Planning a Trip

Tourist Offices -- There's a small office in the train station, but the main office is located right when you get off the vaporetto at the San Marco stop, in a stone pavilion wedged between the small green park on the Grand Canal called the Giardinetti Reali and the famous Harry's Bar. It's called the Venice Pavilion/Palazzina dei Santi (tel. 041-529-8710 or 041-522-5150; www.turismovenezia.it; vaporetto: San Marco) and is, frankly, more interested in running its gift shop than in helping tourists. It's open daily from 10am to 6pm. They've kept open the old (but just as indifferent) office under the arcade at the west end of Piazza San Marco at no. 71F, on the left of the tunnel-like street leading to Calle dell'Ascensione (tel. 041-529-8740 or 041-529-8711; fax 041-523-0399; vaporetto: San Marco). It's open Monday to Friday 9am to 3:30pm. During peak season, a small info booth with erratic hours operates in the arrivals hall at the Marco Polo Airport.

The tourist office's LEO Bussola brochure is useful for museum hours and events, but their map only helps you find vaporetto lines and stops (it's well worth buying a street map at a news kiosk). More useful is the info-packed monthly Un Ospite di Venezia (www.unospitedivenezia.it); most hotels have a handful of copies. Also keep an eye out for the ubiquitous posters around town with exhibit and concert schedules. The classical concerts held mostly in churches are touristy but fun and are advertised by an army of costumed touts handing out leaflets on highly trafficked streets.

Websites -- The city's official tourist-board site is www.turismovenezia.it; the official site of the city government (also full of good resources) is www.comune.venezia.it. A couple of good privately maintained sites are Meeting Venice (www.meetingvenice.it) and Doge of Venice (www.doge.it).