Nightlife in Venice

Nightlife in Venice is full of surprises—but probably not in the way you might expect. In a lively, bustling metropolis like Venice, filled by day with tour groups and tourists from all over the world, you might expect the city to have an active nightlife. But wait! There are also all those photographs and stories that make Venice seem like a mystical, even rather mysterious city. These images and tales often show Venice as deserted. So which is it? How much nightlife and how much solitude can Venice hold as the sun sinks towards the horizon and does not herald a new day until the early hours of the morning?

A friend remarked recently: “After midnight, Venice goes to sleep.” That is when shadows creep along the old palaces, the click-clack of high heels echoes for miles, and on the cobbled streets, all that is missing is the sound of a speeding horse-drawn carriage. You only have to experience this spectacle once to think carefully the next day about what activities you might want to start from your holiday apartments and hotels in Venice—or perhaps give a miss. “Going out for a meal” is just one option. But the Venetians seem to have taken that idea to heart: Venice is packed with small and larger restaurants, and at night the city becomes a meeting place in pubs and a handful of fashionable bars. If this way of life appeals to you, a bàcaro could become a favourite spot in Venice’s nightlife. Bàcari are traditional Venetian wine bars, furnished with either high or wooden tables. Wine or sparkling prosecco is served with a selection of small bites that can change from day to day. Bàcari are popular meeting places for all kinds of occasions and with almost every age group.
For visitors to Venice, St Mark’s Square and the canals naturally play a major role in the city’s nightlife. Couples in love, in particular, often find it hard to resist the romance of the evening hours. Cafés and bars fill with the sounds of jazz, café orchestras or other music that invites you to linger, and Italian wine is rarely absent. If you’re looking for more of a late-night atmosphere, you’ll either have to wait for the summer months, enlivened by one or another event in Venice, or seek out one of the very few nightclubs in this lagoon city.

Venice cherishes the quiet that settles in during the evening, and anyone who has surrendered to the bustle of this tourist metropolis during the day will appreciate the atmosphere of a city that is, at heart, maritime. As evening brings quiet, wanderlust, longing for the sea and love for the city return to Venice.