VENICE · ITALY
A honeymoon the colour of water.
The gondola at dusk and the gold of St Mark’s, of course. But also the painted lagoon islands, a spritz cruise into the sunset, cicchetti for two and a day in the Prosecco hills. The most romantic things to do in Venice, reviewed for couples.
Only in Venice
Three things you can only do here, together.
Boat trips and old churches turn up in every city. A hand-rowed gondola through canals, a basilica lined in gold, and islands that blow glass and paint their houses do not.
No road, no engine
The Gondola at Dusk
There is one city on earth where the streets are water and the taxis are hand-rowed black boats. Slip off the Grand Canal into the narrow rii at the blue hour, when the day-trippers have gone and the only sound is the oar. Forty minutes that every couple comes to Venice for, and that exist nowhere else.
- 1 Venice: Grand Canal by Gondola with Live Commentary
- 2 Venice: Shared Gondola Ride Across the Grand Canal
- 3 Grand Canal Gondola Experience with Live Commentary™
A thousand years of gold
St Mark's & the Doge's Palace
St Mark’s Basilica is lined with eight centuries of gold mosaic that catches the light like nothing built since. Next door, the Doge’s Palace runs from gilded council halls across the enclosed Bridge of Sighs to the old prisons. Book the after-hours or terrace access and you stand in the square almost alone.
- 1 Venice: Doge’s Palace Reserved Entry Ticket
- 2 Doge’s Palace & St. Mark’s Basilica with Terrace Access Tour
- 3 Legendary Venice: Doge’s Palace, St Mark’s & VIP Terrace Access
Glass, lace and silence
The Coloured Islands
A short boat north across the lagoon and the crowds thin out. Murano has blown glass in furnace fire for seven hundred years, Burano paints its fishermen’s houses every shade of sherbet, and Torcello is near-empty marsh where Venice itself began. A whole slow day on the water, just the two of you.
- 1 Boat Trip: Glimpse of Murano, Torcello & Burano Islands
- 2 Venice: Murano and Burano Boat Tour with Glass Factory Visit
- 3 Murano, Burano and Torcello Half-Day Sightseeing Tour
The one couples book first
Venice's most-booked experience.
More couples reserve this than anything else here. If you lock in just one thing before you arrive, make it this one.
The classics
Venice's Most Popular Tours & Tickets
Gondola rides, the Doge’s Palace and St Mark’s, the island boats and the food tours. The experiences couples reserve first.
Where to begin
The days a Venice honeymoon is built around.
The gondola, St Mark’s and the Doge’s Palace, the lagoon islands, a sunset cruise, cicchetti and the Prosecco hills. The experiences couples plan a Venice trip around, and the best of each.
The big question
Your one unforgettable evening.
You will plan a Venice honeymoon around a single evening, and there are three ways to spend it. Here is how they compare, and which suits the two of you.
The island of fire
Murano, where glass is born in flame.
A few minutes by boat across the lagoon, Murano has shaped molten glass since the furnaces were moved here in 1291 to keep Venice from burning. Watch a master gather a glowing ball on the end of a rod and turn it into a horse or a goblet in under a minute, then wander the showrooms and choose a piece to carry home, a chandelier, a pair of glasses, a ring blown just for you.
Read the guide: Murano glassblowing →A table for two
Cicchetti, bacari and a glass of Veneto.
Venice eats standing up, in tiny canal-side wine bars called bacari, over little plates of cicchetti and an ombra of wine. A local guide walks you between three or four of them, away from the menus in four languages, and teaches you to order like a Venetian. Finish with a hands-on pasta class or a candlelit dinner, and you have your evening.
See the food & wine tours →A city on the water
Every street here is a canal.
A hundred and eighteen islands, four hundred bridges, and not a single car. You arrive by boat, you cross by bridge, and you find your way home by getting happily lost. Wake early and walk the Grand Canal before the crowds, and for an hour the whole floating city feels like it belongs to the two of you.
Explore Venice on foot and by boat →Bring it home
Your honeymoon, photographed.
There is no better backdrop than Venice at first light. A local photographer meets you at dawn, when the bridges are empty and the water is glass, and walks you from St Mark’s to a quiet canal for an hour. You get the morning together, and a gallery of the two of you in the most photogenic city on earth to keep long after the trip.
- 1 Fabulous photoshoot in the Canals of Venice
- 2 Cinematic Photoshoot in Venice: Capture Venice Hidden Gems
- 3 Luxurious Photoshoot in Venice
Just the two of you
The Venice the day-trippers miss.
By ten the cruise crowds fill St Mark’s, and by six they are gone again. A small-group walk into Cannaregio, Castello and Dorsoduro takes you to the canals nobody photographs, the workshop where they still build gondolas, the hidden courtyards and the wine bar with no sign. The romantic, lived-in Venice that hides one street back from the queues.
See all 11 hidden Venice walks →Where to wander
Venice, and the Veneto around it.
San Marco for the basilica and the palace. The Grand Canal for the gondola. The lagoon islands for glass and colour. Hidden Venice for the quiet back canals, the Prosecco hills for the wine, and the Dolomites for the mountains.
By activity
Pick how to spend the day.
A gondola if you want the canals. A boat if you want the lagoon. A cicchetti crawl or a cooking class if you want the food. Plus glassblowing, walking tours, opera nights and a photo session for two.
Plan it
Three perfect days.
First time in Venice together? A long weekend that moves from the icons to the lagoon to the vineyards beyond.
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