10 Things to Do in Venice on a Small Budget

If you look up cheap places to stay in Venice through a booking site, you’ll most likely be shown hostels in the city’s more commercial and less-touristy neighborhoods. These include Cannaregio and Santa Lucia, north of Venice’s touristy focal point of San Marco. There are also some selections on the nearby island of Giudecca.

One very interesting but unconventional option for backpackers traveling to Venice on a small budget is staying with monks at a monastery. They welcome guests and even pray for them during their stay!

Venezia Unica is a city pass that you can purchase online, ahead of your visit. You can select from different combinations of benefits. These include discounted admissions to attractions and convenient waterbus rides. Since some of Venice’s major landmarks are free to visit, you might want to focus more on the ACTV vaporetto (waterbus) transfers.

Time-limited tickets offer great value. You can get a 3-ticket for about €40, and options extend as far as 7-day tickets. Venice is quite compact and easily explored on foot, so choose your time limit wisely.

The beautiful St. Mark’s Basilica is Venice’s central landmark, overlooking the namesake Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square). Despite the usual queues, it’s free to visit. The basilica’s campanile bell tower is also free to visit, but it costs about €8 to climb.

From the outside, you can marvel at the cathedral's stunning Byzantine architecture, with its detailed sculptures and wall motifs, as well as its towering spires and large domes. Stepping inside the basilica can be magical just before and after noon, when the gilded interiors and gold mosaics are illuminated.

Thanks to Venice’s relatively compact size, the cheapest way to get around the city is by walking. However, getting from one part of the lagoon city to another can be a long walk. It’s more convenient to hop aboard the vaporetti (public waterbuses).

You can purchase ACTV tickets at the vaporetto stops. For further convenience and greater value, you should consider getting ACTV’s time-limited passes. Vaporetti can also help you island-hop to Murano, Burano, or Lido di Venezia.

Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute (Saint Mary of Health) is among Venice’s more iconic landmarks. It’s free to visit and offers wonderful sightseeing in one of Venice’s quieter hubs. Be sure to enter the basilica from the majestic staircase by the Grand Canal for the best experience.

A series of statues adorn the basilica’s main façade. Inside, look up at the vast and brightly decorated interiors under the huge central dome. Look carefully and you can find treasured Renaissance masterpieces: 12 works by Titian and Tintoretto.

Museo della Musica is a small museum inside the Chiesa di San Maurizio (Church of St. Maurice) in Venice, which has a cool collection of old musical instruments. The church itself is a landmark overlooking a small square and is free to visit. The instruments exhibited here are mostly from the string section.

There’s an onsite violin workshop where you can learn about how violins are made. To truly appreciate the works of Antonio Lucio Vivaldi and other great Baroque virtuosos, you can buy a ticket from the museum’s small bookstore and watch one of the evening concerts regularly held here.

Ponte de Rialto (the Rialto Bridge) is possibly one of the most iconic footbridges in Venice, if not the world. You can freely walk across it around the clock. It spans the Grand Canal, offering wonderful cityscapes from its porticoes. Walking at dusk here is particularly special, as the skies turn crimson following the dramatic sunsets over the Venetian skyline.

Uniquely, the bridge is also great for window-shopping – both sides of the portico are lined with tiny boutiques selling a variety of goods, from fashion items to trinkets like Murano blown glass and jewelry. Being a major tourist attraction in the city, the bridge is often packed with people.

If San Marco overwhelms you with its touristy scenes (and high prices), escape with an exciting island island-hopping adventure to Venice’s outlying islands. They’re serviced by the vaporetti, which you can make good use of with the great-value day passes. Just 3 minutes south is Giudecca, offering tranquillity with panoramic views to the lagoon’s main skyline.

For Venetian beaches, head further south to Lido di Venezia. Murano is famous for its glass-blowing heritage and you can see how items are made through workshop tours. On Burano, you can see colorful houses lining quaint canals and see how traditional handmade lace is made.

Dorsoduro is one of the sestieri (neighborhoods) in Venice that offers a quick and quiet escape from the hordes of San Marco. It’s also known for its local bargains and rows of bacari (local bars) where you can eat like a local. A must-try dining experience in Venice is to nibble on fresh cicchetti – the Italian version of Spanish tapas.

Some great bacari offer seating overlooking the Grand Canal – an offer that’s hard to refuse. Some serve fine Veneto wines by the glass or bottle, usually at a fraction of the cost they would be in San Marco.

When in Venice, do as the local wine lovers do – enjoy local wines at a local bar. Cannaregio is a laidback Venetian neighborhood where you can enjoy a good bar crawl. A good array of bacari (local bars) line its backstreets, serving up small glasses of prosecco away from the crowds of the city's touristy centres.

Some bacari in Cannaregio even serve fresh seafood, such as shucked oysters on ice, together with their wines, all at local prices. Adding to the adventurous aspect, the bacari here mostly don’t present any menus. As you might expect, it helps to have a good idea of what you want before you arrive and to know how to ask for it in Italian.