Most first-time visitors to Venice see one compact slice of it: the 126 tiny islands around St Mark's Square, stitched together by 472 bridges and home to fewer than 50,000 residents. But the city's waters spread far beyond that — across a 500-square-kilometre lagoon dotted with around 60 islands, only about 30 of them inhabited. On a recent seven-day sailing, writer Belinda Jackson argues the best way to grasp Venice is from the deck of a ship, and it's hard to disagree with her logic.
She travelled on Uniworld's S.S. La Venezia, a 126-passenger river ship that is one of just two vessels (the other being the three-star Michelangelo) permitted to cruise leisurely around the lagoon. Large ships have been banned from the inner lagoon and Giudecca Canal since 2021, but La Venezia's flat bottom leaves the shallow lagoon bed undamaged, so it gets special dispensation — provided it keeps to 11km/h in the shallowest stretches under the watchful eye of maritime authorities.
The itinerary, called Jewels of the Veneto, pushes well past the postcard sights. The ship sails as far as the outer MOSE flood gates and down to Chioggia, a fishing town at the lagoon's southern entrance with a serious fish market and what's claimed to be the world's oldest tower clock. En route you pass vineyard-covered islands, a ruined monastery, fortress islets and the odd converted luxury resort — San Clemente now hosts a Kempinski, Isola delle Rose a JW Marriott.
A big part of the appeal is access. Docking overnight on Burano and along the Giudecca Canal means passengers simply walk off the ship in the evenings, tapping their room cards, and wander neighbourhoods like Castello once the day-trippers have gone. On the first night guests join locals for a passeggiata along Via Garibaldi, one of Venice's better sunset spots. Guided excursions are included and cleverly staggered — the group had St Mark's Basilica to themselves for two hours one evening — plus optional extras like a lagoon oyster harvest or a visit to Fortuny's secretive fabric factory. Day trips head inland to Padua or Vicenza, where Palladio's Teatro Olimpico, built inside a Roman amphitheatre, is the oldest Renaissance theatre in Italy.
The ship itself leans hard into Venetian identity, with Murano glass, Fortuny fabrics and a Venetian mask on the bow, following a refit from its previous life as the River Countess. Cabins run a compact 14 square metres but are well designed, and even the gym sits low enough for treadmill runners to feel they're racing the speedboats.
Who is this for? Travellers who want a deep, unhurried first encounter with Venice rather than a two-day dash — or repeat visitors convinced they've seen it all. Pricing starts at $5349 a person twin share for the seven-night sailing, with meals, drinks and excursions included. Notably, boarding is mercifully simple: no port formalities, just a water taxi ride and rolling your luggage aboard at the San Basilio terminal.
