Venice is built on 117 small islands and has some 150 canals and 409 bridges. Only three of the bridges cross the Grand Canal whilst a fourth, designed by Calatrava, has been interminably delayed. It is difficult to predict when or if it will finally be put in place, even the concept has become something of a Venetian tragi-comedy. The historic centre is divided into six sestieri (quarters): San Marco, Dorsoduro, San Polo, Santa Croce, Cannaregio and Castello. It covers a deceptively small area - if you don't get lost (which you will!), walking from Cannaregio in the northwest to Dorsoduro in the south should take only 30 minutes. The city's 'main street' is the Grand Canal, which passes most of the districts as it twists along the length of Venice from the railway station to San Marco.

Venice goes well beyond the six sestieri. The shallow waters of the Laguna Veneta are dotted by a crumbling mosaic of islands, including Murano, Burano and Torcello. Acting as a breakwater to the east is the long and slender Lido di Venezia, stretching south for some 10km (6mi) to the similarly narrow Pellestrina. This in turn dribbles down to the sleepy mainland town of Chioggia, marking the southern-most point of the lagoon. Spreading inland from the Laguna Veneta is the rather humdrum industrial town of Mestre, where the day-to-day 'life' of the city increasingly takes place. Mestre's southern half is occupied by Porto Marghera and its massive petro-chemical works.

Few cities reward walkers so generously as Venice: get ready to pound those antique pavements! Don't bother following the interminable signs directing you to 'San Marco', 'the Rialto', 'the Ferrovia' or all three at once - get lost in the timeless backstreets, dead-end alleys, canalside fondamente and deserted squares that make up the real Venice. Vaporetto is the other essential method of getting around, and it can be equally rewarding: you won't find too many public transport routes as unforgettable as vaporetto No 1's trip along the Grand Canal. Taking a ride in a gondola is corny, expensive, embarrassing and...well, if you really want to, why not? Water taxis are almost as expensive as gondolas, but their pilots don't wear stripy shirts and sing 'O Sole Mio'.