About the main exhibitions 1.Giardini

Venezia Biennale is held at two sites, Giardini and Arsenale, mainly.

Giardini, which means "park",  consists of one large building and each country's pavilions in a park. The large building, which is usually painted and shown as an artwork,  contains many works like museum. And around 30 countries have their own pavilions in this park. One pavilion belongs permanently to one country. Countries select their representative(s) every time. Of course there are a lot of countries who doesn't own its pavilion in the park. Such countries rent space outside of Giardini.
Giardini is so large that it takes a day to see over. I usually arrive at 10 o'clock and stay there until the closing time 18:00. Cafe, restaurant and shop are open in the park.

The map of Giardini. There are around 30 pavilions in the park. Click here for big picture.

Pavilions in Giardini

How to get information?

Please access to the official site, both English and Italian available.
http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/index.html

Before opening of the exhibition, the information will be uploaded, such as the list of participant artists and map. Download the map for your efficient tour. 

Where to Stay?

The two main exhibition sites, Giardini and Arsenale are located in the east of Venice city. So hotels in Castello area and San Marco area are convenient. But there are not a lot of accommodations in the east of Castello. San Marco is the center of Venice with famous spots such as Rialto Bridge and St Mark's Basilica and there are so many hotels including economical ones and luxurious ones. This area is so bustling that you need to choose high-class hotel if you want a quiet stay.
In the west of Cannaregio, there is a railway station, bus stops for airport and many economical hotels. Although you can save money if staying in this area, it takes around one hour to go to Giardini by vaporetto, water-bus which moves very slowly. So it is not very convenient for visiting Biennale exhibitions.
Hotels in Venice except luxurious ones are basically old and tiny, but it also represent an atmosphere of Venice.

When to visit?

Venice Biennale is held from June to November. (Please click the link for the 2011 opening schedule) When should we visit?
In accordance with the opening of Biennale, there held some collateral exhibitions in Venice. If you don't want to miss them, you should go as early as possible. Some of them may be opened only during summer.
However, there are so many visitors from June to August that people may have line up  in front of exhibition rooms. If you want to save time and see comfortably, early autumn is the best season. In September, it is cool enough to walk around very comfortably. The later you go, the better you can avoid the crowed.
The travel expense including flight and hotel is the highest in summer, July and August. If you want to save money, you should go later. The later, the cheaper. In October and November, it is terribly cold and Aqua Alta, exceptional tide peaks, could occur.     Be careful and ready for the flood.

How many days does it take?

Venice Biennale is held mainly in 2 exhibition area, Giardini and Arsenale (about which I will write later). These 2 area are very large and each takes you 1 day to see.
Plus, pavilions and collateral exhibitions are held all over Venice city. Although most of them are not very large and doesn't take you much time, the places are so dotted
that it needs 1 day or 2 days to see.
For your reference, please take a look at the map of 54th exhibition in 2009. Areas in red are two main sites and black are the exhibition sites dotted in Venice. As it is very difficult to see all of them, maybe you would better to pick some out.

In addition, there are contemporary museums such as Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana in Venice. In order not to pass up the chance of Venice visit, I recommend you visiting these museums.

Opening Schedule for 2011.

The 54th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale will take place in 2011, from 4th June to 27th November.
http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/exhibition/