We didn't have very high opinions of Venice after half a day there and decided to cut our stay short although this could have been influenced by the miserable weather. Most of the place is either incredibly touristy or full of overpriced brand name shops for the rich and famous, not really for the lower budget crowd, such as us. We finally managed to get off the tourist trail and find some lovely back alleys and canals worth seeing, but for all the hype that we had heard over the course of our lives we left feeling rather underwhelmed by Venice. For us Venice was a victim of its own fame.