 |
|||
 |
|||
|
|||
Arriving in Venice by plane
How to get to Venice by air, and how to get to downtown Venice from the airport
Aeroporto Marco Polo
Tessera (just north of Mestre)
General: tel. +39-041-260-6111
Flight info: tel. +39-041-260-9260
www.veniceairport.it
Treviso Airport
Aeroporto di Treviso Canova
Treviso
tel. +39-0422-315-111
www.trevisoairport.it
ReidsItaly.com Venice Map
» View ENLARGED MAP with all listings
TOURS FROM OUR TRUSTED PARTNERS that include Venice
Intrepid Travel 2011 Italy trips
• Best of Italy
• Italy Uncovered
• Italy Experience
• Classic Italy
• Italy Family Adventure
• Highlights of Italy
• Umbrian Discovery
Not just Italy...
Paris to Venice
Venice to Istanbul
G Adventures 2011 Italy trips
• Ultimate Italy
• Italy Culture and History Explored (9 days)
• Venice to Rome Adventure
• Italy Family Adventure
iExplore Italy trips 2011
• Italy Experience (9 days)
• Italy in Style (9 days)
» THE VENICE BOOKSHELF
The Marco Polo airport in Venice really is close to the downtown historic center, which you can see in the background of the above photo.
Most people still arrive in Venice by train, but with the rise of no-frills airlines, more and more can get here by plane. There aren't any direct flights to Venice from North America (you have to change planes, usually in Rome or Milan), but there are plenty from the U.K. and Europe.
Venice's Marco Polo Airport (www.veniceairport.it) is in the northern reaches of Venice's landlubbing suburb, Mestre. From here, you will need to get "downtown" to the historic center of Venice—you know, the bit with all the islands, canals, palaces, and gondolas (see below).
First, however, please note that some no-frills/low-cost flights from within Europe—including those on popular Ryanair (www.ryanair.com)—land at another regional airport called Canova near Treviso (www.trevisoairport.it). For info on getting from Treviso into Venice, see the end of this page.
The best way to get from Marco Polo airport to downtown Venice
There are two ways to get to Venice from the airport: by water—private water taxis or the public ferry, both of take you straight downtown—or by land.
I prefer going by water—even though it is more expensive and actually slower (40–80 minutes versus 20–30 minutes) than going by land. However, taking a ferry or water taxi is way more Romantic (and didn't you come to Venice for that?), plus it is usually way more convenient.
Note: This page assumes you want to get to the historic center of Venice for some sightseeing. If you're trying to get between the airport and the Stazione Marittima ship port for a cruise or ferry, see this page.Water taxis (€100) take you as close to your hotel as they can get (for an obscene price, yes). The public water ferries (€13) stop at several key points around the historic center, allowing you to walk to your hotel.
If you go by land—whether by shuttle bus (€3) or public bus (€1.20)—it will only get you as far as Piazzale Roma, which is the only part of the historic center accessible by car (just over the causeway from the mainland). So, unless you're staying very close to Piazzale Roma (not really recommended), you'll still end up paying an additional €6.50 for a vaporetto from Piazzale Roma to get to your hotel.
All things being equal—and even though I'm a cheapskate—I'd go by water.
How to get between the Venice airport and downtown Venice by water
A water taxi from the airport to Venice (30–40 min; €100)
A private water taxi from the Venice airport to a downtown destination will take about half an hour and costs €100. (tel. +39-041-522-2303, www.motoscafivenezia.it).
To find a taxi acquei (water taxi), exit the airport arrivals hall turn left and follow signs for "Water Bus/Alilaguna" beneath a canopied walkway, across a street, and down to the kiosk (about 500 yards total).
Alilaguna traghetto public ferry from the airport to Venice (72–80 min.; €13)
I'd go with the slower (72–80 minutes), cheaper (€13) Alilaguna traghetto public ferry (tel. +39-041-240-1701, www.alilaguna.it).
You still get to arrive in Venice that oh-so-Romantic way on the water (truly, the only way to come to Venice), at a fraction of the cost.
Note that you do have to walk about 500 yards outside (with your luggage—though if you pack light, that's not a problem) from the arrivals hall: leave the building, turn left and follow signs for "Water Bus/Alilaguna" beneath a canopied walkway, across a street, and down to the boat landing stage (past the water taxi stand). Buy your ticket from the kiosk before getting on the boat (or from the blue machine in the airport; there's picture of the machine a bit further down this page on the right).
