Bar entertainment in Venice
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A
Corner Pub
As the name suggests, this cosy alehouse sits on a corner. Cram inside for a McEwan's or Bulldog Red, or in summer order at the hatch that gives onto the street.
reviewed
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B
Inishark
This hearty Venetian version of an Irish pub comes complete with Guinness, Kilkenny Cream and Bulmer’s cider, plus Sky Sport TV for those who can’t long forgo football and rugby. Usually closes two weeks in May or June.
reviewed
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C
Zanzibar
This crooked kiosk that looks set to crumble into the canal provides some great life-theatre entertainment. Pull up a seat on the square and settle in for a few people-watching drinks to the thumping music emanating from the bar.
reviewed
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D
L’olandese Volante
Go home happily hoarse after another chaotic night at the Flying Dutchman, where study-abroad students mingle easily with local eccentrics over cheap beer. Outdoor seating is highly prized, though you might be sharing it by last call.
reviewed
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E
Margaret Duchamp
This is a highly popular spot for a spritz and chat into the early hours. It attracts a hip mix of young wannabes and Biennale types with shades - you can't blame them, as you get the afternoon sun shining straight through your cocktail glass.
reviewed
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F
Bagolo
Creaky wood floors and mood lighting indoors, and candlelit tables outside on the campo, add romance from another era to leisurely happy hours on this picturesque square, with cicheti, cocktails and occasional live-music acts.
reviewed
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G
Osteria Da Codroma
Popular with students, Codroma has been a favoured meeting place of workers, artists, musicians and just about everyone else in this part of town for more than 100 years. It's a knockabout spot, where people crowd in at timber benches and tables for an ombra and snacks.
reviewed
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H
Orange
Huge sheet-glass windows dominate the southern end of the campo. The colour of an Aperol spritz inside, the bar appeals to fashionistas and other narcissists. In summer, skip the lurid bar and head out back to the pleasant garden or the ringside terrace upstairs.
reviewed
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I
Torino@Notte
Freeform, eclectic and loud, Torino adds an element of the unexpected to post-dinner drinks in otherwise staid San Marco. By day it’s a cafe, but nights bring €2 to €5 drinks with live jazz most Saturdays, spontaneous college-student singalongs or marathon DJ sessions of vintage reggae on vinyl.
reviewed
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J
Easybar
Leave it to Venice to give the usual sports bar crossover appeal. The sleek bar makes this the watering hole of choice for Università di Foscari architecture students, while bargain ombre starting at €1 and football matches on TV reel in the masses.
reviewed
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K
Osteria agli Ormesini
While the rest of the city is awash in wine, beer is the drink of choice here, with 120 mostly foreign brews. The scene spills into the street over happy-hour panini (sandwiches) – but try to keep the hilarity down a decibel, or the neighbours and management get testy.
reviewed
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L
Il Santo Bevitore
San Marco may have its glittering cathedral, but here at the shrine of the ‘Holy Drinker’, enticing offerings include blonde beers and Trappist ales, canalside seating, the footy match on TV, afternoon internet access and the occasional live band at night (Irish groups and all-girl rock bands are perennial favourites).
reviewed
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M
Dogado
The best part of this elegant bar-restaurant is swinging in the garden chairs on the summer roof terrace with a cocktail (around €9) or one of an unending variety of imported beers in hand. The dark, modern timber furnishings and candle light inside are just as tempting in the colder months.
reviewed
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N
Imagina Café
Emerging artists on the walls, comfortable booths and a vast display of Aperol behind the bar attract a regular creative, gay-friendly, chatty crowd that should probably start paying rent. Piazza tables are usually nabbed by locals and their little dogs, all basking in the sun and the admiration of passers-by.
reviewed
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O
Taverna da Baffo
This bar, named for Casanova’s licentious poet pal Giorgio Baffo, is actually a converted chapel, stripped down to its naked brick walls and then plastered with Baffo’s explicit odes to womanly curves. The young, upbeat crowds are hardly scandalised – and when strong spritz, draught beer and well-priced wines are flowing, there may be some impromptu poetry from the crowd before the night is through. In summer, arrive early to stake your claim on outdoor tables and the bartender’s attention.
