Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore
The view from the campanile lift is the best in Venice and the crowd is a fraction of San Marco's tower queue two minutes away by boat.
Il Redentore
A Palladio masterpiece built as a plague memorial, at its best in the hush of an ordinary weekday — or, once a year, at the centre of Venice's biggest festival.
Trattoria Alla Palanca
The cheapest genuinely good sit-down lunch with a view in central Venice, and a rare stretch of waterfront where the crowd is mostly local.
Skyline Rooftop Bar
The only real rooftop bar in Venice, in a converted 19th-century flour mill, with the best elevated sunset view in the city.
Fondazione Giorgio Cini
The only way to see Palladio's cloisters and refectory up close, plus a boxwood labyrinth built in tribute to Borges — all in one guided visit most tourists don't know exists.
Trattoria Altanella
One of the last real family-run Venetian trattorias, on a leafy over-water terrace that tourists mostly never find.
I Figli delle Stelle
Puglian food done seriously, on the same stunning Giudecca waterfront as the cheap trattorias — the dressed-up option for a special evening.
Trattoria Ai Cacciatori
Venetian seafood cooking with a view of the city's skyline from across open water — Giudecca's quietest good waterfront table.
Fortuny — Sede e Showroom Giudecca
A century-old working textile house on the water, where you can see (and buy) fabric made by hand using techniques its founder invented himself.