Destination guide: Venice

The sights of Venice are so unique and so famous that it's a city people feel they know without ever having been there.

St Mark's Square, the Bridge of Sighs, the masked Carnival, the maze of canals and bridges, and, of course, the gondolas.

We've all seen them a thousand times in brochures and books, in paintings, in films and on television.

Venice's fame is justly deserved. It boasts an extraordinary setting - built on 118 tiny islets in a lagoon in the northern Adriatic - a dazzling architectural heritage, some of the world's finest art museums and churches, and an indefinable sense of romance and mystery that endures despite the crowds of visitors.

In some ways, Venice has become a city frozen in time, a place that people visit purely to gawp and take pictures of the sights.

But there is so much more to it than just a "vast museum you march through with a herd of fellow-grazers," as the novelist Henry James observed.

This is a real, living city - all you have to do is keep your eyes open, now and again step off the beaten track, and you will find it.

Venice is divided into six districts or sestieri, each with their own distinctive character, though they can be confusing for visitors trying to find their way around.

Tucked into the lower bend of the Grand Canal is the district of San Marco, home to most of the popular sights, and therefore the focus of the city's tourism.

To the east is Castello, the residential heart of the city, while to the west and the north is Cannaregio, a quiet sanctuary away from the bustling crowds.

On the south side of the Grand Canal are San Polo and Santa Croce, where serene churches and wide-open squares nestle alongside the busy alleyways and market stalls of the Rialto Bridge.