Venice — DevFest Venezia 26

Before you go

1. Phone Osteria alle Testiere for Friday dinner

   +39 041 522 7220, phone only, nine tables, and closed Sunday and Monday. So it is Friday 23 or Saturday 24 or not at all. Friday is the safer slot while the speaker dinner is unknown; if it moves to Friday, ask for Saturday instead.

2. Open the GuruWalk booking and write down the meeting point

   The confirmation does not contain it. On guruwalk.com → Bookings press Directions, note the address, and check the duration (usually 2–2.5 h). Also click the "verify your email" mail GuruWalk sent on 17 Sep. The check-in QR is already in Sunday below.

3. Book the Basilica di San Marco online for Friday afternoon

   There is no ticket office at the door any more. tickets.basilicasanmarco.it: €10 basic, €30 for everything. Friday hours 09:30–17:15, last admission 16:45. On Sunday it only opens at 14:00, so Friday is the day. No backpacks inside.

4. Decide on Palazzo Ducale before 23 September

   The St Mark's Square Museums ticket is €35, or €30 if booked 30+ days ahead, on visitmuve.it. The Secret Itineraries tour is €40 official (English 10:00 / 11:30 / 13:00) and sells out; resellers ask €95 for the same thing. Monday 10:00 fits the departure day.

5. Cash: €90 in small notes before Sunday

   The Rialto and Cannaregio bacari mostly ignore cards at €2 a ticket, and the walking tour is tip-based, usually €10–20 in cash. Draw it on Friday; no scramble at the end of the walk.

6. Install two things, bookmark one

   AVM Venezia Official (every ACTV ticket, foreign cards fine) and appTaxi (the app that fetches a taxi in Mestre). Bookmark oraritemporeale.actv.it: it is the only place with live bus positions. Google Maps shows the timetable, not the bus.

7. Check the strike register on 17 October

   scioperi.mit.gov.it. Nothing is announced for 23–26 Oct, but a strike for the 26th can legally be called until about the 16th. After the 17th the question is closed.

8. Online check-in

   EN8200 opens Thu 22 Oct 08:15. EN1927 opens Sun 25 Oct 16:45, already in winter time. Booking code 89RQ6G. Hand luggage only: one 8 kg carry-on each way, no checked bag in the fare.

9. Pack for water and 100 ml

   Waterproof shoes and a real rain jacket beat wellingtons in late October; Piazza San Marco takes water from about 80 cm of tide. Venice airport has no large-liquids scanner exemption, so honey, pesto and soft cheese count as liquids on the way home.

10. At check-out: an itemised invoice

    Ask San Giuliano for the fattura with the three nights listed separately. The claim shows two nights (€259); the Sunday night is yours. The voucher already breaks it down per night, but an itemised invoice uploads cleaner.

11. EHIC in the wallet

    Covers necessary care in Italy at local rates. Not planned treatment, not repatriation.

The days

Friday 23 October

MUC · bus 15 · Rialto bacari · Basilica · Testiere

~17 °Csunset ~18:15island by bus, not train

~05:30

Leave home

Munich Terminal 2. Schengen, hand luggage, so 90 minutes airside is plenty.

08:15

EN8200 Munich → Venice 89RQ6G

Air Dolomiti for Lufthansa, about 1 h 05. Lands around 09:30.

10:15

Bus 15 to the hotel door

Exit arrivals, follow "Bus", ACTV lane beside the ATVO lanes. €10, buy in the AVM app or at the machine, validate on board. Off at Forte Marghera Hermada around 10:32; the hotel is 143 m away. Departures from the airport were recorded at :15 and :45, but confirm on the live board rather than assume. If the 10:15 goes wrong: ATVO 35b to Mestre station (€10), then bus 15 or 43 back out.

10:35

Hotel San Giuliano — bag drop

Via Forte Marghera 193/A. Check-in from 14:00, free left-luggage before that. Say you will check in in the evening. Reservation IU71259011-1, three nights, breakfast included, city tax paid at the hotel.

11:00

Bus 5E or 6E to Piazzale Roma

From the same stop, 9 minutes, €1.50. This is the answer for this hotel: Venezia Mestre station is a 28-minute walk away, so the train only makes sense if you are already there. From Piazzale Roma it is 20 minutes on foot to Rialto.

