Getting there & Getting around

Getting around

Few cities reward walkers so generously as Venice: get ready to pound those antique pavements! Don't bother following the interminable signs directing you to 'San Marco', 'the Rialto', 'the Ferrovia' or all three at once - get lost in the timeless backstreets, dead-end alleys, canalside fondamente and deserted squares that make up the real Venice. Vaporetto is the other essential method of getting around, and it can be equally rewarding: you won't find too many public transport routes as unforgettable as vaporetto No 1's trip along the Grand Canal. Taking a ride in a gondola is corny, expensive, embarrassing and...well, if you really want to, why not? Water taxis are almost as expensive as gondolas, but their pilots don't wear stripy shirts and sing 'O Sole Mio'.