When my hubby and I travel to a new city I do my research and I make a mental note of the sights I would like to see and how much of the city I want to explore. When you have limited time, you have to be selective and you must have some sort of a plan.

Armed with “sort of a plan”, we normally head out first day and allow the city to lead us on our path. Most times we end up at the exact places we intended to see, effortlessly. It just works out that way when you have a clear intention.

Having done all the research I can, I am normally still surprised to learn that there are a number of seemingly insignificant facts I didn’t know. Here are my top 5 things I discovered about Venice that is useful to know before you go:

Marco Polo Airport Venice is NOT located in the city of Venice.

To get to the city of Venice you have to take a Vaporetto from the airport which is located 12.4km from Venice by road and 10km from Venice by water, in a city called Tessera. Arriving late at night we travelled this 10km by water only by the light of the motorboat. It took us about one hour twenty minutes to arrive at Arsenale bus stop. It was only on our next trip in daylight that we understood the way the water bus systems works in Venice.

The streets of Venice are mostly empty at night.

If clubbing or wild loud restaurant parties are your idea of a night out, then Venice is not the place to go. As the day draws to an end, you will find the busy streets of Venice seems to quiet down to a hush. This is when couples come out to walk, hand in hand under the beautiful Venice moon.

The endless bridges can be difficult to navigate with luggage or prams.

Pack light and if you are travelling with a baby or toddler, make sure his/her pram is able to move easily up and down stairs. There is no way to get around Venice without crossing at least 10 bridges in the space of 10 mins.

Just because it looks like a pizza doesn’t mean it is a pizza.

The first night we arrived in Venice our host Ricardo sat us down and gave us some solid advice. About Italian food he said, there are some really good Italian restaurants in Venice where you can find authentic Italian pasta & pizza but most of the restaurants in the touristy part of Venice is not Italian. So be careful when you see a pizza on the menu. There are quite a few Chinese owned restaurants in Venice.

Not all gelato ice creams are created equal.

The rule is if it has this creamy swirl on the top of it, chances are it’s not real. Genuine gelato ice cream is not displayed with all the swirly stuff. The proof is in the taste. Here is a pic of genuine authentic gelato ice cream Yum!