11:45

Lunch standing up — the Rialto bacari

Cash. Start at All'Arco (San Polo 436, until ~14:30): crostino of baccalà mantecato, the hot boiled-beef roll, sarde in saor. Forty metres on, Cantina Do Mori (San Polo 429, trading since 1462): francobolli, the stamp-sized sandwiches, and wine from the demijohns. Then Al Mercà on Campo Bella Vienna: mini-panini and polpette, eaten in the campo.

One or two cicchetti and one ombra (€1–3) per bar, pay before you leave each one, and do not take a table for a drink. Six cicchetti and two ombre is about €15 and is lunch. Two minutes away, Antica Drogheria Mascari (San Polo 381, 08:00–13:00 and 16:00–19:30, closed Sunday) has the dry souvenirs: spices, dried porcini, baicoli, bigoli. All hand-luggage safe.

14:00

Basilica di San Marco pre-booked

Fifteen minutes from Rialto on foot. Last admission 16:45. No backpacks; a free deposit is reported at Ateneo San Basso beside the Basilica, so travel light today. Shoulders and knees covered. If you want the Campanile as well (€15, lift only), it runs to about 18:45.

16:30

Walk east into Castello

Libreria Acqua Alta (Castello 5176b, daily to 19:15, free) is on the way to dinner and takes fifteen minutes. Sunset about 18:15; Riva degli Schiavoni is the place to be for it.

19:30

Dinner — Osteria alle Testiere if booked

Calle del Mondo Novo, Castello 5801. Nine tables, no printed wine list, Bruno Gavagnin cooking lagoon seafood with almost no fat and a lot of technique: gnocchetti with baby squid, scallops with orange and mint, the day's raw fish. €70–90, cards fine. Exactly your brief, which is why it comes first.

No table? Al Covino (Castello 3829A, +39 333 533 8427, ~8 tables, fixed three courses, €45–60) or Estro (Dorsoduro 3778, natural wine bar with a proper kitchen and a counter, €45–65). Both open every day of the trip.

22:30

Back to Mestre

Any of: bus 2 from Piazzale Roma (last 00:20 / 00:40), tram T1 (last ~00:09), train from Santa Lucia (last 00:13), then night bus N1 from Piazzale Roma every 30 min 00:21–04:51, stop "V.le S. Marco F. Marghera", eight minutes later. You cannot get stranded. Check in properly at the hotel.

Saturday 24 October

DevFest · workshop · Mestre dinner · clocks

~17 °Csunset ~18:10clocks back tonight

07:30

Breakfast

Included at the hotel. The better pastry is eight minutes away at Pasticceria Loredana (Quartiere Aretusa 51, from 06:30, cards OK, closed Monday): their own paste, counter and takeaway, not a sit-down bar. Do not confuse it with the other Loredana on Via Bissuola.

tbc

DevFest Venezia 26 — Campus Scientifico Ca' Foscari

Via Torino 155, Mestre. Same town as the hotel; plan the exact route on Friday evening once the start time exists. Your session: AI-Native Web Development, Hands-On, two hours, English. Own laptop, ask about the projector input on arrival. The organisers confirmed the slot as a two-hour classroom format with attendees on their own laptops.

19:30

Dinner in Mestre

Unless the organisers dine you. Hostaria Vite Rossa (Via Pietro Bembo 30, 21 min on foot, +39 041 531 4421, Saturday until midnight): the best solo room in Mestre, a counter with stools, mozzarella in carrozza €2 and baccalà three ways €22, or the gran crudo. €15–25 at the counter, €35–50 for a full meal with a glass. Cards fine.

Alternative: Osteria del Lupo Nero (Via Giorgio Ferro 21, off Piazza Ferretto, +39 041 961 180, 18:30–22:30), the place the Venetian city magazine names first for cicchetti on the mainland. €20–30.

23:00

Set nothing by hand

At 03:00 the clocks go back to 02:00. The phone does it; a hotel wake-up call or a manually set alarm does not. You gain an hour on the one free day, and the 11:00 tour is 11:00 in the new time.

Sunday 25 October

Walking tour · Do Spade · Accademia · Zattere · Cannaregio

~16 °Csunset 17:07busiest day · museums open, Rialto bacari shut

09:15

Bus 5E/6E to Piazzale Roma

Nine minutes, €1.50. A ~1,950-passenger cruise ship is in port today and it may also be Venice Marathon day, with the finish on Riva dei Sette Martiri; check venicemarathon.it the week before. Crowds do not matter to a walking tour. If Murano and Burano tempt you for the afternoon, buy the 48 h pass (€35) now; it also covers Monday and the Mestre buses. Otherwise singles.

