Visiting Venice is a unique but not so effortless experience: the city has 120 islands, 150 canals and 400 bridges. There are thousands of museums, 137 churches, exhibitions, events, historical palaces and the navigator on your phone never works. As someone once said: the best way to visit Venice is by getting lost! 

Let us give you some tips! Even though we live nearby (just 40 minutes from the Hotel) we always find new places and shops each and every time we visit. Last month we came across THREE INCREDIBLE PLACES during a visit with our family.

Did you know that Venice has a 1 km long maze made of 1200 trees?

The Borges Labyrinth garden maze on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore is dedicated to Jorge Luis Borges, one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The project from the British architect Randoll Coate has been carried out by the Cini foundation as a tribute to Jorge Luise Borges’ “The garden of forking paths”.

The garden maze is quite unique because the paths create unique designs : the name Borges is spelled twice and you can see sculptures inspired by Borges’ works like two hourglasses one question mark, a tiger, a stick and some mirrors. Can you see them?

With the help of an audioguide you can explore the maze to get to know how it was built and listen to some classical music from the Fenice Theater’s Orchestra.

The garden maze can be visited every day except for Wednesdays and visits must be pre-reserved on this website https://www.visitcini.com/tour2-labirinto-borges/

Probably one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world

The most original bookshop in the world is in Venice. Acqua Alta bookshop was opened by Luigi Frizzo from Vicenza who chose the name that translated in English means “high tide”. In fact whenever the tide reaches 110 cm the bookshop gets flooded. To save his books from the tides, Luigi chose very creative shelves: canoes, gondolas, boats and baths! Multi language old and new books are not only for sale but have been transformed in furniture, like the stairway made of encyclopaedias.

The bookshop is visited by many tourists and locals and cats like to visit too. The bookshop is located near the Church of St. Maria Formosa and the admission is free of charge.

Did you know that this famous landmark can be visited? 

Venetians call it ‘paron de casa’ that means “landlord” because it overlooks the island. The bell tower in St. Mark’s square is 98 meters high and from the top you can admire the whole city and the surrounding islands.The first tower was built in the XI century and it served as a lighthouse. It was not before XVI century that the tower became the historical symbol that is still today. Because it was not built properly it collapsed In 1902 but it was rebuilt in 1912 in the same exact place.

The top can be reached only by elevator, the tour is 20 minutes long. We suggest you to book the tickets in advance if you are visiting in the busiest months. Be careful, the bells ring every hour and they are very loud.