Venice, Italy is one of the most beautiful and most interesting cities on earth.  Sometimes, though, it is hard to navigate – not only on the streets, around the tourists and tourist trade.  Our tour of Venice will approach Venice from another angle – the back streets, the local wine bars and the restaurants where locals eat.

During our week-long tour, we will stay in a shared apartment of high quality.  Mornings will begin with a tasty breakfast at a reasonable hour (no 8:00am wake up calls for us, unless you want that!)  Every day we will set out on a new adventure, exploring every sestiere (district) with plenty of stops for coffee, wine, and food along the way.

We’ll spend a day on boats in the Venetian lagoon, accompanied by a gourmet picnic, and another day exploring the fish and vegetable market.  We’ll also spend a day on the mainland or – if the thought of getting in a car is unsatisfactory – have another wine tasting conducted by a local sommelier.

Getting back to the food: we will eat and drink like the Venetians do.  We’ll hit some wine bars for cichetti, the wonderful little tapas-like snacks all over Venice.  We’ll eat in local osterie and pizzerias that are popular with locals as well as travelers and the great thing is, you’ll never have to get out your wallet – unless of course, there is some special bottle of wine you just can’t live without.  Wine, of course, will flow freely throughout. Two nights you’ll be on your own, to eat more cichetti, to check out other recommended restaurants, or to stay at the apartment with a book and some cheese and bread. One meal will be an in-apartment feast of products procured at the famous Rialto market. We will see what calls out to us, and cook something with it.

The apartment will be stocked with water, wine, and plenty of food 24/7 and your hosts will be on-call for anything you need, even if you need help to the vaporetto at 4:30am on the day of departure.

As our accommodation is in apartments rather than hotels, there is no daily cleaning of rooms on this tour. Though you will have your own room and bathroom, you will share public areas with other guests on the tour. If you have any questions about apartment accommodation, please get in touch.

Note: If you are a group of four or more and have a specific time you would like to travel, please contact us.

To reserve your spot, e-mail Shannon@GrapeHops.com or call (805) 886-1551.