Opulent Venice works its magic ... sort of ... for a Valentine's Day break

The challenge: you, one quarter Sicilian and imbued with the love of all things Italian, want to inspire in your Anglo-Danish, Francophile fiancé a similar appreciation. Where to start?

Going with a conjunction of timing and tradition I thought I'd try Venice at Valentine's day. This much-cliched combo must inspire some magic, right?

Well, he wasn't glassy eyed and rhapsodic at the end of it. There were parts he liked, and Byzantine-Baroque elements he found so-over-the top that his brain simply stopped processing. I became more firm in my belief that the symmetry, logic and elegance of the Florentine renaissance is going to do the trick. But, in the mean time, we bobbed down canals on vaporettos, wandered past mouldering Gothic palaces, froze to our bones in grand but unheated museums and enjoyed quite a few very fine meals. With an early Saturday departure and a late Tuesday return, the four-day weekend felt like a much longer break, and we were both relaxed and culturally sated before returning to our desks on Wednesday morning.

So, the overview. We went out on a package tour with Expedia. Since the debacle of snow closures at Heathrow over Christmas I'm less of a fan of the company (I'm still waiting for my £800 refund for a canceled flight, which would have been far easier to get had I gone direct with the airline) but when it comes to flight and hotel packages for European city breaks, Expedia still tends to deliver the best deal. For a bit less than the trans-Atlantic flight Piers never took, we both got to Venice on BA and spent three nights in a five star hotel with a room upgrade. Given that a 5 star room in Venice can easily go for 200 a night, I was satisfied that we'd scored a bargain.

We stayed at the Hotel Dei Dogi, a place I discovered on a shopping weekend with a friend nearly a decade ago. It has lavish, classically Venetian interiors (befitting the family palace and then the French embassy that it once was), the largest private garden in Venice and it's own jaunty motorboat that zips you from the canal in front of the hotel down to St. Marks on a regular shuttle schedule. And yet, because it's in the quiet, off-the-beaten-track area of Cannaregio, its prices are about 30% below what you'd pay for an equivalent hotel closer to St. Mark's.

I have to admit, I actually prefer Cannaregio. It's heavily residential, so its lanes and canals are filled with locals. The absence of tourists means it's quiet and, late at night wandering down silent lanes with the canal glimmering beside you, wildly romantic. Its dominant church, Madonna dell'Orto (a stone's throw from the hotel), is a masterpiece of Gothic restraint not often seen in this city. It's the district closest to the airport, so either a straight shot by the Alilaguna shuttle (13 euro) or a short walk from the Piazzale Roma and the train station gets you there with ease. Once you figure out the route, it's a tolerable 20-minute walk to St. Mark's. And, best of all, it's the district in Venice with all the best restaurants. What's not to like? If someone else would like to pay for me to stay at the Danieli, I'll be there in a heartbeat. But on my own cash? Dei Dogi it is.

As Piers had never been to Venice, the plan was as follows. Day 1, having cleared the airport and checked into our hotel by 1:30, was devoted to rambling around the city and getting a feel for the place. It was, amusingly, also devoted to trying to find someplace to watch the England v. Italy rugby match that kicked off at 2:30. We went to a spot near the train station where the girl behind the bar helpfully went through nearly a score of sports channels on the satellite, but no rugby. A disappointed Piers sucked it up and fell into sightseeing. Ironically, we arrived back at the hotel to find the game on national TV with a time lag, so he got to see the second half after all.

Venice is such an opulent, decadent place, almost overwhelming in its sights, smells and design, I always figure you should ease a new visitor into it. Climb to the centre of the Rialto Bridge and gaze over the Grand Canal. Walk along it for a bit. Wander over to St. Mark's. Gape at the church, watch the clock strike, stroll through the piazzetta to see the outside of the Doge's Palace. Gawp across the basin at the rows of gondole, the outer islands and the Palladian magnificence of Santa Maria della Salute. Up the Riva degli Schiavoni for a bit. Check out the bridge of sighs. Look back at the that most famous of Venetian scenes. And then, frankly, quit while you're ahead. Because any more, as a first timer, is going to put you into sensory overload.

Sunday we concentrated on the glass-makers' island of Murano, then the museum at the Ca'Rezzonico. Monday St. Mark's, the Doge's Palace and La Fenice theatre. Tuesday the naval museum, the church of Zanipolo and shopping. And then a mid-evening flight home. For me, it was a great balance between the familiar and, though this was at least my fifth visit, a good array of new stuff. That's one of the beauties of Venice that goes beyond its lovely skin: There's enough to see in this compact territory to keep you occupied for years.

A few more essential tips for any such sightseeing breaks in Venice.

First, go off season. Even now, in the lowest of low times, we queued to get into St. Mark's, packed body-to-body on the No. 1 vaporetto up the Grand Canal and found some of the smaller lanes to be uncomfortably crowded. Nothing in this city is worth the hell of overcrowding it experiences on school holidays.

Second, don't plan to do anything quickly. Walks from point A to B may only take 25 minutes if you're moving briskly and know where you're going. But if you get turned about (highly likely in the warren of twisting lanes and canals bereft of easy sightlines to identifiable landmarks), or have to take a boat anywhere, that quick jaunt can easily take an hour. Don't sweat it, you're on vacation.

Third, look into tourist cards. If you're planning to go into at least two attractions a day (palaces, museums, churches) for three or more days, the HelloVenezia card is a good investment. Just under 40 euro per person for a 7-day pass, it not only works out cheaper but encourages you to pop your head into attractions that you might otherwise skip. An additional 30-ish euro gets you a 72-hour pass for the transport system. I'm undecided on the value of this one. If you're not planning to leave the main islands, you can probably walk everywhere and save the cash. Especially if your hotel, like Dei Dogi, has its own shuttle. But a trip to Murano and the ability to hop back and forth up the Grand Canal probably meant we broke even.

Fourth, try to only eat at recommended restaurants. Venice is notorious for having the worst food in Italy. Unsurprising when you think that this is a city supported almost entirely by tourism. When you're not working for return customers, it's all about being in a good location and snagging passing trade for a meal palatable enough to keep them from complaining while making you as big a margin as possible. So get off the beaten track and go for places validated by a critic like the Rough Guide. Or this blog, of course, which will naturally be getting around to restaurant reviews.

But first, we have some culture to discuss in coming days...