Venice is easily one of the most magical cities in Europe — it’s also one of the most tourist-dense. You just have to accept that you’re going to fight crowds. Venice is also expensive. You have to truly seek out the good food deals or you’re going to pay a lot for low-quality junk sold to tourists. In this Venice travel price guide, we’ve outlined the estimated travel expenses for food, accommodation, attractions, alcohol, and other common expenses to help you budget your trip to Venice.
This article is part of our City Price Guide Series — Click here to see all our city price guides.
Average Daily Cost for Visiting Venice
For budget-minded travelers, it costs around €55-€85/day to visit Venice. These prices are based on what you’ll need to visit the city comfortably as a budget traveler. If you want to upgrade your accommodations, add another €50-€150/night depending on your stay. These prices also don’t include things like big nights out at the bar/pub, club entry fees, souvenir/clothing shopping, tours, random purchases, nicer food, etc.
Daily Cost of Budget Travel in Venice: €75 (Approx. $86)
- Attractions: €10 (one paid attraction + any free sights)
- Food: €28
- Breakfast: €3
- Lunch: €8
- Dinner: €14
- Treat (dessert/beer/wine): €3
- Transportation: €0
- Accommodation (Hostel): €35
Daily Cost of Frugal Travel in Venice: €55(Approx. $65)
- Attractions: €5 (free walking tour + visit one of the free sights)
- Food: €19
- Breakfast: €2
- Lunch: €6 (pasta to go)
- Dinner: €9 (make your own meal in the hostel or grab something cheap)
- Beer/Snack: €1.50
- Transportation: €0 (walk)
- Accommodation (Cheap Hostel): €30
Venice Attraction and Museum Prices
The true joy of Venice is simply walking around the city. You can take in a museum or two but in this city, it’s totally fine to just take in the scenery.
- St. Mark’s Square Museums (Doge’s Palace, Museo Correr, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, and Monumental Rooms of the Biblioteca Nzionale Marciana): €18
- The Grand Canal: Free (but boat tours/gondolas cost extra)
- Basilica dei Frari: €3
- Peggy Guggenheim Collection: €15
- Church of Santa Maria: Free
- Venice Natural History Museum: €8
- Walking Tours: Free-€50
- Kayak Canal Tour: €50/person (kayak), €80-€100 40-minute, €100
- Gondola Ride: €80/person (day), €100/person (around sunset).
Venice Food Prices
You’ll have to actively seek out budget restaurants because the food is fairly expensive — so, if you’re not careful, it’s easy to spend way more than you probably want. Note: Anything around St. Marks Square (Piazza San Marco) is going to be crazy expensive.
Venetian cuisine relies heavily on polenta, seafood, and tomato sauces – quite different from northern Italian cuisine. Baccala’ Mantecata, or salted cod, is one of the most famous Venice dishes; it’s widely available at local restaurants. Also look for marinated sardines (sarde in saor) and risi i bisi (fresh rice and green beans) as other local staples. Read more of our strategies for Eating and Drinking in Europe on a Budget.
Budget Breakfast Prices in Venice: €2-€7
- Many hostels will offer a free simple breakfast that normally consists of cereal, bread/croissant, and maybe milk, coffee, tea, or juice (some hostels will offer more and some less). Hotel breakfasts tend to be overpriced, so skip those in most cases.
- A typical Italian breakfast is an expresso and maybe a simple pastry or juice.
- Caffe del Doge has coffee and pastries, €3
- Marchini Time, another local café, offers cappuccino, espresso, and other cheap breakfast options: €3
A Few Budget-Friendly Breakfast Spots
- Caffe Del Doge: A great little cafe with friendly staff and nice coffee/baked goods. Great for coffee lovers.
- Pasticceria Tonolo: Delicious pastries and coffee. Always busy. Great for coffee lovers.
- Torrefazione Cannaregio: Excellent coffee. Great for coffee lovers.
- Marchini Time: Cute little cafe. Lots of tasty options.
- Pasticceria Rizzardini: A bunch of tasty pastries and coffee.
- Farini: Modern cafe with a few grab-and-go pastries.
- Al 133: A bit of everything — from pancakes and eggs to coffee and croissants.
- Boresso: Great little pastry shop.
- Pasticceria Alla Bragora: A solid little cafe that’s popular with the locals.
- Caffe’ Brasilia: Nice coffee and juices away from the crowds.
Budget Lunch Prices in Venice: €4-€12
- Super budget travelers can make a super cheap lunch of bread, cheese, and fruit from any grocery store for a few euros.
- Look for Ciccheti, or tapas: served all day, and inexpensive (€1.50-€4/plate).
- Local pizza is another budget option that will cost €3-€6 (Antico Forno especially recommended).
- Street food, including crepes, hot dogs, etc. run around €2.75-€5.
Budget Dinner Prices in Venice: €6-€16
- Pretty much all the options from the ‘Budget Lunch’ section above also apply for dinner.
