Mid-range · 6-hour walk · Venice
Dorsoduro and the Zattere in six hours
The Accademia, the Guggenheim, the salute church and the long southern quay with no crowds on it.
The three-hour route does San Marco, which is where everyone is. Dorsoduro is the sestiere on the other side of the Accademia bridge and holds both of the city's great picture collections plus the widest waterfront in Venice, the Zattere, which faces south and is where the city walks in the evening. It is the one part of the centre where you can still find a quiet table.
The route, stop by stop
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Gallerie dell'Accademia
Venetian painting from the 1300s to the 1700s, in the order it happened. Bellini, Carpaccio's St Ursula cycle and Veronese's enormous Feast in the House of Levi.
90 min here Walk here → -
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Her unfinished palazzo on the Grand Canal, with the sculpture garden where she and her dogs are buried. Pollock, Ernst, Picasso, and a terrace on the water.
70 min here Walk here → -
Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute
Built as a thank-offering after the 1630 plague killed a third of the city, on a million timber piles. The Titians are in the sacristy, which costs extra and is worth it.
40 min here Walk here → -
Punta della Dogana
The old customs point at the tip of the sestiere, where the Grand Canal meets the Giudecca. The best free view in Venice and almost always empty.
25 min here Walk here → -
Zattere
A kilometre and a half of south-facing quay built in 1519 for unloading timber. Gelato at Nico, and the only stretch of Venice wide enough to walk two abreast without apologising.
45 min here Walk here → -
Squero di San Trovaso
One of the last working gondola yards, in a wooden building that looks alpine because the boatbuilders came from the Dolomites. Watch from across the rio; it is a workplace.
25 min here Walk here →
More in Venice
Every walking route in Venice, or the full Venice guide for where to stay and what a day costs.