There are not enough words to describe how magical it was to be in Venice, Italy. Venice was on one of the cities that I wanted to visit badly since I was in my 20s. There is just something magical about a city surrounded by water and have so much beauty in it.

I spent a week in Venice. I stayed at a hostel in Mestre which is a nearby city of Venice. It only takes 15 minutes by train to reach Venice from Mestre and the cost of the train ticket is around 1.75 euro for one way. It’s very affordable and I felt that I made the right decision to stay in Mestre instead of Venice. The advantage of staying in Mestre was that I didn’t need to haul my heavy luggage up and down stairs in Venice to reach my hotel and actually I ended up liking Mestre.

I stayed at Anda Hostel in Mestre. It was very affordable. I stayed in the 6 people dorm and it was only $18 per night. Anda Hostel is a big hostel with more of a hotel vibe. The bed was comfy, the bathroom was clean. The only problem for me was that this hostel felt more like a party hostel. They have a DJ party night on Wednesday and Saturday. These parties took place at the hostel common area. The music goes until 4 am and I could heard the bass from my room on the 4th floor. I couldn’t imagine to stay at lower floors than mine.

The common kitchen is also very small for the size of the hostel. I bought food for myself. I put them in bags with my name on them and somehow someone (or multiple people) stole most of my food. The only food they didn’t take was my yogurt. This was the first time that I got my food stolen for multiple days. I don’t recommend to store your food in their refrigerators if you stayed at Anda.

After my stay there, I decided that big hostel is not really for me. I felt it was harder to make connections with people. I preferred small to medium hostels for the socializing aspect of it, however if the price is right I would stay at bigger hostels again.

I walked a lot in Venice since that’s pretty much the only method of transportation there is, except if you want to pay a lot of money for water taxi or water bus. I love getting lost in Venice. They have so many alleyways and streets that are so fun to explore and very picturesque. I spent hours just walking around and getting lost.

One of my favorite spots in Venice, is the rooftop of the Duty Free Shop. You can make reservation to go to the rooftop and see the whole Venice from up there. You have 15 minutes up there to take pictures, videos and just take in the magnificent view of Venice. I highly recommend this activity for everyone who is visiting Venice.

Of course, you can’t visit Venice without riding the Gondola. I didn’t know how expensive the Gondola ride is until I got to Venice. The cost for Gondola ride is 80 euros and it doesn’t matter if you are by yourself or with four other people. The maximum number of people to be on the Gondola is 5 people. If you are by yourself, I would recommend to look for Gondola rides deal from Viator. You can get $30 Gondola ride by sharing your Gondola with strangers.

Another tip that I have is to go to the Gondola area in the morning, around 10 am ish. I went there with one of my roommates from the hostel because she wanted to ride the Gondola as well. The Gondola drivers were offering 70 euros ride that morning. We bargained with them to 60 euros, so we ended up only paying 30 euros each. Also we got a really awesome Gondola driver. He told us stories about Venice, showed us where famous celebrities stayed at and even serenaded us. Apparently, not all Gondola drivers serenade anymore. We had a fantastic time and it’s definitely the most memorable experience for me.

If you are in Venice for a week I would recommend to do the majority of sightseeing during weekdays. On the weekend, the city tend to get busier with more tourists coming in for the weekend. I did my sightseeing on weekdays and I had a fantastic time. When I tried to do it on the weekend, people trampled over me or ran me over because they were not paying attention.

Venice is a magical city. It captured my heart. I will make a separate post for delicious food that I had while I was there. I will definitely make a plan to come back to Venice again in the future.