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Getting to Venice by cruise ship or ferry
Arriving in Venice aboard a cruise ship or ferry from Greece or Croatia—How to get between the port and either the airport or downtown Venice
Piazzale Tronchetto
Vaporetto: Staz. Marittima or S. Basilio
tel. +39-041-240-3000
www.vtp.it
» Hotels near the cruise terminal
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» THE VENICE BOOKSHELF
A map of the layout of Venice's Stazione Marittima and San Basilio cruise terminal and ferry docks.
» View larger map.Most big boats to or from Venice—including cruise ships and ferries from Greece and Istria—dock at one of two nearby ports in the southwest corner of the historic center (between the Piazzale Roma parking garages and Tronchetto, just south-southwest of the train station).
The main port of Venice is called Stazione Marittima, and is where most Mediterranean cruises, Adriatic ferries to Greece, and other big ships dock. Some smaller ships and ferries to Croatia (and, in summer, even some larger boats when the Staz. Marittima's full) pull into the S. Basilio, just to the southeast of Stazione Marittima along the Zattere.
The easiest way to figure out which one you need is, if you're just arriving in Venice, simply ask as you disembark "Stazione Marittima o San Basilio?" If you're already in Venice and need to head to the port to catch a ship, make sure you ask beforehand which dock you want. (All things being equal, your best bet is to head first to the main Stazione Marittima; you can always make your way around to the other slip if need be.)
The map up above the right shows the layout of the port and cruise terminals.
- Most cruises dock at the green buildings.
- Ferries to Greece pull into the red building on the lower left.
- Ferries to Croatia and Slovenia often use the separate San Basilio dock in the very lower right-hand corner of the map.
(For a larger version of this map, click here.)
How to get to and from the Venice Airport and the cruise terminal
Many cruises that start or end in Venice include transportation to or from the airport. If it's not included, do not buy the cruise line's "transfer" option. It will inevitably cost far more than what you'd pay just doing it on your own. (The reason cruises are so relatively inexpensive is that they make virtually all their profits from shore excursions—that and on-board gambling and booze sales.)
The best option: The water ferry (92–100 min.; €25)
Hotels near the cruise terminal
You can find hotels near the cruise terminal at both:
• Venere.com (look for hotels in the surrounding neighborhoods of Cannaregio West, S. Croce West, and Dorsoduro West).
• Booking.com (use the site's map feature to look for nearby hotels)The way to get between San Marco airport and Venice's cruise ship port that combines an almost reasonable price with a lovely journey is to hop on the Alilaguna public ferry (tel. +39-041-240-1701, www.alilaguna.it). (More on getting to the ferry dock from the airport.)
You actually take two ferries: one to Piazza San Marco, where you switch to another ferry to continue to the docks. Make sure you buy that €25 ticket to go all the way to the "Stazione Marittima."
At the airport, grab Linea blu (blue) ferry, which makes its leisurely way around Venice, stopping several times (80 min). [Note: you could also take the Linea rosso (red) line, but it doesn't link up as well, so you have to wait about 35 minutes at San Marco.]
Get off at Piazza San Marco at the mouth of the Grand Canal (photo-op!) to switch to the Linea M, which chugs from San Marco to the Stazione Marittima and back again (20 min.).
Why must you change ferries? Well, until 2010 the Linea blu used to go all the way from the airport to the cruise docks (in season), but then the company realized it could split this into two runs instead and charge you twice! Wasn't that nice of them?
The classy option: A water taxi (50–60 min.; €110)
You could also take a private water taxi from the airport to the cruise terminal, but it'll take nearly an hour and cost a dizzying €110 (tel. +39-041-522-2303, www.motoscafivenezia.it).
The quick-but-dull option: A land taxi (20–30 min; €35)
A taxi (regular, land taxi) from the airport to Stazione Marittima will take about 20 to 30 minutes and cost about €35.
The cheapest option: The bus (30–40 min; €1.20–€8)
Take either the €3 ATVO airport shuttle bus (tel. +39-0421-383-672, www.atvo.it; 20 min.) or €1.20 ACTV public bus no. 5 (tel. +39-041-272-2111, www.actv.it) to the end of the line at Piazzale Roma—which is very close to the port...but not quite there yet.
Getting from a train to a boat
If you've arrived at the Venice train station, and want to get to the ship terminal, just turn right out of the station, walk up the Grand Canal a bit, and cross over that shiny new glass-and-steel Ponte della Costituzione to Piazzale Roma. The follow the directions detailed on the left.
To cover the final 900 yards from Piazzale Roma to the cruise terminal, you can either:
- Hop the shuttle bus - Free, and runs every 15 or 20 minutes, but usually available only Saturdays through Mondays, during cruise season, when a big ship is in port.
- Grab public bus no. 6B or 6/ - (That's six with a slash after it; different from six without a slash). It costs €1.20 and gets you close—but not quite—to the cruise dock; grab the bus headed toward "Tronchetto" (not "Panorama") and get off at the second stop.
- Take a (land) taxi - Takes about two minutes, and should run about €5 (tel. +39-041-523-7774 or +39-041-595-2080).
- Walk - It's 10 to 15 uninspiring minutes along sometimes busy roads. Head away from Venice and up along the beginning of the bridge/causeway to the mainland, then turn left into the port area just after crossing above all the railroad tracks.
How to get to and from downtown Venice and the main cruise port
Fastest and easiest option: Simply take the Alilaguna M public ferry (€15; tel. +39-041-240-1701, www.alilaguna.it) from the San Marco-Giardinetti docks.
Otherwise, grab that brief land taxi ride (or walk in 15 minutes) the 900 yards around to Piazzale Roma, which is a major stop for the vaporetti, Venice's public ferry system of water buses.
If you're made of money, you can take a private taxi acquei (water taxi)—though these motoscafi are monstrously expensive, they might actually make sense if you're toting all your luggage, since most other options involve a healthy walk followed by an often crowded ride on Venice's floating equivalent to a public bus, the vaporetto (which will cost you €6.50 anyway).
The San Basilio docks
If you happen to land at (or need to get to) the San Basilio docks, in the southwest corner of Dorsoduro, to get downtown you can either hop a water taxi, or take the public ferries/water buses known as vaporetti (lines 2, N, 8, 61, 62) at the S. Basilio vaporetto stop, just east of the ferry docks along the Fondamente Zattere (the quaiside promenade) and across a bridge. By the way, they aren't trying to rip you off on the vaporetto. Even though this is the local equivalent of a public bus, the tickets really do cost €6.50. Welcome to Venice.
If you're coming from or going to the airport, your best best is to continue waling east-southeast along the Zattere 450 yards to the Zattere vaporetto stop, where you can grab the rosso (red) line of blu (blue) of the Alilaguna traghetto (ferry) to Marco Polo Airport in 1 hour and 20 minutes (€15; tel. +39-041-240-1701, www.alilaguna.it).
Related pages
- Map of the Stazione Marittima cruise terminal
- Arriving in Venice
- The Venice airports (Marco Polo and Treviso)
- Taking the vaporetto (water bus or public ferry) in Venice
- Private water taxis in Venice
- Cruises in Italy
- How to get into town from other major ports of call (Civitavecchia/Rome, Livorno/Florence, Livorno/Pisa, Naples)
- Ferries to Greece (Patras, Igoumentisa, Kerkyra)
- Ferries to Croatia and Slovenia (Piran, Porec, Rovinj, and Pula in Istria)
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This material was last updated February 2011. All information was accurate at the time.
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