Hotel Venezia

The majority of guidebooks assert that walking in Venice is easy. Well, putting one foot in front of the other has never been difficult but pointing yourself in the right direction is. Venice is a city of surprises and there's lots of them lurking round every corner. With few landmarks visible above the rooftops - unless you've got a good map, a navigator's sense of direction and sharp elbows - getting lost is just one of the joys that you have to get used to. Taking to the water, however, makes things a lot easier.

So if you're stranded on the wrong shore, instead of hoping you'll stumble over the pontes Rialto, Accademia or Scalzi before closing time, the smart move is to hop onboard a traghetti. These two-men gondolas ferry their human cargo across the Grand Canal and back at various points along its length for a set fee of around L700 (32 cents). Their prices are regulated so there's no point haggling.

The trip takes just a few minutes and if you want to look like a local stay standing all the way across. Traghetti operate from 9am until 7pm with a couple of hours break in the middle of the day for lunch and siesta. If your funds can't stretch to a private gondola cruise through the city, it's a brief but genuine and cheap alternative.