Heading to Venice and don’t know how to get from one place to another without roads? Basically it’s a combination of walking, private boats (water cabs) and big water buses, the most used public transport in Venice. Below I will tell you about all the options and give you a few more tips.

If you are wondering how the lagoon city of Venice works, you should consider a guided tour on your first day. This is the best way to get to know the city!

Using public transport in Venice and the surrounding area

The main means of public transport in Venice to get to your destination are by boat or on foot. In the lagoon and along the canals, travelers can choose between different types of public and private boats: the water buses (vaporetti), the fast water buses of the cooperative “Alilaguna”, private water cab, gondolas and ferries.

In this article I explain you the different transportation options and how to use them, depending on where you want to go.

The airports of Venice

There are two airports near Venice: Marco Polo Airport, closest to the city center and visible from the northern shore of the city, and Treviso Airport, on the mainland and 30 km from Venice.

How to reach Venice from Marco Polo Airport

Travelers arriving at Marco Polo Airport have four options to get to Venice city center: the Alilaguna water bus, a land bus, a private water cab, or a land cab to Piazzale Roma.

Bus from Marco Polo Airport to Venice (overland)

There are two different types of buses that go from Marco Polo Airport to Venice: The ATVO bus to Piazzale Roma (Venice) or the ACTV bus #5 Aerobus that stops first in Mestre and finally at Piazzale Roma in Venice. Both connections cost the same: €8.00 one way or €15.00 round trip. You will find the bus stops just after leaving the arrival terminal at Marco Polo Airport. You can buy tickets at the kiosks in the terminal or from the staff at the bus stops.

Car service or cab from Marco Polo airport to Piazzale Roma (overland)

Travelers can take a land cab or car service from Marco Polo Airport to Ponte della Libertá, which connects the mainland with the island of Venice. The cost is usually 60 euros and the ride takes about 30 minutes. The cab rank at Marco Polo Airport is located on the sidewalk just outside the arrivals hall.

With the Alilaguna water bus from Marco Polo Airport to Venice (via water)

The most exciting form of public transportation in Venice is certainly the public water buses from Venice Airport to the city center, operated by the Alilaguna cooperative. There are three lines that connect Venice’s famous Grand Canal with the mainland (at the Lido), the cruise port (Marittima) and Marco Polo Airport: the Linea Blu (Blue Line), the Linea Arancia (Orange Line) and the Linea Rossa (Red Line – this line runs only from April to September).

Tickets cost €15 one way and €27 round trip. Children under six travel free, and there is a €3 charge for each additional piece of luggage after the first. Tickets are available at ticket vending machines and at the ticket counter in the Marco Polo Airport arrivals hall. The route to Venice (Piazza San Marco) takes just over an hour.

Private water cab from Marco Polo to Venice (over water)

Admittedly, I have never driven a cab in Venice. However, if you’re planning a once-in-a-lifetime trip or want to feel like James Bond while on vacation in Venice, a private water cab can be a great experience. One of the advantages of a water cab is that they can also navigate the inner canals beyond the Grand Canal, and depending on where you are staying, these cabs can dock right at your hotel’s dock.

To use a water cab, you can buy a voucher at the water cab counter in the arrivals hall of the airport, then go to the dock, which is right by the terminal, and present the voucher to the cab driver. By the way, the pier is marked with the blue signs for “Trasporto Acque”. On the second floor of the terminal are the escalators that will take you to the dock.

How to get from Treviso Airport “Antonio Canova” to Venice

Treviso Airport is a smaller airport located 30 km from the center of Venice, yet it is served by many international airlines such as EasyJet and RyanAir. Since Treviso Airport is located on the mainland, the only options for getting to Venice are to travel overland to Piazzale Roma or to the Santa Lucia train station.

