Venice

Holidays by Destination Europe Italy Venice Days Out 

Venice offers plenty to keep you busy without setting foot anywhere outside the city boundaries, but if you feel like a change there are the following:

Murano
It's an easy trip by boat from the Fondamente Nuove (no need to take a guided tour) and you can stop off at San Pietro Martire to admire the two Bellinis, and the Basilica of Santi Maria e Donato to admire the rich mosaic floor with which includes images of animals, flowers and fish - rivalled only by Saint Mark's which is largely covered.

The main attraction though is the glassworking. There are numerous factories where you can see either tourist demonstrations or real crafts people at work. Some try to charge €1 a head, but there are plenty of free ones so you can avoid that. To see different techniques aim to visit two or three factories. There are only around 20 master craftsmen who produce the fine pieces and it's worth trying to see one of them at work as they do the really tricky stuff. Bear in mind that the workers go for an early lunch. There are measures to keep visitors safe but health and safety is not what it would be in an Anglo Saxon environment and visitors are allowed within feet of the work.

For some background there is also the glass museum, which has a small section on how glass is made - though this is not particularly clear - as well as examples of Venetian glass from the past centuries.

While out there you could also travel to Burano, a little backwater.

The Lido
Essentially a residential suburb of Venice, for cycling, sand and kicking back. There are Grand Hotels from the 19th century when it was first developed - and traffic again.

The Island of San Giorgio
Here San Giorgio Maggiore offers what is considered to be the best view of the city from the campanile.