Hi

We took the Alilaguna to the airport and can vouch for a stress free and scenic trip. If you wish you can take the vaporetto service down the Canal afterwards but you then have a fair walk to your B&B as far as I can tell. Venice is charming for amongst other things its maze of streets or calle. So finding your B&B will be another adventure! But if you really do want the Wow factor of arriving in the Grand Canal you may not care about the extra hassle.

WOW is to arrive by boat!

You could take the alilaguna orange line from the airport to San Marco and walk from there to your hotel. Or switch at San Marco to the blue line for one stop to San Zaccaria stop. Or you could take the airport bus to P. Roma and catch the orange line there.

The orange line from the airport does go down the Grand Canal. The blue line from the airport does not.

Www.alilaguna.it/en/lines/lines-map

Sorry... At P. Roma, you wouldn't catch the orange line... you'd catch the vaporetto 51.

The problem is you don't see much sitting in a Alilaguna boat. Small and not clean windows. The first time I took it was 15 years or so ago, then, they let me go out on the deck so I was able to see, without obstacle, San Marco when the boat was approching Venice. It does not sound they let you do it any longer. So don't expect much view-wise when you don't have the budget for water taxi. It is a straight and stress free ride to San Zaccaria that is good. You will get more "Wow"s riding a vaporetto on the grand canal. In order to do this, take a land bus (20 minutes) to Piazalle Roma and change to vapotretto no2 ( or slower No1). However it's a lot more time consuming doing all the way down Grand Canal to San Zaccaria. And when you have lots of luggage, maybe not easy to enjoy and this line can be very crowded. Ideally I would do Grand Canal when you are free of luggage, easier to find your place, to stand or sit comfortably for view.

> Or switch at San Marco to the blue line for one stop to San Zaccaria stop.

Would they get you on, for this 1 stop, and with the same ticket? Alilaguna is not like Vaporetto ...

> Or you could take the airport bus to P. Roma and catch the orange line there.

Careful, Alilaguna Arancio does not go to Piazzale Roma. It enters Venice via Canaregio Canal and goes down toward Rialto. P.Roma is on the opposite direction.

Ok, sorry Joanny you corrected before I posted. BUT still No. 51 does not go down the canal. It does go to San Zaccaria but via Giudecca, counter-clockwise ....

> BUT still No. 51 does not go down the canal.

I meant to say - does not go down the GRAND Canal.

Oops...kappa1 is correct, I believe. #1 or 2 goes down the Grand Canal, not the 51.

I'd take the orange line and walk from San Marco.

TTT

There's absolutely no substitute for taking a private taxi from the airport to the city, standing, with your jaw dropped in awe, as the city of Venice unfolds before your eyes over the water.

I know it's expensive. I also know that it's one of those memories that are priceless, that you can replay in your mind forever. If you can find a way to rearrange your budget to include the taxi from the airport, I'm sure you'll be glad you did.

That said, I would have a backup plan if the weather is poor when you arrive. If it's raining, you're probably just as well in the alilaguna or other lower-cost transport.

Alilaguna is slow, claustrophopic and slow. Not a WOW arrival in any way.
For the sake of budget, we took it instead of a speedboat and were very sorry. The speedboats whipped past us - romantic, fast and WOW. I would go with boat all the way.

oops just read watertaxi out of budget. I would still go with water taxi.

I agree with the others who have said that the Alilaguna is not a particularly special experience. As mentioned, the view through the windows is poor, and I find the trip to be very long, especially the blue line that circles the entire island.

For a true WOW, it has to be a private water taxi--pricey I know but you might meet someone at the airport going to your same hotel area and split the cost.

The next best choice for view in my opinion is a land bus to Piazzale Roma and then a vaporetto along the Grand Canal.

The Alilaguna is great if your hotel is right near a stop and you are more concerned about hauling luggage or getting lost than about the view.

Take a water taxi at the airport and arrive by crossing the bacino and then heading past San Marco and down the Grand Canal.

(You asked for WOW - not cheap.)

bookmarking

Now that I've bookmarked this, I'm curious----what does a water taxi cost? And, are they all the same, or some better?

After spending thousands to get there and enduring the rigors of airports and flights I'm sure we wouldn't mind spending more for a WOW, comfortable way into the city.

Current official rate for a private water taxi rates between the airport and the centro storico is €110. You can see the full rate chart here.

http://www.comune.venezia.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/19521

I am Ms Frugal. I took the public bus into Venice and was happy to do so.

But if I needed the wow...

Water taxi or bust! Negotiate it and love it.

Thanks for all of the replies! Sounds like either go the cheapest route with the bus/vaporetto transport or blow the budget for the water taxi. Thanks for setting me straight on any ideas I had about views from the Alilaguna.

