A genius hack to save in one of the most expensive cities in the world
A woman from the UK has revealed on Tiktok how she avoided paying for an expensive tourist attraction while travelling around Europe.
Katie shared the clever hack after visiting Italy and people have called her a genius.
Posting a video on her TikTok account, she explained how she managed to avoid paying for a gondola ride around Venice – a popular pastime for tourists, but one that can prove very expensive.
@backpackingbabble And this is how you travel Venice on a budget 🇮🇹 #romantisizeyourlife #venice #boat #gondela #lol #viral #fyp ♬ original sound - liamfawell
She wrote: “Romanticise talking the bin men into giving you a boat tour of Venice because you don’t have €80 to spend on a gondola ride.”
The video shows her and her friend sitting on the iconic boat as it goes under a bridge, while surrounded by bin bags and cement bags.
She then panned back to show the two men behind her as they steered through the canals.
Her video has been watched more than 1.5 million times with more than 200,000 people loving the advice with one person saying: “This is iconic.”
Someone asked if the boat smelled to which Katie replied; “Not at all! I think it was just sandbags and building materials.”
Not everyone agreed, with someone adding: “I’d rather spend the €80.”
And one person said: “Venice seems like the only city in the world where a tour from the bin men can be romanticised though.”
Katie explained in a follow up video: “This is Alessandro and his father, they were both absolutely lovely and we went out for a few drinks with them after to say thank you.”
Tourists have often complained about the expensive costs of Venice.
Venice is also set to introduce a new fee from this year where tourists must pre-book and pay a day rate to enter.
Visitors will have to pay €5 ($A8) and pass through a turnstile in order to enter the city.
Images: TikTok