The cheapest option is by train. Buses run twice an hour from the airport to Treviso station, where the regional train to Venice departs. This combination costs 7.7 euros and the trip takes 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Taking the bus is also cheap and you go directly from the airport to the lagoon city without any detours or changes. There are two bus lines that go to Venice: ATVO and Barzi. The ATVO line takes up to 70 minutes because of the many stops, while Barzi takes about 40 minutes to reach Piazzale Roma in Venice. A round-trip ATVO ticket costs 22 euros – one-way 12 – and the Barzi bus costs 10 euros one-way or 18 round-trip. You can buy the tickets at the ticket machines in the arrivals hall.

Don’t forget to validate your ATVO ticket at the ticket machine at the bus stop before you get on the bus. The bus stops are located directly in front of the arrival hall.

Website of the bus company ATVO

Website of the bus company Barzi

The other way to get from Treviso airport to Venice is to take a land cab or a car service. You can find the cab stand right after leaving the arrivals hall in the airport. The ride to Piazzale Roma in Venice takes about 30-45 minutes.

By train to Venice Santa Lucia train station

Although no motorized means of transport has yet been able to surpass my arrival in Venice on a racing bike after cycling across the Alps for five days after starting in Munich, I still look forward to a train ride to Venice.

Even as a child, I found it fascinating to play and, above all, to read in these living room-like compartments, to take a look out of the window every now and then and be surprised that the landscape already looked completely different from the last time I gawked through the window, and suddenly I was at my destination and, full of excitement, I would certainly have forgotten my luggage in the compartment several times if my parents or attentive passengers hadn’t reminded me.

The approach to Venice is a special experience for me, my anticipation rising at the first sight of the lagoon, and the Santa Lucia train station now seems like a familiar travel companion.

Getting to Venice by train is very convenient: the main station is Venezia Santa Lucia, one of the largest and busiest in all of Italy, located in the center and leading directly onto the Grand Canal.

The other stations in the city are Venezia Mestre and Venezia Porto Marghera: both are on the same line, but still on the mainland and far away from the lagoon city!

Regional, intercity and high-speed Trenitalia and Italo trains depart from Venezia Santa Lucia station: there are more than 50 trains that will take you, for example, to Milan Central Station every day (in just under 2 hours and 30 minutes) or about 30 that will take you to Bologna in an hour and a half, but there are also direct trains to major European capitals like Paris, Vienna Central Station and Munich Central Station (in 7 hours with Trenitalia and Deutsche Bahn).

Within Italy you can reach from Venice the already mentioned stations in Milan (Milano Centrale), Rome (Roma Termini) via Florence (Firenze Santa Maria Novella) and Bologna, furthermore also Genova and Naples.

The public transport in Venice

The water buses (Vaporetti) of ACTV

As soon as you leave Santa Lucia train station, the Grand Canal and the Ponte degli Scalzi open up before you and the characteristic image of the lagoon city reveals itself: busy lines of people everywhere, tourists from all corners of the world haggling with street vendors for selfie sticks or, in bad weather, for umbrellas and, at first glance, a chaotic hustle and bustle on the water.

Once you get your bearings in this confusion, you can turn your gaze to the many vaporetto docks and ticket booths located in front of the train station on the Grand Canal. There are several vaporetto lines going in different directions. So it’s important to know which line you need to get to your destination.

Vaporetto tickets are not cheap, so you should consider in advance what type of ticket is best for your stay and whether or not you want to buy a multi-day ticket.

Fortunately, the connections of the vaporetti are stored in both Google Maps, Bing Maps and Apple and if you use one of the mentioned systems for navigation, you can look there for the best connection that will take you to your destination.

AVM/ACTV tickets can be purchased through the following sales channels:

• Venezia Unica outlets in the historic center of Venice and on the mainland.
• authorized retailers: many tobacco stores (“tabaccheria”) and café/bars
• ticket vending machines in the main arrival and landing terminals of public transport AVM/ACTV
• the official AVM Venezia-App
• online on veneziaunica.it.

Water cabs

To the left of the last vaporetto dock before Santa Lucia station you will find a water cab counter. To take a water cab, you must first get a voucher at the counter and then go to the dock to find the water cab assigned to you.

