Discover Royal Gardens of Venice

The Giardini Reali occupy a narrow strip between Piazza San Marco and the waterfront of the Bacino di San Marco -- about 5,500 square metres wedged between the most visited square in Europe and the open lagoon.

The setting is the whole value. Venice has almost no public green space in its centre, and none of it is here: within a few minutes' walk of the Piazza this is effectively the only shade, the only grass and the only free seating.

The garden is long and thin because it was laid out on the footprint of a demolished warehouse between a canal and a quay, so it reads as a sequence of shaded rooms along a path rather than as a park with a middle.

The lagoon side opens onto the Bacino, with San Giorgio Maggiore directly across the water and the Salute to the right -- the same view sold at a premium from every terrace nearby, available here from a bench.

The vaporetto piers along the Molo are immediately outside, which makes the garden the natural place to wait for a boat rather than standing on the quay.