Is it better to bring a travel backpack or rolling luggage to Venice?
For each travel there is an optimum luggage to bring, Venice in this case is mainly visited in the Summer months, although we recommend visiting as we did in September to avoid massive tourism and temperatures to high. So here is what you should carry:
To travel to Venice the best luggage is a travel backpack, as the city has many stairs because of the many water channels that cross the city. Bringing rolling luggage is a mistake as you will have to carry it by hand many times.
Venice is the city that has water channels as streets in many cases. The islands of Burano and Murano, which we highly recommend to visit in the same trip, have also many water channels across the cities. These are not big cities, and the distances are not long, so carrying a back for 10 to 20 minutes is not too much for most people.
In our stay in Venice, we saw many tourist with huge rolling luggage struggling to carry them by hand. The city is not full of stairs but there are two to three stairs in most bridges and there is a bridge on every street, so do the math.
Advantages of the backpack
Venice is city that a week is more than enough to visit all the main sites, we highly recommend visiting Murano and Burano as well, to travel to these little islands you will have to take a small bout and in order to carry all the things for the day a backpack will be needed. So a backpack is essential for a trip to Venice, not only for the convenience of not carrying by hand the rolling or wheeled luggage but also to bring all you need on the daily trips.
In the photo below, you can see the Bridge Rialto, one of if not the main site to take the iconic photos of Venice. This is an exaggerated example but the point is Venice is full of bridges, and to cross these, there are a few steps on each site of the bridge therefore not making Venice a city very adapted to people with wheelchair.
So our recommended luggage for Venice is a light travel backpack, it will serve you well in the day to day trips to the different islands and it will save you a sore hand.
What to wear in Venice
Clothes for Venice
Venice the Italian city that it is, you will see a lot of well dressed people, with nice cotton or linen shirts, shorts or skirts and sandals. If you are visiting during the April until May or September to October bring a light jacket or a sweater as the weather is generally cooler. You can still wear lightweight clothing but you may also want to bring some nice jeans or pants.
Oh and do not forget your sunglasses and a hat or cap to protect from the sun!
What not to wear in Venice
Gondolier Outfit
The Gondolier or Gondoliere is the person that drives the gondola, these distinguished gentlemen wear a distinctive outfit that is mainly recognized by the black and white striped T-shirt with black long pants. So if I were you I would avoid wearing a striped black and white T-shit when visiting Venice. As you can see in the photo below that we took from the Rialto Bridge, the Gondoliere wear this typical and very distinctive outfit.
Recommended travel backpacks for Venice
We brought the Tomtoc 40L and the Bidmamba 20L .These backpacks are our favorite to bring for trips to southern Europe in which will stay for a week. In southern Europe you will most likely travel light and with Ryanair or Vueling so you need backpacks that fit the standard measures. Check them out in our post about the best travel backpacks.
What shoes should you wear in Venice
The shoes you wear to Venice should be confortable, as you will be walking around the city. There is no other way to move around in it, expect with a Gondola or private boat, and these are not cheap, plus the city is not that big. Therefore one pair of shoes should be for doing tourism during the day. Also we recommend to wear some fancy but confortable shoes to wear at night, during dinner and for going out at night. Keep in mind that Venice streets are made of stones and cobblestones, as you can see below in a photo we took of the streets of Burano.
What shoes to wear when there is Acqua Alta
Fortunately we did not experience aqua alta during our stay in Venice but Acqua Alta is a phenomenon that keeps on happening more often it seems during the last few years. For those of you that are not aware, acqua alta is how it is called the high tides that affect mainly Venice, Chioggia, and Burano.
The phenomenon occurs between autumn and spring. It is estimated that these can cover up to 96% of the city on Venice. Therefore, if you are visiting Venice between autumn and spring bring a pair of rubber boots just in case because you may need them. Some people opt for sandals or crocs, but we do not recommended it. The city council has put in place some raised walkways, which provide for pedestrian traffic during the most severe floodings but these are only in a few sites so you will get your feet wet anyway if you do not wear rubber boots.