Venice on a budget: how to do it well
Short answer
Venice is possible on a budget if you plan around it: sleep on the mainland or in a hostel, eat cicchetti and walk instead of taking boats. Plan on about €115 per person per day (bed in a shared double €60, food €30, sights €15, vaporetto €12), with a pass rather than single tickets.
A realistic daily budget
| Budget | Mid-range | Comfort | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bed (per person, sharing) | €60 | €110 | €250 |
| Food & drink | €30 | €55 | €120 |
| Sights & tickets | €15 | €40 | €80 |
| Local transport | €12 | €15 | €25 |
| Per person, per day | €117 | €220 | €475 |
Approximate 2026 prices, two people sharing a room. From our Venice day-cost table.
Free things to do
- Wandering Cannaregio and Castello, the quietest and most local parts of the city
- The Rialto market (Pescheria and Erberia) in the morning, Tuesday to Saturday for fish
- Piazza San Marco early in the morning, before the crowds
- The Zattere promenade at sunset over the Giudecca Canal
- The Jewish Ghetto, the world's first (1516), walking its campo and streets
- Burano's painted houses (you only pay for the vaporetto)
Cheap eats
- Cicchetti in a bacaro: about €1.50–4 each
- Baccalà mantecato crostino: about €2–4
- Tramezzini at a bar: about €2–4 each
- Bigoli in salsa in a trattoria: roughly €12–16
- Frittelle in Carnival season: about €2–3 each
Where to sleep for less
The cheapest option is Mestre on the mainland, where a double costs roughly €90–140 a night and the train or tram takes about 10 minutes into Venice, though you miss the city at night. Hostel dorm beds in Venice and Mestre are often roughly €30–60 a night. In Venice itself, Cannaregio has the best value. City tax is charged per person per night.
Getting around cheaply
Walk as much as possible: crossing the centre from the station to San Marco takes about 45–60 minutes. Buy a multi-day vaporetto pass rather than €9.50 single tickets. From Marco Polo airport, the ATVO or ACTV bus to Piazzale Roma is the cheapest way, roughly €10. Day-trippers must pay the access fee on scheduled days; overnight guests are exempt but must register.
A sample budget day
- Morning: Coffee and a pastry standing at a bar (about €3), early walk through Piazza San Marco and St Mark's Basilica (a few euros with booking)
- Lunch: Cicchetti and an ombra of wine at a bacaro near the Rialto market (about €12)
- Afternoon: Vaporetto to Burano on your pass, then the Campanile view back in town (about €10–12)
- Evening: Cicchetti crawl on the Fondamenta della Misericordia with a spritz (about €15)
- Total: about €115 with a budget bed (about €60) and a multi-day vaporetto pass (about €12 a day)
More ways to save
- Sleep in Mestre or in a Cannaregio guesthouse rather than near San Marco.
- Walk between sights and save the vaporetto for the islands and the Grand Canal ride on line 1.
- Fill your bottle at the public fountains in the squares.
- Visit in November, early December or January for the lowest room prices, avoiding Carnival.
- Skip the gondola, or share one with up to five people; the traghetto gives you a short gondola crossing for a few euros.
- Bring a picnic from a supermarket but eat it on a bench in a campo, not on monument steps, where it can be fined.
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Common questions
How much money do I need per day in Venice?
About €115 per person on a budget, about €220 mid-range and about €475 in comfort, including a bed in a shared double.
Is the vaporetto pass worth it?
Yes, if you will take more than two boats a day. A single ticket is about €9.50, while a 24-hour pass is about €25 and multi-day passes are cheaper per day.
Do I have to pay the Venice access fee?
Only as a day-tripper on scheduled peak days. Overnight guests are exempt but must register for an exemption QR code.