- Again, Venetian tapas – ciccheti – is a budget way to sample the local foods.
- Small seafood and pasta establishments: €4-€8 (especially recommended is Fried Land, which makes fresh pasta and fried seafood for sit-down or takeaway)
- Panini stands or walk-ups have cheap sandwich takeaways: €3.50-€6 (look for Panini Lampo!)
A Few Budget-Friendly Lunch and Dinner Places
- We love Italy, Fresh Pasta To Go: Excellent pasta to go spot serving up fresh pasta in takeaway containers.
- Dal Moro’s Fresh Pasta to Go: The most popular of the “pasta to go” restaurants in Venice.
- Cocaeta: Excellent crepes away from the crowds.
- Osteria Al Squero: Great crostini/chichetti and cheap drinks. Popular with the locals.
- TUTTINPIEDI: Another solid pasta to go spot.
- Bigoi Venezia: Yet another quality pasta to go option.
- Bacareto Da Lele: Budget travel mecca — €.60 wine, €1 porchetta sandwiches, and lots of other cheap (but still tasty) food options. A bit quirky but worth the wait.
- Baci & Pasta: Cheap but quality pasta that’s great for a quick meal.
- Al Merca: Cheap little sandwiches (€1.50) and a small offering of cheap drinks.
- All’Arco: A popular place to get a few cheap chichetti/tapas (was recently featured on Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix).
- Osteria Alla Ciurma: Another popular place for chichetti and drinks.
- Pizza 2000: Big slices of affordable pizza.
- Antico Forno: Excellent pizza. Nice price. Central location.
- Pizza Al Volo: More cheap pizza.
Drinks and Alcohol Prices in Venice
- Beer at a bar or restaurant: €3.50-€5
- At a grocery, beer runs about €1.75 and a bottle of wine about €4.
- Expresso should only cost €1-€1.50 (specialty coffee might cost around €2-€3).
Venice Transportation Prices
Venice’s transit system is administered by ACTV and consists of buses and waterbuses. Vaporetti are waterbuses and ferries used for public transportation around the city’s Grand Canal. Private water taxis can also be hired, at a much higher cost, for moving around the city. That said, we found ourselves walking almost everywhere (which is part of Venice’s charm).
75 minutes of water services: €7.50
Ferry crossing: €5.00
ACTV offers travel cards for visitors for unlimited Venice travel:
- 1-day: €20
- 2-day: €30
- 3-day: €40
- 7-day: €60
Additionally, for €6 (one-way) or €12 (round-trip), visitors can add transit to and from the Marco Polo Airport.
Airport transit from city center (bus, taxi):
- One-way, via bus or aerobus: €8
- One-way, via aerobus and water service: €14
- Land taxi from airport to Venice city: €45
- AirportLink, a shared water taxi: €27/person, minimum of two people
- Private water taxi to Venice: €80-120
Gondola Ride: €80-€100 for a 30-45-minute ride (but don’t be surprised if the driver cuts the ride a little short). Normally it’s €80 during the day and €100 after 7pm.
Venice Hostel, Hotel, & Rental Apartment Prices
Venice is a killer when it comes to accommodation — especially in the summer. There aren’t many hostels so prices are constantly high and the quality isn’t great. And in the summer it can be hard to find a place since there are so many visitors. Hotels and rental apartments aren’t much better. Luckily, most people only spend 1-3 nights in Venice.
Hostel Prices in Venice: €30-€48/Night
You should budget about 32€/night per person for a decent hostel — although many hostels raise their prices on the weekend. Remember, these prices are for a bed in a shared dorm room. If you want a private room, expect to pay €55-€90+ total (for two people). Check out the latest hostel prices at Hostelworld since prices are always fluctuating.
The Best-Rated Hostels in Venice:
Budget Hotel Prices in Venice: €70-€90 (€150-€180+ if you want to be on the island)
A decent budget hotel that is in the city center will cost around €150+/night. You can find cheaper hotels if you want to stay farther away from the island. We suggest checking out Booking.com to see hotel prices for your dates since they’re always changing based on demand, time of year, distance from Venice, etc.
Rental Apartment Prices in Venice: €90-€180/night
You can sometimes find some decent deals on rental apartments if you stay in one of the more residential neighborhoods or if you stay a but outside Venice. These rentals can be a good option for large groups or travelers who want a little more space (and a kitchen). On the other hand, there are a few downsides to rental apartments — like limited/inconvenient check-in processes and extra cleaning fees/service charges (which can make short-stays quite a bit more expensive). For short stays, we prefer hotels/hostels but rental apartments can be a nice option for longer stays.
Airbnb is always popular but you can sometimes find cheaper/better options on our list of Airbnb Alternatives.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE COST TO VISIT EUROPE
Check out our guide on How Much It Costs To Backpack Europe to learn more about budgeting your entire trip (including many more city price guides).
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