The 9 essential things to do in Venice

On St Mark's Square, St Mark's Basilica blends Byzantine architecture with Venetian influences, recognisable by its five domes and richly ornate façade. The first church, raised in the 9th century to house the relics of St Mark brought from Alexandria, gave way to the present building consecrated in 1094. Inside, golden mosaics cover the vaults and domes, while the Pala d'Oro, a gold altarpiece set with precious stones, adorns the high altar. Entry to the church is ticketed; the treasury, the loggia and its Horses of St Mark are visited separately.

The heart of Venice, St Mark's Square gathers the basilica and its domes, the Doge's Palace, the Clock Tower with its astronomical dial, the Procuratie and the Museo Correr. Historic cafés such as Florian, open since 1720, line the arcades. Prone to acqua alta, the square is covered with raised walkways during the high tides of autumn and winter.

The 98.6 m campanile collapsed in 1902 and was rebuilt to the same design in 1912. A lift climbs to the bell chamber: the view sweeps over the lagoon, the basilica's domes and, on a clear day, the Dolomites. Early morning or evening, once the crowds thin, the square regains its full sweep.

A masterpiece of Venetian Gothic, the Doge's Palace was for centuries the seat of the government of the Republic of Venice. Behind its filigree arcades, the Grand Council Chamber astonishes with its scale and with Tintoretto's "Paradise". The Bridge of Sighs links the palace to the old prisons, which a route lets you cross, revealing cells and corridors. The "Secret Itineraries" tour also opens the hidden offices and interrogation rooms of the Venetian administration.

The Grand Canal snakes through Venice in an S of nearly four kilometres, from Santa Lucia station to St Mark's basin. Its banks line up more than 150 palaces built between the 12th and 18th centuries: the Ca' d'Oro with its lace-like Gothic façade, the Ca' Rezzonico, the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni (Peggy Guggenheim Collection) and, at its mouth, the basilica of Santa Maria della Salute. Only four bridges cross it: Rialto, Accademia, Scalzi and Costituzione.

You travel it by vaporetto (line 1, the slow all-stops route, or the faster line 2), standing at the bow if you can, or by gondola for a few dozen minutes at water level. The Ca' d'Oro can be visited (Galleria Franchetti); most other palaces are admired from the canal only. At sunset, the view from the Accademia bridge towards the Salute is the most photographed in the city.

Spanning the Grand Canal, the Rialto Bridge links the San Marco and San Polo districts. The present stone bridge, completed in the late 16th century, replaced earlier wooden structures and carries two rows of shops beneath its arcades. From its crown, the view opens onto the coming and going of gondolas and vaporettos. Right nearby, on the San Polo side, the Rialto market enlivens the mornings. It's one of the busiest spots in the city: early morning or evening, you enjoy it more calmly.

The lagoon holds several islands easily reached by vaporetto. Murano is known for its glassworks, where you can watch the glassblowers at work; Burano charms with its brightly coloured houses and its lace-making tradition; Torcello, wilder, keeps the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta and its mosaics. The Lido, for its part, lines up beaches and hosts the film festival. A half-day to a day is enough to string two or three together and shift mood from the centre.

On the Dorsoduro bank, at the foot of the Accademia bridge, the Gallerie dell'Accademia hold the largest collection of Venetian painting, from the 14th to the 18th century: Bellini, Carpaccio and his St Ursula cycle, Giorgione and his Tempest, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese and his vast Feast in the House of Levi, through to Tiepolo and Canaletto. The museum occupies the former Scuola Grande della Carità and its church.

Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man belongs to the museum but, being fragile, is shown only on rare occasions. Allow two hours for the essentials. A few minutes' walk away, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and the Punta della Dogana continue the visit on the modern-art side.

Opened in 1792, La Fenice is one of Europe's great opera houses: Rossini, Bellini and Verdi premiered operas here, including La Traviata in 1853. True to its name ("the phoenix"), the theatre burned down twice, in 1836 and 1996, and reopened in 2003, rebuilt "as it was, where it was", with its red-and-gold hall and five tiers of boxes.

By day, the hall, the foyers and the royal box can be toured with an audioguide; in the evening, the programme alternates operas, ballets and symphony concerts. Baroque concerts held in the city's churches, often around Vivaldi, a son of Venice, round off the musical offer.

In the Cannaregio sestiere, the Ghetto Nuovo is the oldest ghetto in the world: the Republic confined Venice's Jews here from 1516, and the word itself comes from the foundry ("geto") that once occupied the islet. Short of space, the houses grew upwards to seven or eight low-ceilinged storeys, which gives the campo its unusual look. Five synagogues, three of them hidden in the upper floors of ordinary buildings, were built here in the 16th century.

The district is still alive, with a community, kosher bakeries and the Museo Ebraico, which runs the guided tours of the synagogues. From the campo, the Cannaregio fondamenta (Misericordia, Ormesini) line up bacari and terraces along quiet canals, far from the San Marco-Rialto axis.