1 · The short answer
The Venice Carnival 2027 runs from 23 January to 9 February 2027, according to the organisers. For the trip, buy one data eSIM before you fly and install it on Wi-Fi at home. Ringo Light's Italy plan covers Venice, the islands of the lagoon and day trips to Verona and Padua as a trip plan: unlimited data at full speed, 2 weeks for $14.99 or 30 days for $26.99, with nothing that renews. The plan is at ringoesim.com/italy.
Italy is also on the Europe plan, 33 countries for 2 weeks for $22.99 or 30 days for $35.99, the one to buy if the trip goes on to Austria, Slovenia, Croatia or further. For Italy alone, the Italy plan is the cheaper one.
Ringo Light is data only and sits next to your own SIM, so your number stays on your own line for calls and messages. The card to buy the plan is below this article.
2 · When the Carnival is
The Carnival ends on Shrove Tuesday, Martedì Grasso, so its dates move with Easter: the last day falls between early February and early March. For 2027 the organisers give 23 January to 9 February 2027 at carnevale.venezia.it, where the programme of each day is published. The two weekends and the last days are the busiest; a weekday in the middle is calmer, cheaper to sleep on, and easier on the network.
Hotels in the centre fill months ahead. Many visitors sleep in Mestre or in Padua and come in by train, which is where the data plan earns its keep: train tickets, vaporetto passes and the day's programme all live on the phone.
3 · Masks and the San Marco crush
The costumes are the Carnival: people in full eighteenth-century dress and painted masks who walk the city all day and pose in Piazza San Marco and along the waterfront. On the busy weekends the square and the lanes leading to it fill so tightly that you move with the crowd, not through it, and in recent years the police have closed or one-wayed some routes at peak times.
That crowd is also the network problem. Thousands of phones in one square share the same masts, and the thick stone walls of the calli, the narrow lanes, block signal on their own. Expect slow data in San Marco on a Saturday afternoon. What helps:
- Meet at a named place, a campo, a bridge or a church door, never "the square".
- Download the offline map of Venice. The lanes defeat a map that has to load, and the blue dot is the only thing that gets you out of a dead end.
- Carry a power bank. Photos, maps and the cold of a lagoon February drain a battery by mid-afternoon.
4 · The vaporetto and its app
The vaporetto, the water bus run by ACTV, is how you cross the city with luggage and how you reach Murano, Burano and the Lido. Single tickets are expensive; travel cards for a day or several days usually pay for themselves on the second or third trip. You can buy them at machines and ticket offices, or in ACTV's official app, which puts the ticket on your phone. Validate before you board, either way.
In recent years Venice has also charged day visitors an access fee on certain days, booked online with a QR code. Overnight guests are exempt, though they may need to register. Check the city's site to see whether your dates are on the calendar.
5 · Acqua alta alerts
Acqua alta, the high tide that floods the lower parts of the city, is most common from autumn to early spring, so it can coincide with the Carnival. The city's tide forecasting centre publishes the forecast and sends alerts, and sirens sound across the city a few hours before a high tide. The MOSE barriers at the mouths of the lagoon are now raised against the highest tides, so flooding is rarer than it was, but Piazza San Marco, the lowest point, still gets wet on smaller tides.
6 · Day trips to Verona and Padua
Both are an easy train ride from Venezia Santa Lucia, and both are in Italy, so the Italy plan covers them. Padua is about half an hour away by fast train: the Scrovegni Chapel, which sells timed entry online, the basilica of Saint Anthony and Prato della Valle, one of the largest squares in Europe. Verona is a little over an hour: the Roman Arena on Piazza Bra, the old town and the balcony everyone queues for.
Buy the train tickets in the Trenitalia or Italo app on data, and keep the QR code offline for the inspector. Driving on from Verona to the lakes or the Dolomites? Our covers ZTL zones and signal on the Autostrada.
7 · From the EU, the UK or the US
With an EU SIM, Italy is inside the EU roaming rules, so your own allowance works at home prices up to your carrier's fair-use cap. An eSIM is for more data than the cap.
With a UK SIM, the EU rules have not applied since Brexit, and many UK carriers charge a daily roaming fee in Italy.
With a US SIM, roaming in Italy is billed by the day or the megabyte. A travel eSIM for data, with your own SIM kept for calls and texts, is the usual answer.
8 · What two weeks of unlimited data costs
Our priced the brands most people search for on the same day, 27 September 2026. Here is Ringo Light against the cheapest rival in each unlimited chart, with the length each one sells.
Swipe to compare →
Prices change; the comparison post has every brand and the full method.
9 · Which Ringo plan, and how to set it up
Ringo Light is our own data eSIM, sold to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere with your own number ported onto it. Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your number stays on your own line for calls and messages; the eSIM carries the data.
- The Italy plan, for Venice and the day trips: unlimited data at full speed, 2 weeks for $14.99 or 30 days for $26.99, nothing that renews.
- The Europe plan, which includes Italy, for a trip that goes on to Austria, Slovenia, Croatia: 33 countries, 2 weeks for $22.99 or 30 days for $35.99.
- The Global plan, for a stay of months: $49.99 a month for 133 countries, renewing until you cancel.
Install the eSIM on Wi-Fi before you fly, turn Data Roaming on for the eSIM line, and set it as your data line. The step-by-step is in our and .
The card below sells the Italy plan; the same plan is at ringoesim.com/italy.
