Venice Family Holidays & Breaks
Take the Family is a travel agency specialising in active, adventure and luxury holidays. Your personal travel advisor will create the perfect Venice holiday for your family, with expert advice and dedicated support throughout.
Venice for family holidays
Though a contender for the title of most romantic city in Europe, Venice’s food and people are child friendly and it’s one of those places where you can combine beaches with art and churches (and masks!) for an experience none of you will ever forget.
Book a Venice holiday with Take the Family and you’ll discover a city where most of the important sights are outside and which is surprisingly easy to navigate – kids love the boat travel. In fact, one of the biggest joys of visiting Venice with kids is just to wander aimlessly, stopping for ice creams and espressos. The lack of traffic means kids can play in the squares or meander in the streets without you having a cardiac arrest – though the canals aren’t fenced off so small children do need supervision, and Venice isn’t very buggy-friendly either.
As a specialist family travel agency, we can tailor-make the perfect holiday in Venice for your family – perhaps as part of a wider family holiday in other parts of Italy. Contact one of our travel advisors now and let's discuss your dream trip.
Scroll down for all you need to know about family holidays in Venice.
Let us tailor-make the perfect Venice holiday for you
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Things to do with kids in Venice
Best Venice Boat Rides
• Hop aboard Vaporetto no. 1 to travel the length of the Grand Canal, or take the cheaper traghetto (a sort of public gondola) across the canal for just a few pence.
• Hop aboard one of the boats that leave the riva (bank) beyond St Mark's for the islands: Torcello with its ancient church and lots of outdoor space, Murano with its working glass-blowers (you can have a go yourselves) plus good seafood, and Burano the lace-makers' island with its houses in rainbow colours.
• Take a boat to the Lido (to which Byron swam from the Grand Canal) for a day’s beach fun.
Venice History and Culture
• Head for the Doges’ Palace – kids love the giant’s steps and the lion's head with a hole in its mouth (it bites if you tell a lie). In fact, kids can have fun spotting winged lions (the symbol of Venice) or grotesque faces all over the city.
• Take in European and African art from the first half of the 20th century at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection with its family events.
• Stop off at Caffè Florian on the right-hand side of St Mark's Square to ogle its painted splendour while you sip an (expensive) hot chocolate.
• See the gold mosaics in St Mark's Basilica, which are lit up on weekdays from 11.30 to 12.45.
• Visit one of Venice's many mask shops to watch the artisans at work and perhaps pick up a souvenir.
Glass-blowing on Murano
Eating in Venice
Food in Venice is wonderful – if you avoid the obvious tourist traps in favour of the hundreds of reasonably priced restaurants in Venice serving pasta, pizza and rice-based dishes that will keep even the fussiest child happy. Venetian specialities themselves appeal to a more sophisticated palate – they include the likes of salt cod (bacala) and liver and onions (fegato alla veneziana).
The best ice cream in Venice is on the Zattere – a promenade on the northern side of the Guidecca canal that is a popular spot for taking in the sunset. Opened in 1935, Gelateria Nico is a landmark.
If you're staying in an apartment, you can find fantastic local produce at delis and grocers, and if you’re an early riser, the market on the left side of the Rialto Bridge has incredible fish and veg.
A vaporetto.
When to go to Venice
The best time to visit Venice is April or late September, but as it's (wrongly) not generally considered a family destination, prices do not rise much in school holidays. High summer is to be avoided, however – the heat can be stifling, and the canals can smell. That said, the Festa del Redentore each July, which has its origins in a feast giving thanks to the end of the plague of 1576, is spectacular.
Any time between September and March is low season in Venice. It can be pretty cold from November to February, but the light is glorious on the canals at that time of year and nothing closes for winter. Acqua Alta (high water) can come any time around November but the city creates elevated walkways for pedestrians – good fun for kids to race around on.
On 6 January the Regatta of the Befana delights kids with the sight of witches in boats. The iconic Carnevale with its masked party-goers and street entertainers is in February, and hotels book up very early, so do contact us way in advance to organise your Venice Carnival break.
Palazzo Ducale
How much does a family holiday to Venice cost?
Nothing is cheap in Venice and you’ll need to factor in your spend on food, drink and souvenirs when planning your trip. We can book you into a range of accommodation suited to your budget, including some wonderful luxury options for a splurge, plus apart-hotels and apartments for extra space and flexibility. See the Best Places to Stay tab for more info.
How to get to Venice
There are direct flights from the UK to Venice from London airports, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow. London to Venice flights take just over 2 hours.
Most Venice flights go to Marco Polo airport 15 minutes outside the city by car or water taxi, but some low-cost flights go to Treviso about an hour’s transfer outside the city.
We will include the best flights for your family as part of the bespoke Venice holiday we put together for you.
Venice Travel Info
Flying time2hrs All flight times are based on flights from UK London airports, to the capital or nearest destination airport.
Carbon footprint1.05 CO2 Estimated tonnes of CO2 produced for return flights for a family of four.
TimezoneGMT +1
CurrencyEuro
Weather Today
24°C
75.6°F
Fireworks at the Festa del Redentore
Our partners
Caffè Florian
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