Venice Carnival 2019 – What to do
Hi guys! Venice Carnival 2019 is almost here, and being it the busiest time of the year in Venice, we feel like we should give you some tips.
Carnival starts February the 28th and ends March the 5th. Millions of tourists visit Venice each year during Carnival, so you can expect it to be very crowded, hotels being expensive and restaurants full. It’s not the best period to visit Venice in our opinion, but it’s also one of the most peculiar. So, how to make the most out of it? These are our tips.
Venice Carnival – San Marco
-
Avoid the busiest streets.
It’s easy to get lost in Venice and because many are visiting it for the first or second time, most of them stick on the main roads, following the river of tourists that flows from the train station to piazza San Marco in what is called “strada nuova”. Because you definitely will want to also go in piazza San Marco, we recommend you take alternative roads. First, you will avoid being stuck in overcrowded little alleys, secondly, you’ll see more characteristic parts of the city, out of the tourism frenzy. In the map below, the road you should avoid is the one on top, which is admittedly the easiest to follow. Take instead the blue one, or even better, take an even longer detour and reach San Marco from south, from the Ponte dell’Accademia bridge.
-
Avoid buying cheap masks.
You may be tempted to buy a mask in one of the stalls on the streets. You should not that most of the masks sold on the street are cheap, poor quality, made to rip off tourists. There are some artisan shops in the city, but the masks there will be considerably more expensive. If you want something authentic to bring back, you could consider buying something there, otherwise just leave it alone and save the 10€ on the fake stuff to buy a “frittella” instead (see later).
Venice Mask Artisans
-
Get a “frittella” at Tonolo
By far the best thing about Carnival is frittelle at Tonolo. Frittelle are a sweet that is traditionally made for Carnival only. They are balls of fried dough that can either come as: with raisins, with chantilly cream, with eggnog or with apples. We don’t usually make recommendations for restaurants or shops, but Tonolo is by far the best at doing them, they are heavenly. If you are in Venice for Carnival, forget about everything else, the most important thing you have to do is to go to Tonolo and have as many frittelle as possible.
Pasticceria Tonolo
