Stand anywhere along the Piazzetta or the Riva degli Schiavoni and look south across the water — the white church with the triangular pediment and freestanding bell tower, sitting on its own small island, is San Giorgio Maggiore. Almost everyone photographs it. Comparatively few actually get on the boat.
The church
Andrea Palladio designed the basilica in the second half of the 16th century, and it's considered one of his finest works — a cool, white, mathematically balanced interior that reads as the calm counterpoint to the gilded density of St Mark's across the water. See our Piazza San Marco guide for the view it's answering. Inside, don't skip the choir stalls or the two large late Tintoretto canvases flanking the altar, The Last Supper and The Manna from Heaven — genuinely major paintings that most visitors to Venice never see, simply because they're on the "wrong" side of the water.
The campanile
The real reason to make the trip: San Giorgio's bell tower has a lift (no stairs), and the view from the top is arguably better than the one from St Mark's Campanile — because it includes St Mark's Campanile, the Doge's Palace, the Basilica's domes and the whole sweep of the Bacino di San Marco in a single frame, something you can't get from inside the more famous tower looking at itself. It's also markedly less crowded.
Fondazione Giorgio Cini
The rest of the island belongs to the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, a cultural foundation occupying the former Benedictine monastery, with a cloister and staircase by Palladio and, separately, a labyrinth designed by Jorge Luis Borges's admirers as a tribute to the writer. Parts open to the public on a rotating basis, often for exhibitions — check ahead if a specific building or garden is the draw.
Getting there
Vaporetto line 2 stops directly at San Giorgio, a few minutes from San Zaccaria near St Mark's — genuinely one of the shortest, easiest "escape the crowd" trips in the whole city. Combine it with a stop on Giudecca next door, since the same line continues on to it.