Venice rewards slow exploration. The city's six sestieri each have their own character: San Marco is the tourist core; Dorsoduro has the best art and the most liveable streets; Cannaregio is where Venetians actually live; San Polo holds the Rialto and the Frari; Castello stretches east into quiet territory most visitors never reach; Santa Croce connects the train station end of the city to San Polo.
The obligatory sights — Basilica di San Marco, the Doge's Palace, the Accademia — are genuinely extraordinary and worth the crowds. But Venice also rewards the visitor who leaves the beaten path: an hour in front of the Bellini in San Zaccaria, an afternoon in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco with Tintoretto's ceiling paintings, a morning walking the Fondamenta degli Ormesini in Cannaregio. The city is small enough to walk across in an hour and dense enough that you will not exhaust it in a week.
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