09:45

Coffee near the meeting point

Standing at the bar, €1.20–1.50; sitting costs two to three times that. Fill this in once the meeting point is known (to-do 02).

11:00

Venice Free Walking Tour — The original! GuruWalk

Guide Simona, English, one adult, confirmed. Orientation first, exploring second: whatever she makes you curious about is Monday morning's plan. Show this code at the meeting point; the guide scans it to register you.

13:30

Late lunch — Cantina Do Spade

Calle de le Do Spade, San Polo 859/860, +39 041 521 0583. Open Sunday 10:00–15:00 and 18:00–22:00 and takes cards, which almost no other Rialto bacaro does on a Sunday. Polpette fritte, sarde in saor, fried-fish skewers, or sit down for spaghetti alla busara.

Nearer the Frari: Basegò (San Polo 2863, Campo San Tomà, daily ~11:00–22:30), modern produce-led cicchetti with a real vegetarian range.

14:30

Gallerie dell'Accademia

Dorsoduro 1050, Sunday 09:00–19:00, ticket sales close 18:00, €15 (€20 if a temporary show is still on). Closed on Monday, which is why it is today and not tomorrow. Two hours. If painting is not the mood: the Peggy Guggenheim (Dorsoduro 701, to 18:00, €17) is five minutes further, or one €20 ticket covers both Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi. The Art Biennale ("In Minor Keys", to 22 Nov, €30) is also Sunday-only for you, but it wants a full day.

16:30

Zattere before dark

Sunset is 17:07 today. Walk the Zattere to Squero di San Trovaso, the working gondola yard you watch for free from Fondamenta Nani. The bacaro opposite, Cantine del Vino già Schiavi, is closed on Sundays; that one is Monday's.

18:30

Cannaregio evening — Vino Vero, then Al Timon

The Rialto bacari are shut on Sunday; Cannaregio is not. Vaporetto 1 or 2 to Ferrovia or San Marcuola and walk. Vino Vero (Cannaregio 2497, to about midnight): Venice's first natural-wine bar, standing room, crostini with stracciatella and anchovy, no Spritz. Three minutes and one bridge on, Al Timon (Cannaregio 2754, 18:00–01:00): uovo con acciuga, mozzarella in carrozza, the Chianina crostino. Busiest address on the fondamenta after 19:00, and still worth it.

Want a table instead? Vini da Gigio (Cannaregio 3628A, +39 041 528 5140, Sunday 19:00–22:30, €50–70) is the classic Cannaregio room. The splurge is Local in Castello (one Michelin star, Sunday 19:00–22:00, €120–160).

23:30

Back to Mestre

Last train Santa Lucia → Mestre 00:13, bus 2 from Piazzale Roma 00:20 / 00:40, then N1 every 30 minutes until 04:51.

Monday 26 October

Quiet Venice · Frari or Secret Itineraries · Do Mori · bus 15 · EN1927

~16 °Cno cruise shipat the stop 13:35

08:00

Breakfast, pack, check-out

Check-out by 11:00; bag into the free left-luggage. Loredana is closed on Mondays: hotel breakfast, or Amigos Bar (Via Pompeo Molmenti 50, five minutes, a locals' bar, from 07:00). Ask for the itemised fattura now, not at 13:30.

09:15

Bus 5E/6E to Piazzale Roma

Monday is the calm day: no ship, and the Rialto bacari are open again. Accademia, the Biennale and the fish market are all shut today, so this morning is for walking and the two big rooms below.

10:00

Frari and San Rocco — or the Secret Itineraries

From Piazzale Roma, twelve minutes to the Frari (San Polo 3072, Monday 09:00–18:00, €8, Titian's Assumption over the altar) and next door the Scuola Grande di San Rocco (09:30–17:30, €12, door only), Tintoretto floor to ceiling, hand mirrors provided for the ceiling.

If you booked the Secret Itineraries at 10:00 instead: meet at the Palazzo Ducale, 1 h 15, then the rest of the museum. Allow 40 minutes to walk back to Piazzale Roma from San Marco.

12:00

Last lunch — Cantina Do Mori and All'Arco

Both open on Monday (Do Mori 08:00–19:30, All'Arco to ~14:30). Cash. Whatever you did not order on Friday. Be walking towards Piazzale Roma by 12:40.

