Venice isn’t without its problems. There’s the constant threat of flooding, the damage water does to its precious buildings, and the toll taken by the sheer number of people who come to see it every year. Before our trip, I’ll admit I had a bit of a crisis of conscience about going at all.
We went anyway, with our teenagers, and tried hard to visit in a way that helped rather than harmed. This is what we learnt, starting with the access fee and tourist tax that confuse so many visitors.
Day visitors aged 14 and over pay an access fee to enter the historic centre on the city’s busiest days. Overnight guests pay a tourist tax through their accommodation instead, and must register for an exemption. Staying longer, avoiding cruise-ship days and following local etiquette all help Venice cope.
Venice is a living city, not a museum, but on a busy day visitors can vastly outnumber the people who actually live there. Fewer than 50,000 people now call the historic centre home, down from around 175,000 in the 1950s, as homes turn into holiday lets and everyday shops give way to souvenir stalls.
The city relies heavily on tourism for its income, but it also has to manage the flow of visitors, particularly day-trippers and cruise passengers, who add to the crowds without spending much. That’s the thinking behind the access fee, the ban on large cruise ships in the lagoon, and the growing list of rules for visitors.
The access fee (contributo di accesso) is a charge for day visitors entering the historic centre of Venice on its busiest days. It’s still officially an experiment, run season by season rather than as a permanent, year-round charge. Here’s how it has worked so far:
Day visitors aged 14 and over who enter the historic centre during the charging hours on a designated day, without staying the night.
Only on selected peak days, not every day, which so far have fallen between spring and midsummer, mostly weekends and holidays, and only during daytime hours. Outside those days there’s nothing to pay and nothing to register. If you arrive after the charging window closes, you don’t pay either.
Children under 14, residents of the Veneto region, and people staying overnight anywhere in the Municipality of Venice, which includes Mestre and the Lido as well as the historic centre. There are other exemptions too, for students on school trips and people who work in the city, for example.
Most exempt visitors, including overnight guests, still need to get a free exemption voucher with a QR code before they arrive. Children under 14 and Veneto residents don’t.
You pay online through the official portal and get a QR code to show if you’re checked. Booking further ahead is cheaper than paying close to your visit.
Visitors who should have paid and haven’t can be fined on the spot.
Each year’s scheme is decided separately by the city, so don’t assume next year will look like the last. Always check the official Venice access fee websites (cda.ve.it and cda.veneziaunica.it) before you travel, and ignore any third-party sites charging extra to “book” it for you.
From July 27th 2026 there is currently NO access fee required.
Search for “Venice tourist tax” and you’ll find people mixing up two quite different charges:
A charge for day visitors only, paid online in advance, on designated busy days.
A nightly charge for anyone staying overnight in Venice, collected by your hotel, B&B or holiday let, often in cash at check-in or check-out.
The amount depends on the type of accommodation, the time of year and where in the municipality you’re staying. Children under 10 are exempt, and it’s only charged for a set number of nights, so longer stays aren’t penalised.
In short, if you’re staying the night, you pay the tourist tax through your accommodation and don’t pay the access fee, though you’ll probably still need to register for the exemption. If you’re visiting for the day on a fee day, you pay the access fee.
Given everything I’d read, I felt I should offer some suggestions for keeping the impact of your visit down. These are the things we tried to do:
A longer stay puts more money into the local economy, and gives you time to get away from the main sights instead of spending every day in the busiest parts of the city.
Staying in the historic centre means you spend your money directly in Venice and aren’t adding to the daily flow of people coming and going. It also lets you enjoy Venice in the evening, when the day-trippers have gone home and the city takes on a quieter, more mysterious feel.
Choose locally run restaurants and shops, and look for artisan souvenirs made in Venice rather than cheap imports.
Big cruise ships have been banned from the Giudecca Canal since 2021 and now dock on the mainland, but their passengers are still bussed in and pour into the busiest spots for a few hours at a time.
Visiting outside the summer peak helps spread the crowds more evenly through the year.
Carry a reusable water bottle and top it up at the city’s public fountains.
Waste collection in Venice works differently to what you’re probably used to, so follow the local system.
