Venice With Kids Plus A Side Trip To Burano

For the last stop on our Europe road trip, we decided we wold spend a few days in Venice. We thought it’d be perfect because November is low season so we would be able to avoid the crowds and (hopefully) the crazy prices.

Piran

On our way to Venice, we stopped for the morning in Piran, Slovenia. We like doing our drives during Valentina’s nap time so we usually plan around that. Piran was a beautiful coastal town that used to belong to the Venetians. The town is super cute and some people describe it as Venice without the crowds. After having seen Venice, I don’t think I would agree with that description, but I definitely think Piran is worth a visit, if not a longer stay. 

We spent the morning exploring the very narrow alleyways in Piran, making our way to the town’s point overlooking the gorgeous Adriatic Sea. The kids had a blast exploring Piran. They played racing cars in the main square, chased each other in the alleys, and had an overall good time there. We made a stop at the fruit market and got some juicy mandarins for a snack. In the early afternoon, we stopped at one of the cafes on the plaza for lunch and then at a Gelateria for a treat. The kids were so happy, they climbed all the way back up to the parking area up the hill without help from us parents!

Venice

Venice – Where We Stayed

After Piran, we drove to our Airbnb in Cavallino-Treporti, a town across the channel from Venice and a 35-minute boat ride from Venice on water bus line 14 (boats departed from Punta Sabbioni. Schedules here). We didn’t stay in Venice because it was way out of our price range. For a lot less money, we stayed outside Venice in a very spacious and comfortable 2-bedroom apartment with parking and lovely green space for the kids to play.

Venice – What We Did

Day 1

We arrived at our Airbnb around 3:15 in the afternoon and, on a whim, we decided to get ready and head out to catch the 4pm ferry into Venice! We knew this could go either way with the kids after a long travel day but, you only live once, right? Turns out that was a great decision as we rode into Venice at sunset, which was a thing of beauty. When we got off the boat, the crowds were not terrible but there were a lot of people. We walked to St. Mark’s Square and then up one of the main streets, over bridges, and through narrow alleys. We had a nice Italian dinner and then found a toy store to get the kids a small treat for being such amazing travelers! Afterwards, we headed back home on the boat with our hearts full.

Day 2

On our second day, we set the alarm clock and caught an early ferry into Venice to dodge the crowds. We arrived at 8am to found totally empty streets but partially flooded canals and a totally flooded St. Mark’s Square. Apparently, during winter, Venice suffers from aqua alta, or high waters. The sea water comes in during high tide, flooding a lot of the city streets. Venice is prepared for this with elevated walkways to help you avoid the water while still enjoying some of the main sites and allowing you to explore. (We were also fortunate to dodge the flooding earlier in the week, which had been the worst in decades in the city.)

We spent about 5 hours walking around Venice and this is some of what we did:

• We let the kids lead the way in exploring the city streets. They loved choosing the narrower streets and finding “secret” passages all over. This really kept them entertained and interested, and it definitely helped them keep walking!

• We walked to the Rialto Bridge and checked out the Grand Canal. There were hardly any people when we got there and we were able to really absorb the sights and sounds of such an amazing place. 

• Even though we had said we wouldn’t, we ended up doing a gondola ride! It was a lovely experience to be on a gondola during our time in Venice! 

• We ate lunch at Farini in Venice. They offer pizza slices, soups, paninis, coffee, beer and more for a very reasonable prices.

• About 3 meters past Farini, there’s an awesome chocolate store. They offered a ton of samples to us, including cookies, chocolate, and some limoncello drops for the parents. We bought some cookies and they were delicious!

Day 3

We took the ferry to Burano (two 15-minute rides on line 12) and got there right before sunset. We walked to the Love Viewing Bridge to get an amazing view of the canals reflecting the gorgeously colorful houses on them. Burano is small and can be explored quickly. The kids loved the town from the moment they saw the colorful houses from the boat. They had a lovely time thinking about what color they would paint their house if they were ever to move to Burano.

After our time in Venice, we drove to Milan with a stop in Padova for lunch. In Milan we returned our car after having put 12,000 km on it over the past five months. We were a tiny bit sad to see our car go, but we were also excited to go back to our usual way of traveling: our backpacks on our backs!

Thanks again for following along on this journey!