by: Jessica Pawl

Location: Venice, Italy

Favorite Family-Friendly Features: Canal Views | Full Kitchen | Bathtub | Ground Floor

Our Quick Take:

Tucked off the beaten path, but still offering amazingly easy access to Venice’s most bustling piazzas is this stylish two-bedroom, one-bath vacation rental called Corte Rubbi 5514. What the apartment lacks in child-focused amenities (womp-womp, we know), it makes up for by granting close-up views to the gondolas as they float right in front of the beautiful (barred for safety) bedroom windows.

This apartment, which is only a few minutes walk from many of the island’s attractions – like St. Mark’s Square and the Grand Canal – also offers something that a lot of accommodations in Venice aren’t able during the summer months: peace and quiet. It’s location will take you a minute to find; it’s tucked down a narrow ally, behind a church, and within a small residential courtyard. The main door spills right into the small living space of the apartment (though you’ll find it much larger than a hotel!); no need to worry about lugging suitcases or little ones up and down flights of stairs.

While the kitchen is tiny, it has all the fixings for full meals. A sofa and four-seat dining table allow for comfortable meals in, and low ceilings, lined by original beams, create a cozy home base no matter the time of the day.

Getting Down to Details:

Guestrooms: Off the kitchen, a hallway leads to two double bedrooms, with minimal but sophisticated decor.

Kid-Friendly Amenities: In Europe, the comfort of air conditioning cannot be overstated. Most accommodations don’t offer it, but this apartment does. While it doesn’t come with many of the child-friendly norms that we’d expect from most reviewed properties (travel crib, etc.) it DOES over deliver on Venetian views. Adults will adore the canal-side windows in the bedrooms, but kids will be absolutely delighted by this up close view of the waterways.

Additionally, you’ll find modern creature comforts like Internet, a full kitchen, a marble bathtub and sizeable bathroom.

What to do in Venice:

Do you really need to do anything more than get lost in the tiny streets of this iconic Italian city? We think not.

But in case you do, here’s what we’d recommend:

• Cruise the canals: Whether you hop a water taxi or a ferry, hitting the waterways makes traveling through the city easier while simultaneously bringing big smiles to the kid’s faces. Along our routes, we saw “polizia” patrol boats, garbage barge boats, and ambulance boats, too.
• Gondola on the Grand Canal: We were shocked (shocked!) to learn that a 30-minute tour – and they’re all tours, by the way – would cost 100 Euros. We nearly skipped out, but in the end, couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Baby stayed back with her father, so it was mom and a three-year-old enjoying a special bit of one-on-one time. At this age, he did perfectly well in the boat, which we requested leave the Grand Canal and focus on the more narrow, residential canals. It was a beautiful experience, if not expensive.
• Eat like a local: Swing into a bacari for a snack of popular chicchetti (pronounced chi-KET-tee), small open-faced sandwiches that are traditionally served in Venetian cafes. Much like a crostini, you’ll find them piled high with diced tomatoes, parmesan, shaved deli meats and drizzled with balsamic.
• Learn Pasta or Pizza Basics: Cooking classes are easy to find in Venice and many cater to all ages. With an infant and a toddler, however, we opted for something that we could enjoy after their bedtime and within our vacation rental. Enter TakeaChef.com, which we worked through to coordinate a private chef prepared dinner and low-key cooking lesson in our home. He arrived right around the kids’ bedtime, then went to work making us a delicious, five-course meal. While the experience was definitely more expensive than a simple meal for two at a restaurant, we viewed it as a travel indulgence and justified the cost (roughly a couple hundred Euros) given that we avoided fine dining with our kids at this particular age.
• Paint a Venetian Mask: In many Venetian mask shops, you’ll see signs for children’s mask painting, available via a booked family session, or a more casual drop-in. In these environments, kids can learn a bit of the history around this celebratory costume and fashion statement, which took root in the Middle Ages.
• Boat to Burano: A 45-minute water bus from Venice, Burano is a small island full of candy-colored homes that create a striking scenery against its blue-green canals. It’s the perfect setting for a stroll and afternoon lunch, with shops to poke in and stand-up paddleboards s to rent for older kids, if desired. Let’s be serious, the photo opportunities alone make it work the trek!

Kid-Friendly Tip: During our visit, we picked up a cheeky coloring book by a local artisan called Leo and Venezia. The coloring book, as well as a complementing picture book, sticker book and stuffed animal are all available for purchase online. What a sweet gift it’d be to get your young child dreaming about Venice ahead of a trip!