The golden rules for the sustainable tourist in Venice
Make your trip to Venice a sustainable and responsible journey. It doesn’t take much. To know how to behave, here is some good and simple advice for a more intelligent form of tourism in the in the city on the lagoon.
• Book your trip to Venice in advance: choose to visit the city in the periods with a lower influx of tourists, purchase your tickets online on veniceconnected.com: there are many advantages, you’ll spend less, and we will be able welcome you at our best.
• If possible, chose less pollutant means of transport – like the train or the bus – to reach Venice.
• Look for accommodation facilities that are committed to reducing their impact on the environment and that adopt good environmental practices.
• Get a map of the city and remember that Venice doesn’t only mean Saint Mark’s Square or Rialto: also visit the itineraries that lead you to discover the less known parts of the city.
• Visit the Venice Lagoon Park, the WWF nature reserves and the other parks: respect nature and enjoy the beauty of the lagoon and its islands, with easy itineraries on foot, by bicycle or boat.
• Keep the air clean: if possible, always use collective public transport to get about. This is not a problem in Venice, because the public transport network is plentiful and efficient. Or else use environmentally friendly means of transport, such as the gondola or the bicycle and visit the city on foot, following the urban trekking itineraries.
• If you want to take a taxi, use only licensed taxis. Always ask information on the applied fares.
• At mealtimes choose the local specialities and enjoy the seasonal cuisine with products from the Veneto region. Favour the purchase of organic farming products and local season fruit and vegetables, bearing the PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) or PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) marks and protected by the Slow Food organisation, if possible even directly from the producers.
• Do not purchase counterfeit goods from unauthorised traders: not only do you put your health and that of others at risk but you also commit an offence. Products which are not subject to controls, besides causing harm to the purchaser and to local craftsmen, encourage the exploitation of the weaker sectors of society: you risk being subject to a fine that can amount to as much as 7,000 Euros as well as having the goods confiscated.
• Respect the city by helping us keep it clean: don’t throw litter on the ground or in the water. Contribute to the separate waste collection: when possible, separate your litter putting it in the specific containers and choose products without packaging.
• Remember that Saint Mark’s Square and the surrounding areas are an open air museum: people eating packed lunches or leaving litter will be subject to penalties.
• Respect the inhabitants of Venice: wear dignified clothing, always keep the right in tight calli (streets), don’t stop on bridges and put your rucksack down when you are on the waterbus.
• Reduce the excessive waste caused by plastic bottles and pollution in the city, and consequently help cut the very expensive refuse collection costs: drink tap water instead of bottled water, its good, safe and checked every day, it’s cheaper and environmentally friendly, it doesn’t produce refuse, it doesn’t have to be transported and doesn’t remain a long time in bottles.
• If possible, chose less pollutant means of transport – like the train or the bus – to reach Venice.
• Look for accommodation facilities that are committed to reducing their impact on the environment and that adopt good environmental practices.
• Get a map of the city and remember that Venice doesn’t only mean Saint Mark’s Square or Rialto: also visit the itineraries that lead you to discover the less known parts of the city.
• Visit the Venice Lagoon Park, the WWF nature reserves and the other parks: respect nature and enjoy the beauty of the lagoon and its islands, with easy itineraries on foot, by bicycle or boat.
• Keep the air clean: if possible, always use collective public transport to get about. This is not a problem in Venice, because the public transport network is plentiful and efficient. Or else use environmentally friendly means of transport, such as the gondola or the bicycle and visit the city on foot, following the urban trekking itineraries.
• If you want to take a taxi, use only licensed taxis. Always ask information on the applied fares.
• At mealtimes choose the local specialities and enjoy the seasonal cuisine with products from the Veneto region. Favour the purchase of organic farming products and local season fruit and vegetables, bearing the PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) or PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) marks and protected by the Slow Food organisation, if possible even directly from the producers.
• Do not purchase counterfeit goods from unauthorised traders: not only do you put your health and that of others at risk but you also commit an offence. Products which are not subject to controls, besides causing harm to the purchaser and to local craftsmen, encourage the exploitation of the weaker sectors of society: you risk being subject to a fine that can amount to as much as 7,000 Euros as well as having the goods confiscated.
• Respect the city by helping us keep it clean: don’t throw litter on the ground or in the water. Contribute to the separate waste collection: when possible, separate your litter putting it in the specific containers and choose products without packaging.
• Remember that Saint Mark’s Square and the surrounding areas are an open air museum: people eating packed lunches or leaving litter will be subject to penalties.
• Respect the inhabitants of Venice: wear dignified clothing, always keep the right in tight calli (streets), don’t stop on bridges and put your rucksack down when you are on the waterbus.
• Reduce the excessive waste caused by plastic bottles and pollution in the city, and consequently help cut the very expensive refuse collection costs: drink tap water instead of bottled water, its good, safe and checked every day, it’s cheaper and environmentally friendly, it doesn’t produce refuse, it doesn’t have to be transported and doesn’t remain a long time in bottles.
• Water is precious! Don’t waste it for nothing: close the taps while you are cleaning your teeth, shaving or shampooing your hair, and before leaving your room make sure you haven’t left any taps open.
• In your hotel, leave the towels on the floor only when you want them changed, otherwise hang them on the towel rail.
• Save energy: switch lights on only when you need them and don’t forget to switch them off when you leave your room, regulate your room’s air conditioning or heating at a suitable temperature when you are out and you don’t need it.
• Behave in such a way to respect the environment: don’t leave traces of your passage, such as litter or graffiti and don't take away souvenirs from the natural environment.
• In Venice when the phenomenon of high water occurs, the exceptional high tides are announced by a siren; you can get around the city anyway by means of the gangways provided.
• In Venice there are itineraries without architectural barriers, that provide suggestions on ways of visiting the city of Venice, despite the fact that the city’s particular characteristics cause many obstacles. For better information consult the Città per Tutti - Accessible Venice section of the City of Venice website.
• You own experience is of fundamental importance: give us advice and suggestions to enhance and improve the environment in Venice.
With your stay even you contribute to supporting Venice, a unique city, which is very precious but also extremely fragile: the funds gathered by means of the tourist tax contribute to enhance, improve and renew the city, guaranteeing an increase in the quality of the tourism services – which include local public services, museums, events, accommodation – as well as financing works aimed at maintaining, using and salvaging the cultural and environmental heritage of the Venetian territory.