Cruise ship schedules are published online, and they’re a useful planning tool. On days when ships are in, the areas around St Mark’s Square can be absolutely rammed.
For our five-day stay, I checked the schedule and found there was one day with no cruise ships due. We booked our tour of the Doge’s Palace and St Mark’s Basilica for that day and, while it was still busy, it could have been a lot worse. Our San Marco guide has more tips for dodging the crowds there.
The Venetians were very welcoming on our visit, but their patience must be tested by the sheer number of visitors trying to squeeze through their city while they go about their daily lives. A few simple habits help, and some of them are rules backed by fines:
Stand to one side: Don't stop in the middle of a narrow street or bridge to take photos. Step to the side so people can pass.
Don't sit on the ground: Sitting on pavements, bridges or monument steps, especially to eat, is banned in many places, and you can be fined. Find a bench on a fondamenta instead.
Cover up in churches: Cover your shoulders and midriff and avoid short shorts if you're visiting any of Venice's many churches.
Never swim in the canals: It's against the rules, and the water is dirty and dangerous.
Don't feed the birds: Feeding pigeons and seagulls is banned, and fined.
Leave the bike behind: Cycling isn't allowed in the historic centre.
Choose a small tour group: Guided groups in the historic centre are capped in size and guides can't use loudspeakers, so small-group tours are the norm.
Dress for the city, not the beach: Walking around bare-chested or in swimwear is also banned.
Venice is subject to high tides called acqua alta, which can flood parts of the city. The tides follow the moon, so they can happen at any time of year, though the highest tend to come in autumn and winter, when the wind and weather can push the water even higher than forecast.
The city’s tide centre (Centro Maree) publishes official tide forecasts on the Comune di Venezia website, so you can see what’s coming.
Sirens sound when a high tide is on its way. They can be alarming if you’re not expecting them, so don’t panic if you hear one.
When tides are high, raised walkways go up across St Mark’s Square and other low-lying areas. The water usually drops again within a few hours, so the best advice is to wait it out indoors or somewhere higher up.
Locals simply pull on their wellies and carry on. As a visitor you’re unlikely to have packed any, although you’ll find shops selling plastic overboots when the water rises. The city also now has the MOSE flood barriers, which can be raised to protect the lagoon from the highest tides.
Our guide on the ghost walk told us that Venice is generally very safe, even at night, and that the biggest risk is pickpockets in the busiest areas. Keep a close eye on your belongings, particularly around St Mark’s Square and the Rialto Bridge.
You’ll also see signs around the city saying “Attenzione ai gabbiani!”, watch out for the seagulls. They aren’t criminals as such, but we can vouch for them as thieves. On our last day, we’d just got back to St Mark’s Square and grabbed a slice of pizza to eat on the go when a seagull swooped down and snatched it straight out of my daughter’s hands. Beware of the seagulls indeed!
Finally, wear comfortable shoes with a good grip. Between the bridges, steps and uneven, sometimes wet paving, walking round Venice in flip-flops is asking for trouble.
To feel a little more Venetian, and spread your money more widely, try a few local habits:
Order a Select: Try a Select Spritz at aperitivo time. It's the local's choice, less sweet than an Aperol, and closer to a Campari Spritz.
Skip the afternoon cappuccino: Italians rarely drink cappuccino after lunch. Order an espresso, a macchiato or a caffè corretto (espresso with a shot of grappa) instead.
Stand at the bar: Coffee drunk standing at the bar is usually much cheaper than at a table, especially at the grand cafés on St Mark's Square..
See art in the churches: Venice's churches are full of Renaissance masterpieces, and you can see them in bite-sized chunks without shuffling through crowded galleries. Start with the Frari in San Polo.
Cross by traghetto: Take a traghetto across the Grand Canal for a taste of a gondola ride at a fraction of the price. Our guide to getting around Venice explains how.
In closing
There's a balance to strike between letting Venice benefit from your visit and not adding to overtourism any more than you have to.
Avoiding Venice isn't the answer when the city depends on tourism, so all we can do is think about how we visit and whether we're doing it as responsibly as we can. We tried, and we loved every minute.
If you're planning a family trip, our guide to Venice with teenagers puts all of this into a five-day plan.
Happy travels!
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