Popularly known as the City of Canals, Venice is among the most romantic tourist destinations in Europe. It is a UNESCO-listed world heritage that never ceases to amaze. Despite being a small city, Venice has over 400 bridges, 177 canals, and 118 islands. With all these attractions on display, vacationers can hardly resist the Venice temptation.
Accommodation is never a problem in this magnificent city. With its high-security ratings, vacationers have multiple neighborhoods to consider during their stay. However, knowing where not to stay is as important as knowing where to stay.
The following Venice neighborhoods are a no-go zone.
Santa Croce
Santa Croce tops the list of Venice neighborhoods that vacationers should stay away from. By design, this neighborhood was never meant to be a tourism hub. However, it is not impossible to find tourists running their errands in this part of the city. With a bus stop, a port, and a train station, everybody would expect tourism activities to be rife here, but that’s not the case. Why is it that tourists are discouraged from camping in the Santa Croce neighborhood?
It Is A Chaotic Neighborhood
Santa Croce is among those Venice neighborhoods that thrive in chaos. The chaos in this case doesn’t necessarily mean violence. It is all about the vibrant nature of the neighborhood. Santa Croce is always buzzing with activities, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
With the constant hooting of buses, trains, and the docking ships, Santa Croce can get quite noisy at times. The chaos greatly hampers the quality of a romantic vacation. Also, there is nothing so fancy about its transport system to be envied by the average vacationer.
Lacks A Substantial Fun-Filled Activity
The biggest tourism drawback with Santa Croce is the lack of fun-filled activities to explore. While other neighborhoods are bordering multiple canals, only the Grand Canal is somewhere nearby. Unfortunately, there is little vacationers can do in this canal.
From Santa Croce, all vacationers see are unique boats but hardly ride them. If it was in other parts of the world, this neighborhood would be rife with water activities, which would make it more attractive to tourists.
History And History Alone
Not everybody travels for history classes. Unfortunately, that’s all Santa Croce has to offer, history and history alone. It is mainly about the Catholic Church and all the history of funerary monuments.
While some people take the monuments and celebrity tombs as part of the experience, the biggest percentage have none of it. Culture should be something that people learn and practice in real life. There is nothing to practice in Santa Croce, meaning vacationers should stay away from this neighborhood otherwise it will ruin the whole Venice experience.
Castello
Described as one of the most authentic neighborhoods in Venice, the Eastern part of Castello is a no-go zone for the average vacationer. Even with its multiple canals and bridges, vacationers are still not convinced it is worth the effort. The factors below should make every budding Venice vacationer kick the Eastern part of Castello out of their plans.
Far Away From The Metropolitan
The first key red flag with the Eastern part of Castello is that it is far away from Venice. For a small city like Venice, the average vacationer would expect that neighborhoods should be in proximity to the heart of the city.
This neighborhood is approximately 5.65 miles away from Venice. In the Venice scenario, that is a very long distance taking into consideration the small size of the city. Traveling all the way from Castello to Venice is one long boring encounter that no vacationer deserves.
Dilapidated Buildings
Eastern Castillo’s dilapidated buildings are also part of the reasons why vacationers should avoid it like a plaque. Initially, Italy has been painted to the outside world as the land of ancient and unique architecture, but Eastern Castillo has none of that. All tourists can see is a series of poorly maintained flats that are almost crumbling.
Eastern Castillo paints a picture of a struggling neighborhood that should at no point host vacationers. The poorly maintained structures do not meet the minimum standards that adventurers expect to find in a tourist destination. These buildings also come as a security and health risk to the average vacationer.
Overcrowding
Overcrowding is the last thing vacationers want to see out there when on vacation. But this is the sad reality tourists face in Eastern Castillo. With a population of over 15,000, such numbers are so high for a neighborhood within a small city of Venice’s magnitude.
Canals around Castillo are dominated by local idlers. Vacationers hardly have the necessary space to explore it to the maximum. Instead of visiting such places where locals have no regard for tourists, vacationers would rather opt for friendlier neighborhoods.
Venice is a marvelous city for vacationers to visit. However, the choice of the neighborhood that vacationers settle for can either make or break the experience. Adventurers are advised to stay away from Santa Croce and Eastern Castillo neighborhoods at all costs.