2 Days In Venice With Kids

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A gondola ride is a great way to entertain kids of all ages!

Venice has been high on my list of places to go for quite a while. That’s why I was super excited that our European cruise started and ended in this city on water.

After spending 10 days cruising on the Norwegian Star, we spent 2 extra days exploring Venice — with my 5 1/2-year-old in tow.

Tackling Venice with kids is a different animal than traveling with adults only. There’s a lot of walking involved, it can get hot and crowded, and kids might not probably won’t appreciate the beauty of the city.

That being said, it’s a wonderful place to spend a few days in, even with your kids! Here are some great ways to spend 2 days in Venice with kids plus some tips to make it all go smoothly!

venice with kids

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The Best Ways To Spend 2 Days In Venice With Kids

Take A Kid-Friendly Tour With Macaco

One of the best ways to help your kids enjoy Venice is to schedule an activity that is geared specifically towards them. That’s why I was super excited to find Macaco Tours. This company offers great walking tours that are just for kids (although they are still enjoyable for the adults too!)

Macaco tour in venice for kids
We really enjoyed our sketch treasure hunt with Macaco! It’s a fun activity to try when you’re in Venice with kids.

We tried the sketch tour — a family treasure hunt around the Campo Santa Maria Formosa where kids can flex their creativity while sketching along the way.

Our tour guide was wonderful and really focused on my daughter. As we wandered through the “treasure hunt” our guide provided lots of information about the area that kept the adults intrigued just as much as the kid!

There are lots of different games, treasure hunts, and tours to choose from and your price includes up to 5 participants!

If you are looking for a great kid-friendly Venice tour, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Macaco Tours!

Macaco kids walking tour in Venice
My daughter learned a lot about Venice during our tour with Macaco.

(Macaco Tours provided me with the sketch hunt free of charge in order to write a review. All opinions are my own.)

Take A Gondola Ride

It’s cheesy, touristy, overrated, and expensive…but you should do it anyways! Because it’s Venice.

Seriously, you can’t be in Venice without spotting the iconic gondolas full of eager tourists. While it’s not something I need to do a second time, I’m glad I did it, and my daughter loved it too. Plus, it gives little ones a chance to sit down for a while.

You can purchase tickets online if you don’t mind sharing your gondola. This can be a cheaper option if only 2 people are traveling. But, if you are traveling as a family, you can get a whole gondola to yourself. A basic ride is 80 Euro for up to 6 people and lasts about 25 minutes.

venice gondola ride with kids
A gondola ride is a great way to entertain kids of all ages!

Ride The Water Bus

There aren’t many places I would recommending taking the bus, but Venice is one exception. That’s because Venice’s buses are on the water. In addition to being an easy way to get around, these water buses, called vaporetto, can provide some entertainment to little ones with tired legs.

The buses can get busy, so you might not get a great seat right away, but you can ride for a while and hopefully will be able to get some great views. But you can’t ride them in a loop. Once you get to the end of the line, you need to get off, buy another ticket, and get on again.

If you are looking for a longer ride, consider taking the vaporetto out to the Lagoon Islands of Murano, Burano, and Torcello.

We got a 48-hour pass so we could ride as often as we liked during our two days in Venice. Children under 6 are free.


Pro Tip: When traveling to Venice, pack light! There are no cars in the heart of the city, so you will inevitably have to drag your luggage down a few Venetian streets. It’s best to opt for lightweight, hard-shell luggage that’s easy to maneuver.


Eat All The Pizza And Gelato

One way to keep your kids entertained is food. You’re on vacation, so let them go wild. We made lots of small stops for treats like gelato. There are also a lot of candy stores around. While it’s not really Venice specific, a candy stop can help keep kids engaged. (These are also good for bribes.)

We ate a ton of pizza — and it was magnificent. All of the restaurants we went to offered a basic Margherita pizza (with no basil, which surprised me), so it should be easy to find something for picky eaters.

gelato in venice with kids


Pro Tip: If you want to step up your photography game but don’t want to lug around a big camera, check out some of the great options for mirrorless cameras. These lightweight cameras are perfect for traveling.


Explore Less Popular Areas

Venice can get crowded, especially in the summer. That can be stressful for little kids and also nerve-wracking for parents trying to keep track of said little kids.

One of the best things we did was walk away from the crowded areas. We found some neighborhoods just north of the Grand Canal that were much less crowded. This allowed my daughter to roam free without holding hands. She could also run a bit without me worrying she would get lost. It was a nice break from the crowds.

Finding an un-crowded spot is a great way to let kids have some room to wiggle.

Watch A Glassblowing Demonstration On The Island Of Murano

You can take the vaporetto (water bus) out to Murano to get your fill of glassblowing. It’s a nice 25-30 minute ride to the island. Once there you will see places offering glass blowing demonstrations.

We opted for one that was 5 euro each (and kids were free!), but that cost was applied if you bought anything in the gift shop (which I did). I have seen glass blowing demos before, so I wasn’t impressed at first. That is until I saw one of the glass blowers take a lump of glass and transform it into a horse in a matter of minutes. Mind = blown!

glass horse on Murano
We were all blown away by the glass blowing demonstration on the island of Murano. This horse was made in just a couple of minutes!

Pro Tip: If you missed out on a souvenir or want a great gift for someone who recently traveled to Venice, check out this adorable Venice Christmas ornament available on Amazon.


Tips For Exploring Venice With Kids

candy store in venice
Searching for some of Venice’s interesting candy stores can help keep little ones entertained.
  1. Take Lots Of Small Breaks. If your kids are like mine, they will complain about being tired and want to stop occasionally all the time. Just go with it, and find someplace to sit for a while. You can ride the water bus, take a gondola ride, sit in a cafe to have a snack, or just find a bench to sit somewhere for some people watching.
  2. Don’t Travel To Venice With A Kid Who Is Being Potty Trained. That would be a disaster. Seriously, public restrooms are hard to find and when you do, they will cost you 1-2 Euro to use. If you are traveling with a small child who is still getting the hang of their bladder, your trip could get messy.
  3. Let Them Choose A Souvenir. We checked out lots of cool Italian souvenir and gift shops on our trip. My daughter enjoyed getting to visit all the shops to choose one thing to bring home. This also works if you need another bribe. (I don’t judge).
  4. Don’t Expect To Cover Much Ground. Little kids can be slow AF. But it’ll be fine as long as you go into it knowing you won’t be able to go as far as you would on your own.
  5. Plan A Mid-Day Break. Each day we were in Venice, we stopped back at the hotel for a mid-day break to give my daughter a chance to rest a bit. This seemed to recharge her enough to make dinner and evening strolls much more pleasant.
  6. Wait Until Your Kids Can Walk. Venice is not stroller friendly. There are lots of bridges that don’t have ramps, so if you are bringing a stroller plan to carry it up plenty of stairs. Lots of the streets are narrow and crowded which makes managing a stroller a huge PITA. I also wouldn’t recommend visiting with a new walker. It’s too crowded with too many opportunities to take a nose dive into the canal.

Other Great Tours For Venice With Kids (And Some Just For Grown-Ups!)

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I'm sharing my best tips on traveling to Venice, Italy with your kids plus I've got some great ideas on what to do with your kids while in Venice. #venice #thingstodoinvenice #venicewithkids #traveltips #toursforkids #macacotour #familytravel #travel #italy

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