Small head and shoulders photo of us in mask and costume

Taking part in the

Venice Carnival

1. Costume
2. Sightseeing
3. Who goes there?
4. Impolite people
5. Carnival themes
6. Weather
7. Carrying things
8. Where & how
9. Mutual respect
10. Have fun!

Links

Legal stuff

Do you have a good link that's not listed here?
Do you run a related website, and want to exchange links?
Please drop us a line - we'd love to hear from you.

Links

Here are some links to other sites that may be of interest.

About these links

Wherever possible, the links are directly to pages in English. A few of the sites are in Italian, and we can't link directly to the English versions because of the way that these organisations have set up their web sites. In these cases, an English version can often be accessed by clicking on a link somewhere on the page (we've indicated below which sites this affects).

Some of these sites may still be showing the previous year's carnival details; they usually won't update until December or January.

Updates to the official carnival sites can be in Italian first, with the English version sometimes taking a while to be posted. If an official translation isn't available, you can get a rough Italian to English translation via Babelfish or Google

Sites about the carnival

Official carnival web site

City of Venice - Carnival - local government web site

Carnival photos from previous years

http://community.webshots.com/album/316051646NiBXxM

http://community.webshots.com/user/bellamy106-reg

Costume hire

We used to have a list of places to hire costumes in Venice, which soon got out of date. But many of the costumes you will see are one-of-a-kind, and are often made especially for the carnival. They can take several months to make. Therefore if you want an elaborate costume, try finding a local dressmaker in your home town. For something stunning, but not so elaborate, a theatrical costume supplier or a high quality fancy dress shop may be able to help - and this is what we did. The following is a link for the trade association in the UK, where you can find a local costume hire shop: British Costume Association (UK)

Alternatively, there are many places in Venice that hire costumes, and masks are available from most tourist shops. These are ideal if you want to try out a basic costume at low cost (e.g. just a cloak and mask). The Venice suppliers are also the best option if you need formal period evening wear for one of the balls (they are best placed to advise you on the dress code - which can be strict).

Regular attendees

Clairotte et Frédou - two regular carnival goers, and how they make their costumes (in French)
- Rough English translation of the above

General tourist information

Venice Tourist Board (official site)

Venice local government web site - tourist information pages

The official gondola site - everything you wanted to know about gondolas, but were afraid to ask

Transport

NB: Take note of where your hotel is, as land-based transport (taxi or bus) often won't get you all the way there! Also, don't forget to check which Venice airport your flight lands at. This will affect your transport options.

Venice Marco Polo airport - where most flights land (click the UK flag on the right-hand side for English version)

Venice Treviso airport - where a few low cost airlines and charter companies land (click the UK flag on the right-hand side for English version)

Venice Tourist board: getting from the airports to the city

Alilaguna - the express water bus from Venice Marco Polo airport to Venice itself

The Venice water bus system - for once you're in Venice

Package tours, flights and hotels

The companies here aren't specifically endorsed by us. We just thought you might find these links useful.

Solos Holidays - holiday company with packages specifically for single travellers. Not a dating agency!

SkyScanner - searches low-cost, budget and charter airlines in Europe

Jet2 - Low-cost flights, mostly from Leeds-Bradford Airport in the UK

Accessibility and special needs

For the mobility impaired, Venice could be a bit of a nightmare - though not impossible. There are a lot of steps in the city (usually at bridges) and the streets tend to be narrow and quite crowded, especially during carnival time. However, the streets are generally well paved and the authorities have begun to install wheelchair lifts in some locations. The water buses have access ramps, but they can be a bit hairy to get on and off during bad weather, even for those without impaired mobility. Once on board though, there is usually room for wheelchairs, scooters, etc.

There are tactile city maps for those with impaired sight, details of which can be found in the links below.

Things seem to be slowly improving all the time, but bear in mind that Venice is a very old city, and there's obviously a limit on what can be done without tearing down the whole city and rebuilding it. For the latest information, see one of the following sites:

General information for blind and partially sighted visitors

Where to get more information on accessibility issues

First-hand accounts of visiting Venice with mobility impairment

If you can provide any other links for visitors with accessibility or special needs, please send them to us via the Contact form. Thanks.

Unrelated and miscellaneous links

Most of these are completely unrelated to Venice, but belong to people who have helped in some way, no matter how small.

Paj's Home - Javascript MD5, web security and more

mikepike.com - miscellaneous rantings (currently offline but coming back soon)

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