Venice is always full of art, but in a Biennale year the city becomes something else entirely. The pavilions take over the Giardini and Arsenale, the palazzi open their doors to major exhibitions, and every walk across the city seems to lead to another artist, collector, foundation or view worth stopping for. With so much to see, we’ve curated a two-day journey through the must-see moments of the season. Clear your schedule, wear comfortable shoes, and get ready to explore the best that Venice has to offer.

Day One

Image: Venezia Unica / Città di Venezia

9.30 AM - Coffee at Serra dei Giardini

Begin just outside the Biennale Gardens at Serra dei Giardini, a glass-and-iron greenhouse tucked close to the Giardini entrance. It is the ideal place to start the day: quiet, green, and close enough to the pavilions that you can be inside before the queues begin to build.

Image: Getty Images

10.00 AM - The Giardini

Start with the Giardini, the historic heart of the Biennale. This is where the national pavilions still carry their strange, irresistible charge: part world fair, part political theatre, part art-world pilgrimage.

Begin at the British Pavilion, where Lubaina Himid represents Great Britain with Predicting History: Testing Translation. Himid fills the pavilion’s neo-classical architecture with bold, surreal paintings and an immersive soundscape by Magda Stawarska. From there, head to the Austrian Pavilion for Florentina Holzinger’s Seaworld Venice. Performance, installation and the body collide in a work that is intense, physical and already one of the most talked-about presentations of the season. Performances take place every hour and last around four minutes, so plan around the timing rather than leaving it to chance.

Spend the rest of the morning moving through the Greek, Danish and Spanish pavilions, each of which offers a different kind of intensity.

1.30 PM - Lunch in Castello

Stop for lunch in Castello, staying close to the Biennaleroute rather than crossing the city too early. Hostaria da Franz is a classic choice for a proper Venetian lunch near the Giardini and Arsenale, while Local offers a more polished, contemporary option.

3.00 PM - The Arsenale

Image: La Biennale di Venezia

Spend the afternoon at the Arsenale, where the Biennale opens into a more atmospheric, industrial rhythm. Before entering, look for Derrick Adams’s monumental banner portrait of Koyo Kouoh on the façade of Palazzetto dello sport Giobatta Gianquinto. It is easy to miss, but worth seeking out.

Inside, don’t miss Ranti Bam’s five colossal black stoneware vessels, Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s two-channel video tracing colonial memory across African and Asian histories, and Kennedy Yanko’s suspended steel and paint-skin works, which turn blue into something between matter, memory and force.

5.30 PM - Aperitivo on Via Garibaldi

After the Arsenale, walk towards Via Garibaldi for a drink. This is one of the easiest places to decompress after a full Biennale day: still close to the pavilions, less polished than San Marco, and full of Venetian life.

8.00 PM - Dinner in Castello

End the day at Al Covo, a longstanding Castello favourite and a natural post-Biennale dinner spot. After a day inside the Giardini and Arsenale, it makes sense to stay in the neighbourhood rather than crossing the city again. Keep the evening simple:seafood, wine, and an early night before the palazzi tomorrow.

Day Two

Image: Palazzo Grassi, Pinault Collection Venezia, White Cube and David Zwirner

10.00 AM - Michael Armitage at Palazzo Grassi

Begin at Palazzo Grassi for Michael Armitage, one of the major museum exhibitions of the season. The show brings together 45paintings, including newly created works, alongside more than 100 studies, giving a fuller sense of Armitage’s dense and vibrant pictorial language.

Cultivist Members can use their card here with one guest.

Image: Visit Italy

11.30 AM - Peggy Guggenheim Collection

A short walk brings you to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection for Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Birth of a Collector. After the scale of the Biennale, this is a more intimate stop: part museum visit, part Grand Canal pause, and a reminder of how much of Venice’s modern art history is tied to collectors as much as artists.

1.00 PM - Lunch in Dorsoduro

Stay in Dorsoduro for lunch. Ristorante Adriatica at Il Palazzo Experimental is polished without feeling too formal, and works especially well if your day is built around Palazzo Grassi, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and Punta della Dogana. For something more low-key, Cantine del Vino già Schiavi is a Venetian classic for cicchetti and a glass of wine by the canal.

Image: Pinault Collection, Palazzo Grassi - Punta della Dogana

3.00 PM - Lorna Simpson at Punta della Dogana

Continue to Punta della Dogana for Lorna Simpson and Paulo Nazareth. Set at the tip of Dorsoduro, where the Grand Canal meets the lagoon, this is one of the strongest museum stops to build into the route.

Cultivist Members can use their card here with one guest.

Image: Matteo de Fina

5.00 PM - Marina Abramović at Gallerie dell’Accademia

Head back through Dorsoduro to the Gallerie dell’Accademia for Marina Abramović’s Transforming Energy. Abramović becomes the first living female artist to be honoured with a major show at the Accademia, unfolding across both the permanent and temporary spaces. It is a powerful final museum stop for the day, bringing performance, energy and endurance into one of Venice’s great historic collections.

7.00 PM - Drinks or dinner near San Marco

End the day near San Marco. For a grand Venetian finish, book a table or stop for a drink at Grancaffè Quadri, where the square becomes its own kind of theatre. After two days of pavilions, palazzi and foundations, it gives the itinerary the kind of ending Venice does best: slightly grand, slightlyunreal, and impossible to recreate anywhere else.

If time allows on your way in or out of the city, make space for the Holy See Pavilion: The Ear Is the Eye to the Soul. Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers, the off-site pavilion unfolds across two venues in Cannaregio and Castello, bringing together 24 artists in a quieter, contemplative programme inspired by St. Hildegard. It is a little more out of the way than the main Biennale route, but a true must-see. Capacity is limited, so advance reservation is essential.