Row like a Venetian, eat what the lagoon provides and end the day on the beach.

Getting there from Spain. The plan starts in Venice: you arrive the day before. There are direct flights to Marco Polo airport (VCE) from Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga and Alicante, among other cities; from the airport, the bus or the Alilaguna boat drops you in the city.

A day on the water from start to finish. In the morning you learn to row like the Venetians, standing up and facing forward, in a wooden boat along the quiet canals of Cannaregio. At midday you cross half the city on foot to eat what the lagoon provides in a Castello house that has worked with the fishermen and the vegetable gardens of the islands since 1987. And you spend the afternoon on the sand of the Lido, where the Venetians swim. It is a plan for anyone who has already seen St Mark's, or who prefers doing the city to looking at it.

The day, hour by hour

10:00 · Venetian rowing lesson with Row Venice. The meeting point is at Cannaregio 3541, on Fondamenta Gasparo Contarini, next to the small harbour of the Sacca della Misericordia. An instructor from Row Venice teaches you the stroke with the batela moored and then you set out along the canals, rowing in turns. The classic lesson lasts 80 minutes and costs €100 per boat for two people on weekdays, €130 for three and €150 for four; on public holidays it rises to €160, so check the Sunday rate when booking. There is no minimum age and children under 4 do not pay. Book online more than 24 hours ahead; if wind or rain force a cancellation, they offer another date.

12:45 · Lunch at Al Covo. Half an hour on foot, about two kilometres, crossing Cannaregio and Castello via Fondamente Nove and Campo San Giovanni e Paolo to the Riva degli Schiavoni; Al Covo is in a campiello behind Calle della Pescaria. The kitchen is open from 12:45 to 14:00, so do not dawdle. Order the fish of the day, the bigoli mori in salsa, the fritto di paranza or, if the whole table is up for it, the seven-course tasting menu for €108. The vegetables come from the garden the house cultivates with other restaurateurs on Sant'Erasmo.

15:00 · Afternoon on the Lido. From the Arsenale stop, a few minutes away, line 1 takes you to Lido S.M.E. in about twenty minutes. Cross the island along the Gran Viale, ten minutes on foot, and you are on the beach: golden sand, calm water that deepens gradually and, at the Blue Moon beach, umbrellas, showers and a bar from June to September. If you are going to take more than two boats, the €25 day pass covers the outward trip, the return and the rest.

19:00 · Return. Vaporetto back to San Zaccaria, next to St Mark's, with the evening light over the basin.

What if you want to spend less?

Al Covo is a special lunch, with dishes from €29 to €43. For a cheaper day, eat cicchetti at the bar of the Cantina Do Spade, next to the Rialto, open every day, and take a towel and water to the Lido to use a free beach. If there are four of you, the rowing boat comes out at less than €40 a head.

With children

The rowing is what they remember most: children aged 4 and 5 row with an adult or with the instructor, and from age 6 they can row alone if they concentrate. The Lido is the easiest beach with children, with a shallow bottom. Al Covo, however, warns that with babies and pushchairs the space gets tight: with small children, the cicchetti bar is better.