The Sweet Taste of Venice

Italians love their coffee but there are certain rules one must follow if you’re going to do Italian café culture the right way. This coffee and dessert tour of Venice makes you a bonafide caffè expert, but more than that, it also introduces you to the traditional pasticcerie of Venice. Learn the history of local sweet treats as you wander through the most local neighbourhoods in town!

You meet your local guide at the steps of the Santa Lucia train station (the only train station in Venice) and then begin your adventure exploring the Cannaregio neighbourhood.

The first stop on our Venice food tour is in a family bakery where Venetians start their day with a quick breakfast! Your guide will show you how to order the right coffee while sipping your cappuccino and tasting a brioche.

Following, we will discover the heart of the ancient Jewish Ghetto, a neighbourhood that is 500 years old and remains an important piece of the Venetian community. If you wish, you can stop to buy some local desserts from the Kosher oven!

We then continue our way toward the Castello neighbourhood, the largest sestiere on the island and home to the Arsenale, or Naval Dockyard, of the city. We explore the narrow lanes of the area before stopping into our next pasticceria, an elegant family-run spot that’s the most beloved and famous place to get seasonal desserts during the holidays: panettone at Christmas,  colomba at Easter… depending on the time of year, you get a mix of different desserts to try, appropriate to the season. You also have the chance here to relax your legs in the main square of the neighbourhood, overlooking the beautiful Church of San Giovanni e Paolo.

Finally, we head to our almost-last stop on this Venice food tour to enjoy the famous tiramisu! Learn everything about this Veneto dessert while enjoying a delicious homemade one.

From there, we walk toward our ending point at the Rialto Bridge, but we’re not quite finished yet. Do you love chocolate? We do too, so we can’t miss the opportunity to visit an atelier of chocolate, where you get a gourmet tasting while seeing how this tasty treat is made!

Then, it’s time to say a presto at the steps of Rialto Bridge, where your local guide gives you some tips for continuing your day in Venice, or gives you directions to head back to your hotel.

Additional information

Inclusions: Local English-speaking guide, and food and drinks as set out in the itinerary (coffee, three dessert samples and an alcoholic drink).

Exclusions: Additional food and drinks, alcoholic beverages, souvenirs and personal shopping, and tips/gratuities for your guide.

Dress standard: Please wear comfortable shoes for walking, and bring a hat and sunscreen during the summer months.

Your Trip: For your Urban Adventure you will be in a small group of a maximum of 12 people.

Confirmation of booking: If you have your voucher, your booking is confirmed. We’ll see you at the start point. Get in touch if you have any concerns or require more information via the email address or phone number (business hours only) on your voucher.

Child Policy: Children between the ages of 6 and 11 inclusively are permitted on this tour at the rate listed above. Please select ‘child’ above when booking. Children below the age of 6 are not permitted on this tour.

Local contact

Office phone number: + 39 348 980 8566
Email address: [email protected]

Mr. James O. from Australia travelled on 20 Nov 2017:

Susannah our guide was fantastic, very knowledgeable and an asset to your company, our tour exceeded all of expectations and will definitely recommend and book with urban tours again.

Mrs. Justine H. from Australia travelled on 10 Oct 2017:

Valentina was a fabulous guide. The trip far exceeded expectations!

Mr. Pat B. from travelled on 28 Sep 2017:

Actually, the tour far EXCEEDED our expectations. Our guide, Valentina, became our best friend for the time we were with her: she shared culture, history, stories of daily life, answered our wide variety of questions and piqued our interest with her own desire to share Venice with others. The Sweet Taste of Venice tour is a marvelous idea and the tastes were not only varied but each also reflected something unique about Venice. Valentina kept our interest the entire time and was able to adapt the tour to our needs.
This tour was so amazing that I’m going to check out Urban Adventures for every city we visit.
Bravo!

Mrs. sara m. from United Kingdom travelled on 17 Aug 2017:

loved this tour and our guide

Mr. Matthew T. from USA travelled on 24 Jul 2017:

We had an awesome time on the Sweet Taste of Venice Tour. Our guide, Valentina, was exceptional — so kind, knowledgeable, and just a joy to be around. After we failed to meet up with our group in the morning amidst some crazy downpours, Urban Adventures went above and beyond to make sure we could meet up with our group. This kind of customer service was highly appreciated, and it meant that we didn’t miss out on something we really wanted to do. The tour also wound up being one of our favorite things from the entire trip. We have nothing but positive things to say!!!

Mrs. Nancy K. from USA travelled on 29 Jun 2017:

We liked the Sweet Taste of Venice tour very much. You get to try a lot of different desserts, quite yummy, plus coffee. Our guide was friendly and enthusiastic. She told us about Venice and the areas we were walking through. It was a great opportunity to learn the Venetian culture while enjoying sweet treats.

Ms. Janine Z. from USA travelled on 21 Apr 2017:

Our guide and guide in training were wonderful! We had such a fun time! This was really our favorite tour we had in Venice.