The Alilaguna traghetto (public ferry) from Marco Polo airport into Venice via Piazza San Marco.
The Alilaguna traghetto runs four lines, three of which are identified by color: Blu (blue), Arancio (orange), and Rossa (red).
(There's also Linea M for shuttling from San Marco to the cruise docks.)
If your hotel is near St. Mark's, take the blue or red line. The ride will take 72–80 minutes.
The Blu line stops first at Murano (an outlying island), Fondamente Nove (on the north side of the Cannaregio neighborhood), the Lido (Venice's beach), the Arsenale (convenient for the few hotels way out in the eastern reaches of the Castello neighborhood), before arriving at Piazza San Marco (get off at either the San Zaccaria or San Marco Giardinetti stop for hotels in San Marco or the western Castello), then zipping around Dorsoduro to stop at Zattere (convenient to hotels in Dorsoduro) and finally the Hilton on Giudecca island.
(Note that the €13 ticket only take you as far as San Marco; if you want to continue to the Zattere or Giudecca, the ticket costs €15.)
The Rossa line is a few minutes faster, since it skips the Fondamente Nove to stop first at Murano, then the Lido, then all the same stops as the Linea blu.
If you're staying closer to the Rialto, grab the Arancio line, which stops at Madonna dell'Orto, Guglie (up in the hinterlands of Cannaregio above the train station), Rialto, and S. Angelo (both ideal for hotels in the San Marco or S. Polo neighborhoods).
How to get between the Venice airport and downtown Venice by land
From the Venice airport, the ATVO shuttle bus (left) costs €3 and takes 20 minutes to reach downtown Venice's Piazzale Roma; the ACTV city bus no. 5 (right) costs €1.20 and takes 30 minutes. (Photo courtesy of Roaming Photos.)You could opt for one of two, slightly cheaper land methods to get from the airport into Venice.
To help tell them apart, look at the photograph on the left there. The shuttle buses are usually blue or green and say "ATVO" on them. The local city bus no. 5 (and others) are orange and off-white and say "ACTV" somewhere on them.
The shuttle bus from the airport to Venice (20 min.; €3)
Automated ticket machines for the ATVO land buses (left) and the Alilaguna traghetto/water bus ferries (right) at the Venice airport.There's an ATVO airport shuttle bus (tel. +39-0421-594-518 or +39-0421-383-672, www.atvo.it) which leaves every half-hour for the 20-minute ride to Piazzale Roma, the car parking lot near(ish) the main train station, Stazione Santa Lucia.
Tickets (€3) are easy to come by: at the ATVO ticket window in the arrivals hall, or from the automated blue ATVO machines located in the baggage claim area and also outside by the bus departure point.
The public bus from the airport to Venice (30 min.; €1.20)
Diehard penny-pinchers can take the ACTV public bus no. 5 (tel. +39-041-272-2111, www.actv.it), which doesn't have handy luggage storage underneath like the shuttle buses but costs only €1.20. It also makes stops along the way, prolonging the arrival in Piazzale Roma to about 30 minutes
(However, on a personal note: I was on this bus once and it got into an accident with a Mercedes; since the bus was full—as were all the other no. 5s that whizzed by us while we sat by the roadside with our luggage—we had to wait more than an hour before they dispatched an empty bus to pick up the stranded passengers.)
How to get from Treviso Canova airport to Venice
The airport in Treviso is about a 70-minute, €5 bus ride from Piazzale Roma in Venice—don't get of at the Venezia-Mestre suburban rail station, since you'd then need to board a train for the short hop into Venice proper. (Bus info: tel. +39-0422-315-381, www.atvo.it; buses are timed to meet incoming flights on low-cost carriers Ryanair and Basiq-Air). Buy tickets in the airport arrivals hall before leaving the building; return tickets from Venice are available at the ATVO office on Piazzale Roma.
Cheapest, but least appetizing option: take the public bus no. 6 (www.actt.it) from the airport to the Treviso train station (2–4 buses per hour; 11–17 min.; €1.20—though buy the biglietto/ticket at a newsstand in the airport before boarding or it's €2.50 on the bus). From there, get a train to Venice (2-4 trains per hour; 30–40 min.; €2.40).
Related pages
ShareThis
Search ReidsItaly.com
This material was last updated February 2011. All information was accurate at the time.
about | contact | faq
» THE REIDSITALY.COM DIFFERENCE «
Copyright © 2008–2011 by Reid Bramblett. All rights reserved.