12:50

Bus 5E/6E back to the hotel

Nine minutes to Forte Marghera Hermada, collect the bag, and stand at the same stop for bus 15 with time to spare.

13:38

Bus 15 to the airport the plan

From Forte Marghera Hermada, at VCE about 13:56, 2 h 50 before departure. Line 15 leaves at :08 and :38 with no slack built in, so the 14:08 is the free retry and the 14:38 still works (1 h 49). Watch the bus approach on oraritemporeale.actv.it, "Automotive" → "Find stop". €10.

Hard floor: the €35 fixed-fare taxi, Mestre ↔ airport, luggage included, 15–20 minutes. The fixed fare is void if you phone for it: walk ten minutes to the Piazzale Cialdini rank, pre-buy at shop.radiotaxivenezia.com, or let appTaxi fetch a metered one (€24–32). No UberX in Italy, and FreeNow does not cover Venice.

If a strike was called for today: bus 15 sits in the unprotected 09:00–16:29 gap. Take the ATVO 35b Airport Express from Mestre station instead (€10, 20 min, protected 12:00–15:00), or the taxi.

16:45

EN1927 Venice → Munich 89RQ6G

Winter time already. Hand luggage, 100 ml rule, the spices and biscuits are fine.

Getting around

Eat and drink

Bacaro rules in one breath: order at the counter, point at the trays, say un'ombra di rosso, stand, pay when you leave each bar, one or two cicchetti per stop, then the next bar. Locals go 11:00–13:00 and 18:00–20:30. Sunday closes most of Rialto; Cannaregio and Do Spade carry the day.

Venice — tables

Venice — bacari

Mestre — near the hotel

What to order

• Sarde in saor — fried sardines cured in onion, vinegar, pine nuts and raisins. Any bacaro.
• Baccalà mantecato — stockfish whipped with oil on grilled polenta, no dairy. All'Arco, Al Bottegon.
• Bigoli in salsa — fat wholemeal spaghetti in onion and anchovy. Antiche Carampane, Lupo Nero.
• Fegato alla veneziana — calf's liver with slow onions, the city's meat dish. Vini da Gigio.
• Schie con polenta — tiny grey lagoon shrimp on white polenta; the one visitors skip. Darsena has it.
• Moeche — soft-shell crabs, fried whole; an autumn window, so ask whether they are in.

Money

Google's GDE travel programme approved $800 for this trip (WorkTrips request #320007, 23–25 Oct). The stay runs to the 26th; you decided the Sunday night is your own. That makes the claim and the approval describe the same trip, and it keeps the claim inside the cap.

• Receipts: the Lufthansa passenger receipt is already a valid invoice and sits in the Vault. The hotel needs the fattura, itemised per night, at check-out.
• Claim: one form, up to five files, identified by request #320007, Revtag @fabkru. Deadline Tue 24 Nov 2026 (30 days after the approved window's end; the actual return would give 25 Nov, so use the earlier date).
• Cash on the trip: about €90 for bacari and the guide's tip. Everything else takes cards, including the AVM app.
• No access fee: the Venice day-tripper charge ran on 60 dates until 26 July 2026 and does not apply in October. No registration, no QR, no fine.

Practical

• Emergency: 112. Mestre's hospital is the Ospedale dell'Angelo; not verified in this research, so ask reception for the nearest pronto soccorso on arrival.
• Weather: late October normally 10–17 °C, eleven or twelve rain days a month, lagoon fog possible in the morning. Check a forecast from the 20th.
• Light: sunset about 18:15 on Friday, 18:10 Saturday, then 17:07 on Sunday and 17:06 Monday after the clock change. Sunrise Sunday 06:41.
• Clock change: 03:00 → 02:00 in the night from Saturday to Sunday. Phones handle it. Monday's flight is already in winter time.
• Acqua alta: the MOSE barriers rise at a 110 cm forecast, but Piazza San Marco floods from about 80 cm, so the square can take water on a day the barriers stay down. Official app hi!tide Venezia; sirens: one tone 110 cm, two 120, three 130, four 140+. Raised walkways go up on Piazzale Roma ↔ San Marco and station ↔ Rialto.
• Hotel: +39 041 531 7044, info@hotelsangiuliano.com. Check-out 06:00–11:00. Free left-luggage both ends.
• Pickpockets: vaporetti, Rialto and the Ferrovia are the usual spots; zip the bag and keep the phone in a front pocket.
• Tap water is fine and the street fountains are free.