Venice is not that expensive!

Laatste update op 8 May 2020

It is probably one of the greatest misfits about Venice: the idea that it would be an expensive city. As tourists flood the city more often than acqua alta, there is actually no need for restaurants to present a big bill.

For food and drink, simply settle down at a terrace, restaurant, bar of winehouse. Prices are quite reasonable, even though a lot of people assume otherwise.

Food and drinks

Spritz Aperol

For a tasty glass of white or red wine, you pay around € 3,- to € 3,50 euro. Imagine the sun, the water and a delicious Pinot Bianco, Grigio or Chardonnay. For around € 2,50 to € 3,- you can take a zip of your beer (500 ml costs around € 5,-). For a Spritz – very refreshing! – you pay around € 4,-. Try that in London or Amsterdam. Tip: Spritz at Caffè dei Frari.

In addition, there is no need to pay large sums for your diner. A good plate spaghetti or baccalà mantecato alla veneziana (dried cod, jummy!) cost around €12,-. Take into account that one pays extra for coperto (your knife, for and spoon) at some restaurants (€ 2,50). For a super delicious, rich sandwich – the Venetian trammezzino – you will pay around € 2,50. You want to pay less? That is also possible. Drink and eat standing at the counter. As soon as you sit down, you pay more because of service.

Should you be so lucky to have a Venetian in your group, then let him or her do the ordering of the drinks. The locals pay less. So, always handy when you roam Venice for some drinks.

Picnic? In the parc!

Of course there are people who prefer to picnic. Maybe because it is simply nice, or probably because it is cheap. However, you should not eat your sandwich in the city streets or on benches in the city. If you want to picnic, please go to the giardini pubblici (“public gardens”), a parc where you can relax and sit down, taking your time to enjoy the stuff you’ve bought – of course – in a local supermarket.

And please remember not to block bridges, sitting down. The locals won’t like it when foreigners clog up their walking routes, so take care.

It could be expensive, if you wanted to …

Of course you can pay much, especially when you were to sit down somewhere around the hotspot Piazza San Marco. For a cappuccino at a terrace with live music, you would pay around € 7,50 for the warm brown drink. However, very nice with topmusicians.

Musea not expensive

Toegangskaart Zanipolo

Even the entree fee for musea are reasonable, especially when you buy a museum card. At any case, a lot of the churches can be entered for free. The larger ones as Madonna dell’Orto, Basilica SS. Giovanni e Paolo and the Frari, ask an entrance fee of around € 2,50 to € 3,00. A visit to the Museo Storico Navale Venezia is really cheap (€ 1,55 in 2012).

You can visit the Campanile tower at Piazza San Marco for € 8,-. Not too much if you take into account that you are brought up by elevator and you can determine how long you stay up there yourself*. If you want to see everything of the San Marco Basilic, then you will pay around € 10,-. And do not miss the Galleria dell’Accademia where major paintings on display. Entrance fee around € 14,-; but worth every penny of it. Take your time! Another one you should not miss: Scuola Grande di San Rocco (price around € 8,-).

Museum card

For € 25,- you have you own museum card. This card grants access to:

• Palazzo Ducale
• Museum Correr
• National archeology museum
• Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana
• Ca’Rezzonico (Venice in de 18th century, single ticket 11,50 euro)
• Palazzo Mocenigo
• Casa Carlo Goldoni
• Ca’Pesaro
• Glass museum Murano
• Lace museum Burano
• Natural history museum

* Consider to climb (elevator) the tower of San Giorgio Maggiore instead of the Campanile of Piazza San Marco. Cheaper, less crowded and a stunning view

You cannot see all of this in one day, so there is another good reason to stay for a few days in this lovely, sparkling city.