linawood

Will I be able to find a place in Marco Polo airport to buy a SIM card on arrival. Could you tell me roughly where? We'll be heading straight up to a small village in the mountains and I hope to get set up before we go. I haven't done this before and I hope it can be easy.

NYCFoodSnob

A little research will tell you there isn't a place to buy one at VCE. A little more research will tell you that if you're "heading up to a small village in the mountains" directly from your flight, it's not going to be easy.

In a situation like this, the easiest way to get a SIM is to order online and have it delivered to your home. If you want to save money and purchase one in Italy, you need to find an inexpensive, hassle-free way to visit a SIM dealer after you land. Depending on the time of day and the day of the week, you may not find a store that is open, so you'll need a Plan B. Whether any of this activity, Plan A or Plan B, will save you money depends on what you actually encounter on the ground. Sometimes the least expensive method is to order online.

greg

Major carriers like TIM have a store locator, www.tim.it/trova-negozio. Depending on which way you are heading out Mestre and Treviso are possibilities. The Treviso shops look like they are inside the ZTL.

linawood

Thanks. That helps. I'll get one before we arrive. The per minute charges are higher but I don't expect to use it much.

barreg

There is a TIM store and a Vodafone store almost right next to each other near the Rialto bridge on the San Polo side. I had planned to buy a SIM card at the TIM store but there was a line of 5 customers that wasn't moving and only 1 salesperson. So, I walked to the Vodaphone store where there was no line and had a SIM card after a few minutes. We had very good reception all over (Venice, Liguria, Tuscany, Rome).

Ackislander

I don't think the OP is going to Rialto on the way to the mountains.

VCE, in my memory, is considerably less mall-like than many other airports.

barreg

Sorry, I read Marco Polo airport and missed the part about going straight up to the mountains.

jeffbaovu

YES, I just got back from Venice on May 2019 and as soon as you pick up your luggage in Airport, as you walk out its on your left side, you will see the store with big name VODAFONE in Red. I bought the tourist package for 45eu for 5gb of data...They will help you set up and it will be in effective in about 90mins...to activates. so about time you check in your hotel it should be ready...voila...

SusanP

Jeff, this thread is from 2016.

Traveler_Nick

Either that's new or something else happened.

The tourist package from Vodafone is €30 and includes 2GB of data.

Holiday Tariff, call home from Italy - Vodafone

Holly_uncasdewar

There's nothing wrong with updating old information, especially on a thread that's not all that old.
As for the difference in price per Traveler Nick's post - dunno.

Andrew

45 euros for 5GB of data is expensive. You'd be better off buying a SIM ahead of time via Amazon like the Orange Holiday SIM which gives you much more data than that for about the same price (but good for only two weeks). At least you could set it up ahead of time and not have to waste your time at the airport.