reviewed
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P
Pub Tortuga
During the day this is a fairly standard café-bar, where you can pop by for a coffee, a beer and perhaps a bruschetta. At night it livens up as local punters slip in to sample the various imported beers on tap and, occasionally, a little live music. It's a warm little island in this lonely Cannaregio corner.
reviewed
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Q
Bacaro Jazz
The dark red interior and unabashedly brash feel, not to mention the location right on the main tourist thoroughfare, may not make it your favourite, but a drink's a drink in a town where bars open after 02:00 aren't exactly in surplus. You need to be inside by 02:00 to benefit from the last hour's drinking, however.
reviewed
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R
Ancorà
Minimalist maestro Tadao Ando would approve of this chic bar tucked under the ancient porticos of Rialto waterfront warehouses, stripped down to bare bricks and spiffed up with square iron tables for two, hidden on an indoor balcony. Jazz, Grand Canal views, prosecco, raw oysters, organic produce and modern romance are house specialities.
reviewed
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S
Bacaro
Good looks and smarts too: the bar at Bacaro is a shimmering mosaic oval that reflects well on you. The business-casual clientele in for an afternoon espresso gets elbowed out by the spritz -swilling literary crowd after events at Mondadori next door, and holiday romances, going very well indeed, drift in around midnight for a three-hour nightcap.
reviewed
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T
Un Mondo Di Vino
Get there early for first crack at the fresh and largely unfried bar noshes – marinated artichokes and mussels if you’re lucky – and a few square inches of ledge to help you balance your overflowing plate and glass of wine. There are 45 wines offered by the glass here, with prices ranging from €1.50 to €5, so take a chance on whatever the bartender recommends.
reviewed
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Mojito Bar
A tiny slice of Caribbean on the Lido, run by traveller-friendly twin brothers Andrea and Giovanni, this place (known affectionately as il baretto, the little bar) is the happening bar in the summer months. When nothing else is going on in, say, October, this is the place to be for beers, cocktails with fresh fruit (around €5.50) and Latin sounds.
reviewed
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V
Vitae
When things around here start to look grim, people converge on this place. On a Friday or Saturday night it's a lively joint for a convivial drink - and one of the few seriously decent options in the San Marco area for a fun-loving, unpretentious crowd. Vitae is also busy by day - it's a popular brunch spot for local office workers - and it's packed for after-work drinks, too.
reviewed
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W
Osteria alla Bifora
Chandeliers and exposed-brick archways dating from the 12th century make this the most romantic butcher counter you’ve ever been to for happy hour. Other bars around this campo cater to spritz-pounding students, but this moodlit medieval hideaway caters to dreamers who flirt over glasses of big-hearted Veneto merlot. The Ferrari-red meat slicer behind the bar isn’t as fast as it looks, so bide your time waiting for your tagliere (platter) of cured meats with a carafe of wine among new friends at the communal tables.
reviewed
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X
Ai Do Draghi
‘Permesso!’ (Pardon!) is the chorus inside this historic bacaro (bar), where the standing- room-only crowd spills onto the sidewalk and tries not to spill drinks in the process. If you can squeeze inside, past the tiny wood-beamed bar, there’s more seating out the back, or just let the crowd carry you to a table outside on the campo. In winter, the place shuts down at 10pm.
reviewed
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Y
Paradiso Perduto
Paradiso Perduto ‘Paradise Lost’ is a find for anyone craving a cold beer canalside on a hot summer’s night, with occasional live music acts. Over the past 25 years, Italian jazz great Massimo Urbani, troubadour Vinicio Capossela, and Keith Richards have played the small stage at the Paradiso. On Sundays, jam sessions hosted by two independent local labels alternate with local art openings.
reviewed