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Venice > Planning > Top 11 tourist mistakes

Top 11 Tourist Mistakes in Venice

(and how to avoid them)

Ponte di Calatrava, Venice

ABOVE: Check your hotel's location carefully before you book, unless you're prepared for a long walk or an expensive water-taxi ride. And remember: In a city without cars, luggage can be a burden.


In the 20+ years since we launched our first Venice travel-planning site, we've seen visitors make the same mistakes over and over--often at considerable cost in time, money, or vacation enjoyment. This article is designed to prevent such glitches, and we hope you'll find it useful.

Luggage in VeniceImportant: Our "top 11 list" is not just a clickbait slideshow with captions. On each page, we offer practical advice, often with links to related articles at Venice for Visitors and our parent site, Europe for Visitors

To get started, go to Mistake #1 or use the navigation menu below. 

Next page: Mistake #1: Hit-and run visits


Top 11 Tourist Mistakes in Venice, Italy:
Introduction
1. Hit-and-run visits
2. Staying in the wrong location
3. Commuting from the mainland
4. Following the crowd
5. Paying too much for transportation
6. Taking unnecessary tours
7. Overpacking
8. Buying useless souvenirs
9. Being careless with valuables
10. Annoying the locals
11. Not coming back

About the author:

Durant Imboden photo.Durant Imboden has written about Venice, Italy since 1996. He covered Venice and European travel at About.com for 4-1/2 years before launching Europe for Visitors (including Venice for Visitors) with Cheryl Imboden in 2001.

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