There are two periods of the year when Venice is a little less crowded. It’s November and it’s January. Every now and then people ask me about when to come to Venice.
- When’s the best time to visit Venice, La Serenissima? I was thinking about July, what do you think?
Well, this is what I think.
Don’t come in July. The summer months can be so full of people that you’ll have difficulties even move around. The streets are jam-packed, the restaurants are crowded and people tend to be a little less patient and kind.
On top of that, you have the heat. Venice is not as hot as southern Italy… Or Turkey or Greece. But while Turkey, Greece, Puglia, and Sicily have the breeze coming in from the sea, at least by the coast. Venice is inside a Lagoon and there’s not much wind. While in southern Italy the air is dry and warm, in Venice it gets wet and hot. The subjective temperature exceeds the one further south. No, I wouldn’t recommend the summer.
Autumn and Spring are nice. Not so hot, but it’s still crowded.
To me… and to a lot of us who live here all year round, the best time is right now. January. Ok, it’s cold and sometimes it’s windy and right out freezing. But you have space, and that’s something rare in Venice. In the evenings you can walk over San Marco and you’re almost all alone. In the mornings you can step down to the waterfront and you see only two or three boats far away.
The Accademia bridge is almost empty, while in summer it takes you five minutes to cross. On the Vaporetto, you can even find a seat and sit down. When you enter the local bar the barman will chat for a minute or two while serving you your Cafè macchiato.
And the air is fresh and easy to breathe. On those special days when the low sun just about reaches over the roofs and finds its way down to the Calle. When the sky is so blue it almost hurts your eyes. When the lagoon isn’t gray like in summer but white as the snowy mountains up north.
That’s the best time of all to visit Venice.