control.

Switzerland is certainly beautiful with all the mountains in sight. There are some which still appears snowy too! During our route, we went pass several tunnels, because Switzerland has many mountains. But hor, we googled the most tunnel in the world. China is #1, and actually Italy has alot of tunnels too.​ Just some interesting info.

From Wikipedia

Rest Stop 1: Switzerland Gas Station

First stop we had at Switzerland, was a at a gas station. And we had to pay €1 for using the toilet. WHADAFGU!

50 Cents is already very expensive. Now €1. But LL, gotta to pay right? Who says Singapore is an expensive city.

And so while complaining about the expensive toilet, i received an sms on my cellphone. 

It says, "Your Outstanding Amount on the internet service overseas is more than €40."

Then I realise, my mobile plans include Europe but it does not include Switzerland. So i incurred €48 for using 250mb data !

Of course I would say I am lucky to receive this message if not I would incur more charges.

So this is the 2nd time we incurred unnecessary expense in Switzerland. 🙁

Drive: To Venice (Mestre)

650 km Distance
7 Hrs On the Road
23 Toll Fee

Switzerland - Italy Border

Passing By Milan to Venice

Welcome to Italy

We decided to stay at the mainland, Mestre because parking is cheaper or rather for our Airbnb stay it is free. At least I had thought that only France have highway tolls. 

Mestre to Venice is just 10-15mins bus ride away. So why not?

Rest Stop 2: Il Centro - Italy

Italy has only a few KFC and this is one of the centre. We were surprised to see so much shopping retails here. But we do not have much time to shop, just eat pee and bye bye.

For those driving from Switzerland to Italy, you can consider here for a shopping trip too!

Got Primark!​

Stay: Airbnb

€45 for a night

Free Parking

Aircon!

One of the valued stay we had was this. At €45 a night, it is a bargain. And this premise has aircon too! The only cons is it takes 10mins to walk to the bus stop that brings you directly to Venice. And of course it is a shared bathroom.

This is a Tennis Club with like 14 rooms for rent. It will be the most suitable for travellers that have their own vehicle. Because to walk in with luggages with probably take more than 15mins.​

Get Discount Off Your
1st Airbnb Stay


Go: Venice

And off we go to Venice. We have done much research on Venice especially on the transportation. Because I have driven like 7 hours, I will probably be quite tired. So the itinerary for today will actually be taking the boat ride through the Grande Canal, and find a place for dinner.

Transport: Bus

15 Mins Journey
3 Fee

We board the bus #5, it is €3 per person if you pay on board and takes 15 mins to reach Venice. We reached Venice at 6pm and there was still a crowd, but lesser I guess.

So first most is getting the Transport Pass for 2 days in Venice. We calculated as long we take more than 3 waterbus a day, we will actually be better off using the Transport Pass for 2 days.

Transport: 2 Days Tourist Pass

2 Days Pass
20 Fee

Getting the transport pass is easy, just queue up at the ACTV office. Tell them what pass you require.

And so we took the Water Bus #1, and admire the Grand Canal and along the route taking lots of photos and videos. As we are heading to Doge's Palace on Day 2. We decided to alight at Salute and explore the area. This journey took us like 40mins.

View at Salute Ferry Stop

This area is definitely worth exploring as there are not many tourist around.

Eat: Trattoria Bar Pontini

We have booked a dinner place at Trattoria Bar Pontini at 2030hrs, and it is about time to leave for the dinner place which is at Cannaregio, near to the place where we first board the ferry.

Waterbus #5.2 will take you another route straight to Gugile Station and it is like 2 mins walk to the restaurant.

Waterbus #5.2 will take you another route straight to Gugile Station and it is like 2 mins walk to the restaurant.

The queue

Black ink cuttlefish spaghetti - €13

  • Taste good but a little salty

Codfish (Mashed I think) - €12

  • Not what we expected like a codfish we have in Singapore

We thought it will be something like this.

See: Venice

After our meal, it is nightfall and we slowly make our way back to main station to take a bus back to our accommodation. Even at night, Venice is so beautiful.

5 Days Italy Road Trip: Day 2

Eat: Caffe Diemme

Located at Mestre city centre, Caffe Diemme is rated #1 bakeries in Mestre. So since we can also take a tram from there to Venice, why not try this place for a nice breakfast.

We ordered 2x softbread sandwich €1.60/pc and a pizza €4 which taste fabulous! The bread is soft, the filling is tasty!

A yummy breakfast made our day! And so we took the Tram (They call it the People's Mover) to Venice.​

See: Doge's Palace

While on the way to Doge's Palace

Well, Doge's Palace is one of the must see attractions in Venice. So off we go. The orientation tour of the Doge's Palace is pretty confusing. There was not a clear sign on to where to start the tour. And in fact, we got lost in the palace somehow. But explored different parts of the Palace. 

View from the Bridge of Sighs

There is a part at the Bridge of Sighs which you can see the view of the sea from. And where tourists (including us) were taking pictures.

See: St Mark's Square

Another place to see. The tourists crowd is overwhelming at the entire square. A lot of tour groups as well. 

We did not go into Basilica di San Marco because the queue was too long to go in. But if you have a chance, why not. I guess is free entry.

Eat: Dal Moro Fresh Pasta

Well, coming to Italy of course must try their pasta and pizza right. So we googled and found a high ranking quick pasta bite.

It is like having fast food pasta - and it taste good for the price. €6 - €7 for the pasta and you get to choose your type of pasta.

Go: Getting Lost in Venice

It is very normal to get lost in Venice. Every where looks the same, corners, alleys, dead end. Of course, luckily we are using Google Map to navigate.

Drink: Osteria Ai Canottieri

Having walked Venice, our legs are aching but the sun set view in Venice is a must see. So we hanged out at a pizza place to have coffee till the evening hours.

See: Sunset

The pictures speak for itself.

Dinner: Da Luca e Fred

This is a great place to have our dinner. As we passed by earlier when going to see the sunset. It offers some fried seafood platter and the black ink cuttlefish spaghetti.

More importantly, this is cheaper than the previous day's spaghetti. So why not ? The taste is not bad too, at a cheaper price and no queues.

This certainly marks the day of our 1.5 Days short Venice trip. Short but beautiful.

For this 1.5 days in Venice, we walked like a total of 25km! This is crazy! No wonder our legs are aching.

This is one part of our 5 Days Italy Road Trip Series.

About the author 

Donovan

Don is a Kiasu Singaporean that blogs his journey while exploring Europe.
A Singapore Travel Blog that provides travel guides and tips on how to travel free and easy in Europe.

  • Unfortunately, you have not been to Dal Moro’s – Fresh Pasta To Go. You’ve been to the copy of our pasta factory located on the main street called Pasta&Pasta (https://goo.gl/2RmMWq).

    We hope we will see you by us for the first time soon!

    • Gosh! I am so sorry on the mixed up!
      We wanted to try out the Dal Moro Pasta, and was trying to navigate through the streets. Pasta & Pasta came up and with the same slogan too – Fresh Pasta to Go.

      No wonder there was no queue when we were there.

      Hope to try out Dal Moro the next time round! Thanks Gab!

    • We are waiting for you in Venice or you can find us also in Barcelona, at few steps from Sagrada Familia!

  • {"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}
    Subscribe to get the latest updates
    >
    Malcare WordPress Security