VENICE the great rip off

sal

i adore venice and have been a few times, always in the winter when it's relatively free of the masses of tourists and the bridges are easy to cross. there are no queues for the vaporettos and the clock towers etc.

yes, it can be expensive and the venetians have many centuries of expertise of taking money from people, it's how they became great. they are also surly and aloof. they are also fiercely loyal to their own.

but it adds to the experience of the fairytale city that is sinking into the sea. it all seems so wrong that it actually functions the way it does, magical.

anyway, back to the subject, it's an expensive place - if you follow the tourist routes. same as any major city.

but people live and work there, follow their example. eat where the workers eat and drink at the bar instead of the pavement cafes. even the same bar will be so much cheaper if you stand at the bar and order and drink instead of being waited on at a table. the experience is no less, even in st marks square.

we drank at a corner bar on a thoroughfare where the venetians passed every morning and eveing, calling in for a swift one as they passed. the patron of the establishment quickly knew us and had our drink on the bar as we walked in and charged us the same as the locals, very little!

on saying that, the food is not great. they are not known for their cuisine. it's the magic of the place that you pay for and in my book it's worth it.

two years ago we were there for a few days up to christmas, to see santa on a gondola surrounded by gondolas full of local children, then to watch a carol service of all the local schools in st marks cathedral was something that will always stay with me and it was free.

incidentally, the few extra euros for the secret tour of the doges palace was money well spent.

i will be back soon, not on ryanair, but that's another story!

sal

poet123

I will be back in Venice in MARCH 2010, it is my favourite place in the world. If you eat in the tourist traps you will pay more, but there are places off the beaten track, if you do your research you can eat well (although I agree Venetian food is not haute cuisine, try the book Chow Venice for some suggestions for cheap eats.

Donnie

No need to spend that much on food when in Venice. Take a look at Brek restaurants whilst you are there. The one in Treviso is nicer than the one in Venice, so maybe you should eat there before heading on to Venice.

sirteuk

Having been to Venice many times, I feel that I am well informed price wise, and yes I know you can stand by the bar much cheaper, but all you get to see is the bar person.
Why would I want to eat in Treviso, when I'm staying in Venice.
The exchange rate certainly makes things worse but I still maintain that Venice is a RIP OFF and that's without paying Euro 1.50 to use the the public toilets.
And to Polishbigspender, get a life and stop dissecting my posts.

budgetflyer

Pollycat wrote: »

This thread could just have easily been titled:
DUBLIN the great rip off
BARCELONA the great rip off
LONDON the great rip off
PARIS the great rip off

And of course, like most threads with the words 'rip-off', 'scam' 'con' in - it's not really a rip off at all.

The word you're looking for, sirteuk, is 'expensive' - not much of a surprise there then. :rolleyes:

Ive been to all these cities, as well as Venice and the only one I felt didnt justify the price tag was DUBLIN. There really isnt much outstanding to do or see apart from drink.

sebdangerfield

I appreciate the OP trying to help but I struggle to see an entire destination as being expensive. The individual establishment yes, but not the entire city.

There must be cheaper places to eat, My family live in Milan and I travel to italy quite often. Italian wages are far below ours so that means there must be cheaper places for the locals to eat, to me, part of traveling is finding those places.

Of course there are countrys that are more expensive than ours like Iceland and Norway but its all relative.

The_Saver_2

I read your post and I agree with others that all major cities CAN be expensive.

However, when I went to Venice (on the cheap) with my sister, we bought a coffee from McDonalds (sadly there is one just off St Mark's Square ).
We took our coffee and sat in St Mark's Square enjoying the same view as everyone else who spent £8/£10 for 2 coffees. I think our 2 coffees cost £1 each.

We had an evening meal right by the Rialto Bridge (can't remember the name of the restaurant). We chose the Turistico Menu (tourist/set menu) and asked for tap water to keep down the costs. Admittedly, the choice from the menu was very limited but we're not fussy eaters and it still tasted great (I think we had spaghetti and clams, pork schnitzel or escalope with lemon). We had a perfect view of the bridge and the Grand Canal.

We walked around a lot (which gives you a great feel for the city) and we bought a slice of pizza (£1 or £2) which kept us going for quite a while.

The point of my post is that cities CAN be done on the cheap. You just need to look around at the special deals and be prepared to be a bit flexible

TS

SallyD

There is a McDonalds within a 2 minute walk of St.Marks Square and another 10 minutes away.OKAY, not everyone's fancy but if you don't want to pay more than a couple of quid for a hot drinks etc., its the place to go - also loads of "walk away" food. Sometimes panini is sold by weight, so you can get caught out here. The times I have picknicked on bridge steps,on the Mesre, Lido etc., can be as expensive at you want it to be and you can still have a good time.
I'm with THE SAVER on this one.

Pollycat

lynzpower wrote: »

Hardly. :rolleyes:

I live in London & you would struggle to spend 25 quid on 2 paninis! Yes, more like a tenner :rolleyes:

This is a moneysaving site- isnt it useful that people spread the word about expensive destinations.

Thanks OP, I shaht be going even if I do pay a 1p flight cos quite frankly I cant afford to spend that on food. Paris is also supposed to be expensive, so no matter how many emails I get aobut the 59 quid eurostar, we cant afford to eat there

But the OP didn't spend £25 on 2 paninis - he also bought 2 x .5 litre of beer, which as Daveyjp points out is almost a pint.
And he was sitting at a pavement cafe.

Even in our local Wetherspoons, you'd pay nearly £10 for 2 paninis and 2 pints of (cheap) beer.

I don't think you're comparing apples and apples here.

And of course it's a money saving site and of course it's useful to hear about expensive destinations (although personally I'd have done my research on Tripadvisor BEFORE booking) - but my point was mainly about the inaccurate use of the word 'rip-off' - not to start a debate on the expensiveness (or not) of other destinations.

jdemaistre

Just for the record, and at the risk of seeming a pedant...

It's one panino, two panini. The same is true of biscotti - one biscotto, two biscotti. This is one of those things that seems to have gone wrong as it was crossing the Channel.