Things to do in Venice

Venice is best explored on foot and by vaporetto. St Mark's Basilica, the Doge's Palace, the Rialto Bridge and the Grand Canal sit within a compact historic centre, a short walk from evening concerts in the city's churches, scuole grandi and palazzi, where Vivaldi's music was first heard.

Our editors' pick of the ten sights to build a first visit around, with an evening concert to close the day:

Top Sights in Venice

St Mark's Basilica

The golden heart of Venice: a Byzantine basilica covered in more than 8,000 square metres of mosaics. Climb to the loggia for the bronze horses and a view across Piazza San Marco,

from €10

Doge's Palace

For centuries the seat of the Venetian Republic, with Tintoretto's vast Paradise in the Great Council Hall. The Secret Itineraries tour leads through hidden offices and the prisons

from €34

Rialto Bridge & Grand Canal

The oldest of the four bridges over the Grand Canal, finished in stone in 1591. Come early for the Rialto fish and produce market, then ride vaporetto line 1 along the canal for th

Gallerie dell'Accademia

The definitive collection of Venetian painting, from Bellini and Carpaccio to Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese, whose huge Feast in the House of Levi fills an entire wall

from €129

Peggy Guggenheim Collection

Peggy Guggenheim's unfinished palazzo on the Grand Canal holds one of Europe's best collections of 20th-century art: Picasso, Pollock, Magritte, Kandinsky and a sculpture garden.

from €20

Santa Maria della Salute

Baldassare Longhena's domed church at the mouth of the Grand Canal was built as thanks for the end of the 1630 plague. Inside are major works by Titian and Tintoretto.

Teatro La Fenice

One of Italy's great opera houses, where Verdi premiered La Traviata and Rigoletto. Twice destroyed by fire and twice rebuilt, its gilded auditorium can be visited by day.

from €20

Scuola Grande di San Rocco

A confraternity house decorated almost entirely by Tintoretto over 23 years, often called Venice's Sistine Chapel. Use the mirrors provided to study the ceilings without straining

from €50

Frari Basilica

The great Franciscan church of Venice, home to Titian's Assumption above the high altar and his tomb, and the burial place of composer Claudio Monteverdi.

Murano & Burano

Take the vaporetto into the lagoon: Murano for its centuries-old glass furnaces, Burano for brightly painted fishermen's houses and lace, and quiet Torcello for its Byzantine cathe

from €30