ADDRESSES
& walking round venice
Addresses in Venice are extremely complicated and you will probably go crazy at least once during your trip when trying to find a place. Rather than a street address, every address in Venice is written as the Sestiere (district) name followed by a number. For example “Dorsoduro 2930” (one of our favourite restaurants!) means that the building is categorized as number 2930 in the Dorsoduro district. Every building in the district has its own number so you can imagine that the numbers get quite large. The address will not give you the street name or the name of the square. In fact it would be much easier to know that Dorsoduro 2930 is on Campo Santa Margherita. To further complicate things, the numbers are not always sequential so it’s pretty impossible to find anything. Mobile phone maps are also not always accurate. I once walked round for 25 minutes trying to find a hair salon because the online maps had taken me to an address the other side of the canal.
To help you out, for every restaurant and shop mentioned on our site we also tell you the name of the street or square, as well as its postal address. Hopefully that will help a bit but do be resigned to the fact that you’re going to get lost at some point or another!
Street maps can be bought in almost any tourist shop, newsagents, or tobacco shop. These have the street names, so are only useful if you know the name of the street rather than the address.
Consider downloading the Here Wego app because this has a great map of Venice with the district numbers listed on the map.
before you arrive
Before you arrive its good to ask your accommodation provider if they can give you some specific instructions on how to arrive, or any landmarks or shops to look out for as you pass. Once you find your hotel or apartment, look out for points of reference to find your way home (in fact it can be fun to ask your kids to remember a shop and look out for it).
You may be interested to know that you can enjoy the views from the canals even if you don’t have a boat – Google street includes a boat’s eye view of all the canals too!
Walking around without getting lost
Our advice is don’t be scared to walk in Venice, part of the charm is getting lost in the alleyways and stumbling across a quiet square or nice restaurant. Try to remember where the main bridges are (Academia and Rialto) and always look up on the wall of every street corner as there are usually signs pointing the direction to San Marco, Rialto, Piazzale Roma, and Ferrovia (train station). I always find a point of reference such as a shop in order to find my way back somewhere. In Venice try to walk on the right to avoid blocking the small alleyways. Locals will also appreciate it if you don’t stop to take pictures every 2 minutes.
walking round (with prams, slings and kids)
Venice is small and easy to walk around…unless you have small kids! For small babies, using a sling is the best option. Alternatively, bring a lightweight pram that is easy to lift up and down bridges (with larger wheels). People will often offer to help you carry the pram (but be careful of pickpockets if they do).