Mr. Pennie S T. from Canada travelled on 12 Apr 2017:

Manola was an excellent guide. Highly recommend her and this tour.

Mr. Martin D. from United Kingdom travelled on 10 Apr 2017:

Great guide as well as Claire in training who added lots of additional facts and references to local
Life.

Mr. Kinloch N. from USA travelled on 11 Mar 2017:

Our dessert / coffee tour was wonderful… We had so much fun

Mrs. Alison N. from United Kingdom travelled on 04 Mar 2017:

Great tour – have reviewed already on Trip Advisor!

Mrs. Carol B. from United Kingdom travelled on 03 Jan 2017:

So pleased we discovered this tour and worked it into our stay in Venice. It was a highlight of our trip. Francesca was a great guide, introducing us not just to coffee and cakes but life in Venice today, as well as filling us in on history and culture. We visited many parts of the city that we would otherwise have missed (indeed, we went back again on our own to some of them). We (teenage daughter and parent) both loved every minute of it.

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Mrs. Kerry W. from USA travelled on 27 Nov 2016:

Francesca was amazing! We loved this tour.

Ms. Patricia E. from USA travelled on 15 Nov 2016:

Manola was the perfect guide: knowledgeable, enthusiastic, engaging, easy to understand. In marketing this tour you should emphasize that one should come VERY hungry, i.e. don’t eat breakfast!

Ms. Sharon H. from United Kingdom travelled on 12 Nov 2016:

I had a wonderful three hours with Manola. She was a great guide and gave me a real insight into local food, traditions and culture. The choices of cafes, bars and pastry shops was perfect and she also took me to places which were of particular interest to me. Wonderful.

Ms. Jenna H. from United Kingdom travelled on 09 Nov 2016:

I had a fabulous morning on the ‘Sweet taste of Venice’ dessert and coffee tour! This is so much more than a dessert tour – it is a ‘foodie’, history and walking tour all rolled in to one. It is excellent value for money – buying the individual pastries and desserts, coffee and alcoholic spritz would almost equal the price of the tour. Don’t have breakfast before you go, and you likely won’t need to eat until mid-afternoon! Francesca is a very friendly and knowledgeable – one of the best tour guides I have met! It was great having a local ‘food-loving’ guide who knows the hidden gems of the city, such as the best bars for wine and cicchetti, fabulous bookstores, the Jewish Ghetto, and other suburbs, backstreets and buildings that most tourists normally don’t venture to. I felt as though she gave me a true local venetian experience that I wouldn’t have had if not for the tour. I particularly loved that it was a small group tour as it felt very personal and intimate. I cannot recommend this tour more highly – I consider it the highlight of my weekend and a must-do on your trip to Venice!

Ms. Hannah H. from New Zealand travelled on 30 Oct 2016:

Lovely guide. Very helpful and great to talk too. We went to high qyaluty bakeries – so yum!

Mrs. Cathy C. from Australia travelled on 25 Oct 2016:

This tour was fantastic! I would highly recommend it. Everywhere we went we had beautiful coffee and delicious seeets! Our guide was lovely and very informative. We really loved this tour.

Ms. Charlotte V. from USA travelled on 23 Oct 2016:

The names is misleading–in a good way. 🙂 Yes, you do visit cafes and bakeries, but those are just the highlights of a solid 3 hour walking tour of the more residential parts of Venice, seeing areas normally not visited by tourists. Francesca leads you through the Jewish Ghetto and Cannaregio, visiting different types of cafes and snack shops, and telling stories and details about the traditions and lifestyles of modern Venetians. It was a very fun and interesting tour.

Ms. Jennifer R. from North Ireland travelled on 09 Oct 2016:

Oh, this was fabulous. I worried it would be too sugary, but Francesca spaced it out so well, with walking, culture, a cheeky 11am spritz and a little savoury snack to level our blood sugar. Even our dairy-averse, sugar-avoiding, gluten-intolerant friend had a blast! Thank you.

Mr. Peter C. from United Kingdom travelled on 27 Sep 2016:

Guide was great, we all loved it and appreciated that you changed our booking, definitely recommend you

Mr. Alessandro M. from Switzerland travelled on 17 Jul 2016:

Francesca was really knowledgable and keen to answer any questions.

Ms. Michelle G. from Australia travelled on 13 Jul 2016:

The tour was well guided by Francesca who was knowledgable and delightful. The tastings and coffee were all completely different and all delicious! We were taken to the Jewish quarter which was a highlight and to bakeries and chocolate shops which were outstanding. Would recommend this tour 100%.

Mr. aaron d. from Canada travelled on 14 Jun 2016:

Francesca was an amazing local guide. This 3 hour trip was the highlight of our week long stay in Italy and Slovenia. The detail, knowledge and love Francesca displayed on the urban Adventure really added to the overall experience.

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