As I nail down the rest of the trip, I will see if there is room in the budget. I will write a trip report when I return to let you know where I ended up on the millions of questions that I have asked.

Perhaps there is another Fodorite looking to share a water taxi on April 26? Long shot I know...

You could try the shared water taxi.

http://www.venicelink.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=000flypage_escursioni.tpl&product_id=54&category_id=10&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=43&lang=english

We have used it and it is good. 25 euro per person.

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/venice-a-sort-of-trip-report.cfm

Peter_S_Aus
Now that sounds like the way to go. Thanks for posting the link to your TR. It is full of very useful information.

Venice does sound a bit complicated to get around, but with help from the Fodorites I'm sure we can navigate successfully.

Shared water taxi - that seems like the perfect compromise. Thank you Peter!

Water taxis are lovely wooden motor launches that will hold up to about 6 people and their luggage. The boatman will help you load the luggage and climb down into the launch.

Final cost will depend on exactly where you go (you need to determine the closest dock to your hotel) - but I believe it's about 100 euros. Ask your hotel and they can confirm.

If you can change your arrival date to May 7th, I'd be glad to share a water taxi with you !

carolsc

You can have "WOW" and you can have cheap, utilitarian. You can't have both.

There is absolutely nothing WOW about the Alilaguna or the vaporetto. There is WOW if you're willing to pay for water taxi -- great unobstructed view of the city. Shared water taxis does seem to be the answer.

Be sure to take a vaporetto ride around the Grand Canal at night... one of my best suprises was getting lost walking and hopping on the vaporetto to get back to the hotel. It was fantastically unplanned and magically wonderful!

Thanks again to everyone for their help! Though disappointing, it is actually really helpful to set my expectations straight regarding the Alilaguna...and to get the great suggestion of the shared water taxi.

The Alilaguna is considerably more WOW than the bus. For the cost of a taxi for two you can probably get two 7 day passes for the vaporetti, and have as many WOW moments as you like for the rest of the week (go out to the Lido just for the view back across Venice from the boat). I know it won't be a first impression, but it will be no less spectacular.

Our experience with the shared water taxi:
It worked really well.

Arrive at Marco Polo, collect bags etc.

Go to the Shared Water Taxi booth in the arrivals hall.

Exchange printed copy of voucher for a docket, with booth attendant who spoke good English. She was expecting us.

Wait for 10 minutes or so for another two couples to arrive.

Stroll as a group down to the water taxi terminal, ask for Mike, and the docket had his water taxi number on it. It is a seven minute walk to the taxi terminal, and we used an airport baggage trolley to haul our stuff, even though we had wheeled bags. To get an airport trolley, you need a one euro coin to unlock the trolley, like in a supermarket. Leave trolley at water taxi dock, and retrieve your euro.

Embark. The whole process was really simple, fun too.

The web site that we booked through:
http://www.venicelink.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_biglietti&product_id=54&category_id=10&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1&vmcchk=1&Itemid=1&lang=english

We did not use the shared water taxi on our departure, and I’ve read of people having problems with the service when doing Venice to Marco Polo.

I disagree. Having taken Alilaguna a half dozen times and enduring the very slow experience we opted for the bus a month ago. Its a twenty minute ordinary bus ride and you get dropped at Piazzale Roma (less than charming). But the short walk over Calitrava's new bridge gets you in front of the train station. IMO, a striking introduction to Venice. Of course vaporetti 1 and 2 are right there.

Okay, trying to make my final decision and leaning toward shared water taxi. But want to make sure I have all the info.

Peter - I assume that gratuity is customary for taxi drivers, even when shared? Any idea how much? We will only have carryon luggage, so won't need much help with that.

Thanks again!

Caze, no gratuity (tip) is required. Tipping is much less prevalent in Italy than say in the USA. It’s worth doing a search on Fodors for Tipping in Italy, and you’ll find lots of comments.

We’ve taken the Alilaguna into Venice a couple of times and the shared water taxi once. Next time, (in seven weeks and four days, not that we’re counting), we’ll take the Alilaguna ferry. Reason for this is that it will be a different Alilaguna line to the line that we’ve previously taken.

Bus to P. Roma + Vaporetto costs about 10 to 15 euro, the shared water taxi 21 euro, according to their web site, so there is nothing in it, in terms of cost. The Alilaguna is about 15 euro, I think.

Departing, we take the Alilaguna ferry, mainly because there are set timetables. Meeting up with a shared taxi is a bit less certain – there are occasional stories on Fodors where people have had problems meeting up with a taxi.

Alilaguna info is here: http://www.alilaguna.it/?lang=en .