Venice

A strong contender for the world's most beautiful city, Venice has spent a lifetime gazing at its own reflection in the myriad canals that divide the city's 117 islands. Visitors find themselves approaching short breaks to Venice in much the same way, dreamily admiring the grand buildings lining the waterways for hours.

Shrouded by mist in the morning, the city wakes to clanking church bells and the whirr of vaporetti (water buses). As the Adriatic sun strengthens, it illuminates a unique ancient centre stuffed with handsome Renaissance palaces, Byzantine churches and Gothic architecture.

Kick off city breaks to Venice by leaving your guidebook in the hotel, walking the charmingly ramshackle back streets and getting a real flavour of the sinking city.

At the heart of it all, Piazza San Marco corrals together Venice's two biggest attractions. The mosaic-clad Basilica di San Marco is a sublimely ostentatious display of Venice's former wealth, and suitably crammed with priceless artefacts. Nearby, the gothic Palazzo Ducale has had various incarnations as the Doge's residence, a seat of government and even a prison.

For art lovers trying to cram in as much as possible on short breaks to Venice, it's difficult knowing where to start. The catalogue of works hanging in the Gallerie dell'Accademia reads like the definitive history of Italian painting, with a succession of masterpieces by the likes of Titian, Canaletto and Bellini.

For many, the highlight is admiring more than 50 Tintorettos in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. More modern tastes are catered for in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

A trip to the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello reveals that lagoon life can be oblivious of the tourist trade. Women dressed in black deftly weave lace as they have for centuries, and fishermen hang their nets to dry in front of pastel-coloured houses.

No matter how widely you travel, city breaks to Venice are an incomparable experience. But perhaps more than most tourist destinations, short breaks to Venice are best enjoyed with an open mind, and the willingness to get lost.