Book your flight to Venice with Icelandair from USD 768*

Introduction to Venice

Welcome to Venice, the glorious Italian city of gondolas and grand canals. No other European city offers such a magical interplay of water, light, art, and history – this destination has been entrancing visitors for centuries.

Icelandair has added Venice to its flight network. From May 22 until October 26, 2026, we fly three times a week to Venice from Iceland and North America. Book now for your chance to explore this romantic, remarkable city, or maybe use Venice as a gateway to the charms of the North Adriatic region.

Book your Icelandair flight deals and flights to Italy: and before you discover the watery wonders that Venice is famous for, how about unearthing Reykjavík's city secrets? When you book a flight to Venice with Icelandair you can add a stopover in Iceland at no additional airfare.

Exploring Venice

Venice, the capital of northern Italy’s Veneto region, is no ordinary city: it’s built on more than 100 small islands in a lagoon in the Adriatic Sea. It has no roads, just canals – including the Grand Canal thoroughfare – lined with ornate palazzi. Its neighborhoods are linked by more than 400 bridges. All this goes some way to explain the city's many nicknames, from 'the Floating City' and 'the City of Bridges' to La Serenissima.

'La Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia' was the city's official title in medieval and Renaissance times. Serenissima means 'the most serene', reflecting the power, stability, and greatness of the Republic of Venice in those times.

Superlatives come easy in this place, with Venice regularly described as one of Europe's most beautiful and most romantic destinations. Visit and see for yourself!

Attractions in Venice

Ready to tackle Venice’s icons? St Mark's Square is often thronged with tourists, but for good reason: it's a showstopper, home to St Mark's Basilica with its spectacular domes and luminous mosaics. Next door is the Doge's Palace, built in pink and white marble, featuring opulent rooms, art, and historical exhibits.

Other heavy-hitters include the graceful Rialto Bridge, the oldest of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal. Photogenic treats lie around every corner of the city and it’s a delight to explore and discover small bridges, quiet alleys, neighborhood squares, and elegant palazzi.

To experience art, make a beeline for Gallerie dell'Accademia, home to the world's most important collection of Venetian painting, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, a premier museum of 20th-century European and American art.

Activities in Venice

One of the best (and most budget-friendly) ways to start exploring Venice is boarding a vaporetto, or water bus, and cruising along the Grand Canal. This busy corridor is 3.8km (2.4 miles) long, and its banks are lined with more than 170 buildings, most of which date from the 13th to the 18th century.

More waterborne exploring comes with Venice's most famous activity: a gondola ride on a long, flat-bottomed boat propelled by a single oarsman, known as a gondolier. Yes, it’s a little cliched, but it’s a special bucket-list item for many.

Boat cruises and food walks are perfect for richer insight into the city. Maybe you’d like to try a pasta-making or glass-blowing class? And believe it or not, you’re not far from a beach! The Lido di Venezia is a small island in the lagoon that offers beaches and spectacular Venice views.

Dining in Venice

Venice's food scene is up there with Italy's best. Unlike the pasta-heavy dishes of other regions, Venice specializes in risottos and polenta, and due to its unique lagoon location and proximity to the Adriatic Sea, seafood is a staple.

Local flavors to savor include sarde in saor (sweet and sour sardines), baccalà mantecato (creamed cod), and risotto al nero di seppia (squid ink risotto). Other well-known dishes include bigoli in salsa (thick pasta with anchovy sauce), seasonal moeche (soft-shell crabs), and sweet treats like fritole (fried donuts) and tiramisu.

Authentic Venetian food is best experienced at small osterias or bacari (wine bars), where locals enjoy cicchetti (small bites) with wine. Avoid tourist-heavy areas and look for places with a mix of locals enjoying their meals.

Shopping in Venice

Shopping in Venice lets you experience the city's history of craftsmanship and its longstanding flair for style and theatrics.

Head to the Rialto Market to fill a picnic basket or to shop for gourmet souvenirs like pasta, wine, grappa, and olive oils. The San Marco district is the area for luxury, with exclusive boutiques and high-end Italian brands. Connecting St Mark's Square to the Rialto Bridge, the Mercerie is a bustling area filled with a tempting range of stores.

High on the list of uniquely Venetian souvenirs are Murano glass, Burano lace, and handmade leather goods. Carnival masks are a symbol of the city's theatrical past, traditionally worn during the Carnival of Venice. Venetian marbled paper is evidence of the city’s long history of paper-making and book-binding and is sold as elegant notebooks and journals.

Getting around the city

To get from Venice's Marco Polo Airport (VCE) to the city, after your flight from the United States, you can take a bus to Piazzale Roma for a quick and affordable land transfer, or use the Alilaguna water bus or water taxi for a ride directly into the city's waterways – the latter is a more scenic option, but more expensive.

Once you reach the city itself, you'll find it very walkable despite all those canals and bridges. Venice is small, and nearly all of the prime sightseeing is within a 20-minute walk of the Rialto Bridge or St Mark's Square. However, the city's layout is labyrinthine and confusing, so you'll likely find yourself needing to use a vaporetto (water bus) at times to get around. There are also private water taxis, as well as gondolas (but note that gondolas are for scenic leisure rides, not for transportation).

Travel beyond Venice

A favorite way to leave Venice's main island behind involves visiting the charming Venetian lagoon islands of Murano and Burano. Murano is famous for its glass production, Burano for its rainbow-hued houses and lacework. Frequent vaporettos link these islands, giving insight into a more authentic side of the city.

If you're looking for something a little further from town, some of the best day trips from Venice include exploring the Dolomite mountains, tasting the local prosecco and soave white wine produced at nearby vineyards, and visiting noteworthy cities in the Veneto region such as Verona and Padua (easily reached by train).

Venice airport can also be used a gateway to the North Adriatic region, with easy transportation links to Slovenia and Croatia. Alternately, if your adventure is taking you further abroad, explore more of our flights to Europe.