Venice without the crowds: the inside story by Tracy Chevalier

We’ve all heard about how overcrowded Venice is, with the local government introducing a visitor tax to try to reduce daytrippers. With its 20m visitors a year, is it even possible to experience Venice in a more mindful way? I’ve been to the city many times, including research trips for my latest novel, The Glassmaker. Here are my top tips on how to have a less-crowded, more interesting encounter.

Go when the crowds don’t

Visit in November or January. During these months the city breathes out and becomes much friendlier. For a lively winter meal, go to Mario alla Fava. It’s one of the first restaurants in Venice to offer vegan choices, I go for its seafood and mix of locals and tourists. Afterwards, go for a wander: the best times to walk around Venice without crowds are early morning and late evening.

Leave your phone behind for a day

You don’t need a map – just wander and let yourself get lost. You’ll find all sorts of unexpected places, and eventually you’ll reach water and you can take a vaporetto back. No phone also means no photographs. Everything in Venice is photogenic, yet when you look back through photos later none will be spectacular. Let go of the need to preserve those beautiful scenes and just enjoy them in the moment. I particularly recommend the passages off Via Garibaldi, where you’ll see laundry hanging out and kids playing football.

Go backstage at the Doge’s Palace

Take the Secret Itineraries tour, which you book in advance (palazzoducale.visitmuve.it). Not only do you bypass the long entry queues and gain access to the whole palace, you also get to go up to the attic cells where prisoners, such as Casanova, were held. You even walk over the Bridge of Sighs.

Try your hand on the water

Kayaking in canals is a magical way to experience Venice the way it was built, with its orientation around water. Most of the buildings had their main entrances on canals, which you only see when you’re down low in the water itself. We went at sunset with Real Venetian Kayak. As part of my research for The Glassmaker, I also had fun trying out rowing in the Venetian style – standing up and facing forward – with Row Venice, a group of women who are passionate about boats.

Go during the Art Biennale

Every two years, Venice hosts art from all over the world for eight months. While there are two main sites that you pay to go into, for me the best part of the Biennale is the many free art installations scattered throughout the city. They are often housed in buildings that you would never see otherwise: private palazzos, courtyards, libraries, schools. Whatever you think of the variable art, the settings are spectacular, never crowded and give you a sense of the Venice behind closed doors.

Visit an empty museum

Venetian museums are often overlooked, as visitors are seduced by the canals, squares and fancy exteriors. That’s a shame, as some are corkers. For a taste of what it was like to live in a palazzo, try Ca’ Rezzonico and Ca’ D’Oro, both of which also have excellent art collections. I have a special fondness for Palazzo Mocenigo, with its collection of 17th- and 18th-century fashion, especially its cabinet of fancy embroidered waistcoats. Close by is one of my favourite restaurants: La Zucca, a cosy vegetarian restaurant.

Find a view

It can be claustrophobic walking through narrow passageways with so many people around. To get above the city for a bird’s eye perspective, the most obvious place is the campanile in St Mark’s Square, where the views are spectacular, but there’s always a long queue. Two alternatives: the Scala Contarini del Bovolo has the most famous staircase in Venice – an ornate exterior spiral leading up to a terrace with lovely views. It’s never been crowded when I’ve visited, possibly because it’s tricky to find. Second, the Fondaco dei Tedeschi. For centuries, the German merchants’ quarters, it’s a grand four-storey building near the Rialto Bridge that’s been turned into a luxury department store. It has a gorgeous interior courtyard and a rooftop with panoramic views you can access for free (it’s popular, so book ahead). One of my favourite hotels, Locanda Fiorita, has a roof terrace with lovely views and free prosecco every evening.

Escape to the outer islands

The main island of Venice is surrounded by smaller islands. The glass island Murano, the lace island Burano, the cemetery island San Michele, and the ruins of Torcello are the best known. But there are many others accessible by vaporetto, with fewer crowds and interesting sites. Try Sant’Erasmus, where most Venetian vegetables are grown; San Servolo, with its Insane Asylum Museum and Lazzaro degli Armeni, with its beautiful Armenian monastery (by guided tour only, so reserve), or simply head across to Giudecca, the island opposite St Mark’s Square and eat at Altanella – a traditional trattoria with a local feel and a gorgeous canalside terrace.

Make a glass bead

The glass island of Murano has countless demonstrations of glassblowing and many shops to browse, as well as a cracking glass museum. But there’s nothing like creating something for yourself to make you appreciate the immense skill of the glass maestros. My novel focuses on a woman who makes glass beads and for research I had two lessons with Alessia Fuga, a brilliant beadmaker and patient teacher.

Appreciate the artisans

Venice has always been full of skilled artisans, making glassware, leather, boats, masks and paper. Many small workshops are still scattered throughout the city where you can watch the artisans at work and buy unique souvenirs, knowing that you are contributing to a precious local economy. Look out for Gualti, whose shop in Dorsoduro is full of jewellery and textiles inspired by natural forms; Gianni Basso’s printing shop, Antica Stamperia in Cannaregio, where you can order bespoke business cards and admire his old printing presses (he is so old-school he has no website and takes only cash); and Micromega eyewear in San Marco, which sells unique, often asymmetrical, glasses that are designed by a father-and-son team.

The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier is published by the Borough Press (£20). Buy a copy for £17 from guardianbookshop.com