%cr%bThe Vaporetti-Not Romantic at all!!! and other Venice, Italy Transportation Tips

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Ship/Boat
Getting TO/AROUND: Other than your own two feet, water buses, or vaporetti, are the only way of getting around the mess of water and land that is Venice. I wouldn't call them cheap, but at least there are many different tickets offered, for one trip, a day pass, etc. Buy your ticket before you board - occasionally there is someone on board who goes around checking to see that you have one.

I was quite amazed at how these boats operate. When they're maneuvering around to approach the dock they are quite loud and it sounds like they're grinding gears. Then half the time they slam into the dock and you get knocked around a little bit! They can be quite overcrowded on the Grand Canal and around the St. Mark's Basilica area, too. My best advice to you is to try to get one of the few seats outside at the front or back of the boat, because inside it gets really stuffy, no matter how many windows are open. Sitting inside an overcrowded vaporetto is one of my least favorite memories of Venice.

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'Mode': TO
Category: Ship/Boat
Getting TO/AROUND: Since Venice's Marco Polo airport is actually on the mainland, you'll still have to get from there out to the islands of Venice. We did this by taking Alilaguna, a private water bus service. They have two lines that make several stops around the lagoon (see the website, below, for their routes). You can buy tickets in the airport at the Alilaguna counter, then take their free shuttle bus from the airport to their dock nearby.

Being landlubbers, when we first arrived at the dock we thought the dock was the boat itself, and kept waiting for someone to drive it away! Boy did we feel dumb when we figured it out! What's my excuse, jetlag? In our defense, I can say we were not the only ones who thought that...!

A ticket is only about 10 Euro, which is quite cheap compared to taking a water taxi, which are eight to nine times more expensive. However, the Alilaguna boats are loud and slow. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half to get to various stops around Venice, compared to about a half hour in a water taxi. Both of Alilaguna's lines leave from the same floating dock

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Website: www.alilaguna.com