Venice Travel Guide (Venice, Italy)

The biggest tourist office - known as the Venice Pavilion - occupies the Palazzina del Santi, the waterfront building on the west side of the Giardinetti Reali, within a minute of the Piazza (daily 10am-6pm; tel 041.522.5150, ); smaller offices operate at Calle dell'Ascension 71/c, in the corner of the Piazza's arcades (Mon-Sat: summer 9.45am-5.15pm; winter closes 3.15pm; tel 041.520.8964), the train station (daily 8am-7pm; tel 041.529.8727), in the airport arrivals area (Mon-Sat 9am-8pm), and on the Lido at Gran Viale S.M. Elisabetta 6 (May-Oct daily 9.30am-3.30pm; tel 041.526.5721). The Calle dell'Ascension 71/c office is supposed to be the city's main outlet for information on the whole Veneto, but the staff are rarely as helpful as those in the Venice Pavilion.

From February to October there are also tourist information booths in Campo San Felice (Cannaregio), Campo dei Frari (San Polo) and Riva dei Sette Martiri (Castello); these are all open from 10am to 1pm then from 1.30 to 5pm. The free map distributed by these offices is fine for general orientation, but not much else. Far more useful is the English-Italian magazine Un Ospite di Venezia , produced weekly in summer and monthly in winter, which gives up-to-date information on exhibitions, special events and vaporetto timetables - it's free from the Palazzina del Santi office, and from the receptions of the posher hotels.