Matt and I spent two days exploring Venice and during that short time we ate as much vegan food as we possibly could, whilst also hitting the tourist hot-spots and discovering some hidden gems. We ate at various vegan & vegan friendly restaurants which I am excited to share with you; and throughout this post I’ll also share some of my top tips for how you can enjoy delicious vegan food at non-vegan eateries.

WHAT TO EAT

LA TECIA VEGANA ►►►

La Tecia Vegana is the only fully vegan restaurant on Venice’s main island, so of course we had to check it out. Everything on the menu looked amazing so it was really hard to choose, but eventually we ordered: the lasagne, lentil veggie burger, seitan roast and then for dessert, of course I ordered the tiramisu.

All of the food was delicious, but the lasagne was a clear favourite for both of us, closely followed by the tiramisu.

 

BELLA & BRAVA VENEZIA ►►►

Bella & Brava is a pizzeria that was located a short walk from where we were staying. Their entire menu is pescatarian with several vegetarian and vegan options and all of the pizzas are pre-made so you can’t go off menu. We ordered both of the vegan pizzas to share: marinara (no cheese) & vegetariana (vegan cheese & veggies) and added garlic oil to both. We loved both of the pizzas, and had we stayed for longer I definitely would have gone back.

HOW TO EAT VEGAN TIP: IF YOU VISIT A NON-VEGAN PIZZERIA, OFTEN THE MARINARA WILL BE VEGAN, JUST CHECK THERE’S NO MILK / EGG IN THE BASE, AND TO MAKE IT A BIT MORE EXCITING, YOU CAN ALWAYS ASK TO ADD GRILLED VEGETABLES.

 

AMORINO GELATO ►►►

We were super lucky to stumble upon Amorino, a cute little gelateria which had an abundance of clearly labelled vegan options, including chocolate – my favourite.

HOW TO EAT VEGAN TIP: THE DARK CHOCOLATE AND FRUIT FLAVOURED GELATOS IN MOST SHOPS ARE VEGAN, SO EVEN IF IT’S NOT LABELLED, BE SURE TO ASK!

 

PIZZA L’ANGELO ►►►

Pizza L’Angelo is a vegan-friendly take out pizzeria which serves small pizzas, family size pizzas (of course this is what we went for), paninis and falafel. Despite their abundance of varied vegan options; being the boring bettys we are, we decided to order a family size vegan margherita which ended up being one of Matt’s favourite meals of the trip!

FIUMEFREDDO BIO ►►►

On our way back from our boat trip to Murano & Burano (two beautiful little islands a short boat trip from Venice), we stumbled across a cute little cafe in a courtyard with a sign saying vegetarian and vegan. We decided to take a look inside and the lovely waitress chatted us through the menu, most of which was vegan. We decided to go for a selection of their smaller dishes and they were all delicious; the tofu & potato triangles were especially great.

 

WE LOVE ITALY ►►►

Even though we’d already eaten that evening, Matt really wanted to try some of Venice’s famous take-out spaghetti, so we headed to We love Italy which offers take out pasta and has vegan options. Matt ordered the spaghetti pomodoro and loved it! In fact, he wolfed it down so quickly that I didn’t even get a chance to take a photo!

 

VENICE AIRPORT ►►►

Despite Venice Marco Polo being a relatively small airport, on our very long stay at the airport (2 hour flight delay!!), we managed to find lots of vegan options at the various eateries located on the upper level.

As soon as you come up the escalator, you’ll find a coffee shop which has soy milk for hot drinks, some clearly labelled vegan pastries and most excitingly, vegan magnums! At the burger place at the far end, you can veganise the veggie burger by ordering without the bun, tartar sauce & mayo. Finally, in the main shop, alongside all of the regular vegan-friendly airport snacks (pringles, oreos etc), we found two viva la mama vegan sandwiches – a mexican one and a tofu one.

WHERE TO STAY

Matt and I stayed in a beautiful little bnb which I found on airbnb but is also available on hotel booking websites.

As the bnb is located in Cannaregio which isn’t in the centre of all of the tourist spots (but still only a short walk away), it is super reasonably priced compared to other accommodation; especially considering it had an amazing canal view and the vegan friendly breakfast and bottled water was included in the room rate. The staff were also super friendly and helpful, so I would definitely stay there if I visited Venice again.

 

WHAT TO DO

PRIVATE SPEED BOAT TRANSFER FROM THE AIRPORT ►►►

This is definitely a luxury and not a necessity but as our trip to Venice was my birthday gift to Matt, my mum treated us to a private speedboat transfer from the airport to our hotel. It was such an amazing experience and a great way to get to see Venice by boat.

You can purchase my Kula vegan rucksack, which was the perfect travel bag for a short trip, by clicking on my affiliate link here.

EXPLORE BY FOOT TO DISCOVER HIDDEN GEMS ►►►

There is a super reasonably priced water taxi service which stops all around the island; however, if you feel up to it, Venice is a relatively small island so it is easy to explore all of the tourist hot spots such as Rialto Bridge & St Mark’s Square by foot. This is also a great way to get lost down side streets and discover some of the more beautiful areas that aren’t overrun by tourists.

One of the most iconic Venetian tourist activities is of course the gondola ride. As this is pretty pricey & we’d already been on our speedboat trip, we got our gondola experience by gondola watching from a beautiful little bridge in a side street.

 

VISIT THE ISLANDS OF MURANO & BURANO ►►►

Murano is famous for its creation of Murano glass so the island is full of glass making workshops and galleries; whilst Burano is known for its beautiful brightly coloured buildings. Both islands are very picturesque, so are definitely worth the short boat ride from Venice. You can purchase tickets at various water taxi stops around the island.

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I hope you’ve found my Venice Vegan Guide useful, and as always, if you have any recommendations for places to visit / eat / stay, be sure to comment them below.