Italy

Venice

 "A beautiful and intriguing place" where "every view is like a painting," Venice won over our readers with its "unbelievable atmosphere." There's "not a bad meal to be had in this city," and it's a "paradise for shopping and fashion." "Somehow for me this city is apart from this world. You can write pages describing it but it would never be enough. It's the perfect experience to wake up in the morning and have a espresso on a narrow street and to end it in a gondola in the evening."

 

See St. Mark’s Square When it’s Empty

The key here is to visit the square when everyone else isn’t there. Of course, in order to do this you’ll probably need to spend at least one night in Venice, but I can think of worse things to “need” to do. The best times to catch St. Mark’s Square at her most vulnerable are early morning and late evening, before the day-trippers arrive or after they’ve left. Venice isn’t a nightlife town, so it doesn’t take long after the restaurants close for the square to be emptied of much of the crowd. 


 Watch a Glass-Blowing Demonstration on Murano Island

 

This is kind of a tricky one, because so many of the glass-blowing demonstrations on nearby Murano Island are very tourist-trappy, but I have it on this list for a couple of reasons. First, most people I know have never seen anyone do glass blowing or glass sculpture, so it’s entertaining and educational even if it is touristy. Second, visiting another island in the Venice lagoon is a great idea during your stay, and since Murano is closest it’s the easiest one to visit (especially if you’re short on time). If you want to avoid the overly touristy glass demonstrations, catch a vaporetto to Murano (instead of a boat booked by your hotel or a particular glass shop) and walk around the streets until you find a studio that looks relatively open. There are moreglass-blowing studios on Murano than just the touristy ones.