"Venice - La Serenissima" a Venice Travel Page by mccalpin

Venice needs no introduction - everyone knows about the city with the canals.

Venice was constructed after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, although the records are not clear. Still, the combination of islands and marshy land enabled the construction of a site that was defensible in the centuries after Rome fell.

Since my few tips cannot hope to compete with other VTers' pages that no doubt have hundreds of photos, I will strive to make this page useful as opposed to beautiful ;-)

#1. Cars are not allowed in Venice proper - so don't expect to use your rent car in Venice. The only place you can park is at Piazzale Roma (where the causeway from the mainland hits the island), and the price per day there is pretty steep. Read about parking in Venice and on the mainland at the city's website at http://english.comune.venezia.it/accessi/auto_eng.asp

#2. In Venice itself (i.e., the islands), you either walk (a delight!) or take water buses. NOTE: a "water bus" is a public conveyance like a bus on water - it is economical and runs on a fixed schedule. A "water taxi" is a private conveyance that is expensive, but goes where and when you want. The famous gondolas are a third genre all together, being like the horse-drawn carriage rides in urban U.S. locations.

Read more about this at the city's website at http://english.comune.venezia.it/turismo/muoversi.asp

#3. The public transit system handles both buses and water buses - see http://www.actv.it/english/home.php for schedules.

#4. There is also another water bus system called Alilaguna (http://www.alilaguna.it/). This system runs around the various islands as well as to/from the airport (Marco Polo), which is only 4-6 kilometers due north of the heart of Venice (but you can't get there from here ;-) ).

#5. There are two train stations in Venice: Venice Santa Lucia which is on the island (across the canal from Piazzale Roma), and Venice Mestre, which is on the mainland. Some trains pass through Mestre and don't continue to Santa Lucia...not a problem, as several trains an hour make the 10-11 minute trip from Mestre to Santa Lucia. In fact, given that hotels in Venice proper are expensive, some budget travelers stay near Mestre and commute in everyday. Mestre is NOT scenic, but Venice itself is only 10 minutes away. Look at http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html for train schedules.
For the starting and stopping stations, enter "Venezia Mestre" and "Venezia Santa Lucia".

#1. Venice's airport is Marco Polo - quite close to town, even if getting there is a bit roundabout. The website is http://www.veniceairport.it (English flag on the upper right). You can take a bus to Piazzale Rome (see Transports->Public Transports->Bus Connection), or take the water bus by Alilaguna (see above) that comes around the north side of the island (see Transports->Public Transports->Motor-boats, or (http://www.alilaguna.it/ above).

#2. Despite #1, some discount carriers fly into Treviso airport and call it "Venice". MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHICH AIRPORT YOU ARE COMING INTO! See http://www.trevisoairport.it/. There is a bus that runs from Treviso airport to Piazzale Roma - the page is at http://www.trevisoairport.it/dove/index.jhtml?sezione=dove&lan=it&view=trasporti - but it is only in Italian. Hahaha, aren't those Italians just crazy?!

Briefly, it's an ATVO bus, that takes 45 minutes to go from Treviso airport to the train station at Mestre to Piazzale Roma, and the cost (Sept, '06) is 5 euro one way or 9 euro round trip. Also note that as of Sept '06, you can buy tickets for the bus in the arrivals hall at the airport, and the bus leaves from the front parking lot. In Venice's Piazzale Rome, the bus leaves from lane D2.