With the gondola

There’s no denying it: a gondola ride is not a cheap attraction, but its charm is such that it would be a shame to visit Venice without treating yourself to a ride. It would be like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower! Since the price is medium-high, it’s better to know in advance exactly what tour you want to take and take your time choosing the tour that best suits your needs.

I recommend you to book the gondola tour in advance, because the gondola tour is one of the top attractions that everyone wants to do in Venice. This often leads to long lines of tourists waiting at the gondola docks.

If you book online, you avoid this hassle and you can arrive at the meeting point at the tour departure time without wasting time.

The price for a classic gondola ride ranges from 80 to 100 euros for a private gondola ride – the gondola is just for you, max. 6 people – during the day and lasts 30 minutes. Prices for night tours start at 100 euros. The price is per gondola and is independent of the number of people. If you want to share a gondola ride with other people, the price drops to about 25 euros per person.

The minimum prices are set by the Ente Gondola, the organization that works to preserve this traditional form of water transportation and protect the gondolier’s job description, so there’s not much room for negotiation. A gondolier who is willing to negotiate on price should have alarm bells ringing: He may not have a license to do so.

Price per gondola or per person? For private tours, the price is per gondola and does not change depending on the number of people on the tour.

The traghetto

If a private gondola tour is beyond your budget, but you don’t want to miss the view of Venice from the water, a short tour on the Traghetto is the solution for you: Less romantic than a gondola, but much cheaper, this tour lets you see the city from the same angle as a gondola, that is, on the water.

A last-minute solution for low-cost travelers already exhausted by the cost of a very touristy city like Venice is the traghetto, or parade gondola, a larger gondola that travels from one bank of the Grand Canal to the other, allowing you to get from one Venice sestiere to another more quickly.

The Traghetto consists of a large and wide parade gondola, steered by two gondoliers, that travels from one side of the Grand Canal to the other. Just go to the stop (“Stazio”) and wait for the gondola to depart to pick you up or take you to the other side. It is a very convenient way to cross the water from the Grand Canal: You often avoid long walks or expensive ACTV tickets.

There are currently four open crossings (“stazi”): Dogana and Santa Maria del Giglio in the south, San Tomà and Riva del Vin/Riva del Carbon in the center south of the Rialto Bridge, and Santa Sofia in the north. Most traghetti run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., but the Traghetto Carbon only runs from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. during the week and not at all otherwise. For current info, click here.

The Traghetto is a very authentic experience: it is actually still used by Venetians to cross the Grand Canal.

Walking

Most likely, your hotel or apartment is only a 10-20 minute walk from the train station, as there are few corners of Venice further away. It is definitely advisable to pack light when traveling to Venice, especially if you plan to walk your luggage to your hotel!

By car

You should definitely not go to Venice by car! If you arrive in Venice by car, you must plan to drive to Piazzale Roma and pay for a parking space there. Then, take one of the means of transportation described above to get to your hotel or apartment. Unfortunately, you can’t get any further than Piazzale Roma by car.

The parking garages at Piazzale Roma are the closest to the center of Venice and the most expensive – about 50 euros a day. Cheaper ones can be found at the port further west; the cost there is 30 euros or more a day.

It is possible to find cheaper metered parking in Mestre, but my recommendation is to park at one of the small stations along the route of the many regional trains and take the train from there to Venezia Santa Lucia.

Conclusion

As you may have noticed, the transportation system in Venice floats on water. Many travelers hop on a vaporetto and hope it goes to the right place. Unlike a bus, drivers can’t let you off anywhere and you could end up on a tragically long loop in the wrong direction. Study the map or the navigation system and ask the public transportation employees in Venice.

I hope this guide will be useful and help you to better experience your visit to Venice.

Related links

This article was first published on salvati.photography.

Die öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln in Venedig einfach erklärt: Wasserbusse (WVaporetti”), Wassertaxis und viel mehr auf dem Reisefotografie-Blog von Claudio Salvati Photography.