Apr – Jun
Spring
The best of the year. Warm without the August weight, long evenings, and the canals pleasant to be beside. Also busy: the Basilica queue runs round the front of the church by mid-morning and the tours with tickets earn their price.
When to go
The best time to visit Venice: month by month, including the high water
Venice has no closed season and no bad month, but it has months that are noticeably better than others, and one phenomenon that visitors worry about more than they need to. This page is the year as it actually runs, what acqua alta involves, and the hour that matters more than the month.
Quick answer
April to June and September to October are the best months: warm, long days, and evenings worth being outside for. November to March is quiet, atmospheric and cheap, with high water most likely between November and January. July and August are hot and busy, and in those months the hour matters more than anything — go early, and eat after six. Every tour here runs year-round from $50.
Venice through the year, at a glance
- Best months
- Apr–Jun, Sep–Octwarm, long days, manageable crowds
- Hottest
- Jul–Augthe lanes hold the heat and the Piazza has no shade
- Quietest
- Nov–Febexcept Carnival, which is the opposite
- High water
- Nov–Jan mostlya few hours around the tide, not a day
- Carnival
- Usually Februaryextremely busy and worth planning for or around
- The hour that matters
- After sixwhen the day-trippers leave
- Mornings
- Before ninequiet lanes and the market at work
- The market
- Not Sun or Monthe Rialto fish hall is closed both days
- Tours
- All yearfrom $50
- Cancellation
- Freeon every tour here
Month by month
The four seasons in Venice
The city does not change. The crowd, the temperature and the light do.
Sep – Oct
Autumn
Equal to spring and slightly quieter after the first week of September. The light along the Grand Canal in the late afternoon is the best Venice gets. Rain is more likely, and the first high water of the season usually arrives late in October.
Nov – Mar
Winter
Fog on the water, empty lanes, short queues and the lowest prices of the year. High water is most likely now. Carnival, usually in February, is the exception to every word of this and is one of the busiest periods of the year.
Jul – Aug
High summer
Hot, bright and full. The lanes hold the heat and the Piazza offers no shade at all. Take the first slot of the morning for the monuments and do the food tour after six; both are genuinely much better at those hours.
Acqua alta, explained properly
High water is a few hours, not a flood
A few hours around the tide, mostly on the lowest ground, with walkways out and a published forecast.
Between roughly November and January, a combination of tide, wind and low pressure pushes water from the Adriatic into the lagoon and parts of Venice go under a few centimetres of it. This is acqua alta, and almost everything visitors believe about it is slightly wrong.
It lasts hours, not days. It follows the tide: water comes up, sits for two or three hours, and goes down again. A morning can be wet and the same afternoon entirely dry.
It affects the low ground first. Piazza San Marco is the lowest point in the city, which is why the photographs are always of the Piazza. Most of Venice is higher and stays dry in an ordinary event.
The city is set up for it. Raised walkways go out along the main routes, the forecast is published in advance, and shops sell overshoes on the day. Venetians treat it as weather rather than as a crisis.
The barriers at the lagoon entrances have been raised on high tides since 2020 and have prevented a number of events that would previously have flooded the centre. Exceptional high water still happens; the routine sort is less common than it was.
For a visitor the practical consequences are small: check the tide forecast the night before, bring or buy boots if you are going in late autumn, and expect a food tour to reroute rather than cancel.
Whatever month you come, the hour matters more. Before nine and after six are quiet, cool and the best light — and the middle of the day is the part people complain about.
An order that works→By what you want
Five different best times
The right month depends on what you are optimising for.
- For comfort: late April to June, or September to mid-October
Warm, long days, and evenings worth eating outside in. If your dates are flexible, these are the weeks.
- For quiet: late November to early February
Excluding Carnival and the days around Christmas. Short queues, cheap rooms, fog on the water, and the city more or less to itself.
- For food: any month, but eat in the evening
The bàcari fill from six all year round. In summer that is also the only comfortable time to be walking, which is why the sunset tour at $93 rates 4.9.
- For photographs: October
Low sun along the Grand Canal in the late afternoon, clear air after the summer haze, and the first fogs of the season on the water in the early morning.
- For Carnival: February, and book early
It is spectacular and it is the busiest fortnight outside high summer. Accommodation and tours both need booking well ahead.
Book direct
Four tours that run all year
The two monuments, the cheapest food tour, the sunset walk and the Rialto market lunch.
Our top pick3,913 reviews
3 hVenice: St. Mark's Basilica & Doge's Palace Tour with Ticket
★ 4.7 · 3,913 reviews
- Three hours
- Guided tour
- Likely to sell out
- Free cancellation
$79$26.33 / hour
Check availability→ 
Cheapest here2,954 reviews
2.5 hVenice: Street Food Tour with a Local Guide and Tastings
★ 4.8 · 2,954 reviews
- 2.5 hours
- Local Guide and Tastings
- Cheapest here
- Free cancellation
$50$20.00 / hour
Check availability→ 
1,607 reviewsAt sunset
3 hVenice: Sunset Walking Tour with Food and Wine Tastings
★ 4.9 · 1,607 reviews
- Three hours, Food and Wine Tastings
- Guided tour
- Mobile voucher accepted
- Free cancellation
$93$31.00 / hour
Check availability→ 
Rated 5.0Rialto market
4 hVenice: Rialto Market Food and Wine Lunchtime Tour
★ 5.0 · 390 reviews
- Four hours
- Food and Wine Lunchtime Tour
- Guided tour
- Free cancellation
$107$26.75 / hour
Check availability→ Common questions
The best time to visit Venice, answered
What is the best month to visit Venice, Italy?
April to June or September to October. Warm, long days, and evenings worth being outside for. July and August are hot and crowded; November to March is quiet, cheap and atmospheric.
When is Venice least crowded?
Late November to early February, excluding Carnival and the days around Christmas. Weekday mornings in those months are the emptiest the city gets.
Should I worry about acqua alta?
Not much. It lasts a few hours around the tide, affects the lowest ground first, and the city puts out raised walkways and publishes a forecast. Bring boots if you are visiting in late autumn and check the tide the night before.
Is Venice worth visiting in winter?
Yes, and for some people it is the best version of it: fog, empty lanes, short queues and the lowest prices of the year. The trade-off is short daylight and cold water air.
When is Carnival?
Usually in February, in the weeks before Lent. It is one of the busiest periods of the year and both rooms and tours need booking well in advance.
Is August a bad time to go?
It is the hardest month, not a bad one. Take the first monument slot of the day and do the food tour after six, and August works perfectly well.
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