Around Venice
 

We will be in Venice for 2.5 days in September. I don't think we'll do much on the first (half) day as we will be jet lagged. On day 2 and 3 we will have two days of sightseeing.On the morning of day 3 we will need to take the vaporetto to the train station. Is a Vaporetto pass a good idea, or is it just as easy to walk most places (we are staying near the Rialto Bridge)? I am having difficulty figuring out distances for walking. Eg: how long would it take to walk from Rialto Bridge to St. Mark's square? Any ideas would be appreciated.

Venice is very walkable IF you do not get lost - distances in the main part are short from Rialto to all the sights. That said on one day a boat pass may be a good idea if not to do anything else other than to take the boat ride down the Grand Canal, to me the absolute highlight of decades of European travels - and since one boat ride costs about the same as a day pass use the pass to explore Venice by canal - the eastern portion - the Arsenal area is impressive by boat as well - not sure how boat passes work to Murano, Burano and islands (may cost more because of distance) but I would incorporate those into the same day's boat pass - those along with Torcello IMO are absolute musts - seeing Venice from afar across the lagoon is worth the price - simulating the excitement ancient mariners must have had when seeing what was then one of the wonders of the world centuries ago come ever closer from the water.

Venice is very walkable. Buy a decent walking map, though. I always like to get out and walk my first day as much as I can, to ward off the jet lag (don't like to sleep until local night to try to adjust as quickly as possible).

I think you can walk from Rialto to the train station in about 20 minutes or so (depends how fast you walk). (Rialto to San Marco about 10-15 minutes as I recall.) However, there are numerous bridges over the canals, and if you have any sort of luggage you may find this a huge hassle. So the Vaporetto may be a better choice. It also depends exactly how close to the Rialto vaporetto stop you will be staying; if "Close to Rialto" means a ten minute walk to the vaporetto, walking to to train station could still be faster even if more of a hassle.

While it may be expensive, buying a three day vaporetto pass may wind up giving you the most flexibility to do what you want, walk when you can and save your feet when you can take the vaporetto. I seem to recall (this was 2007, though) that I could use my vaporetto multi-day pass to get even out to Morano and Burano. (Burano is very colorful and beautiful, but it's a long vaporetto ride out there.)

Walking more than about 100 yards with luggage gets old fast in Venice. There are just too many bridges and almost none of them are wheels friendy.

Thank you everybody...that helps a lot!

I like to walk a lot in Venice but I also like having the vaporetto pass. It comes in handy when my feet are tired, I want to get across town, and for enjoying the views from the canal perspective. I always buy mine in advance for a discount-

http://www.veniceconnected.com/

For 2.5 days I would definitely not get a pass. You will want transport in & out with our luggage (Alilaguna airport>Rialto, vaporetto to station) but that's it - with only 2 full days you can walk everywhere and a lot of the fun is getting lost! As others have said, just make sure you have a good map. My trusty Rough Guide map has served me for nearly all purposes through 6 holidays & now a month of actually living in Venice. When we were here on holiday we would typically not get a vaporetto at all for at least the first 3 days, even on repeat visits when we'd already seen the main sights.

Go back and re-read Keith's comments. Unless you are traveling with a backpack ONLY, walking to the train station will be a giant pain in the rear. You will probably need to negotiate at least 20 sets of stairs (that is up one side and down the other). Take the vaporetto or, better yet, a private water taxi :)

We were just in Venice and because I didn't get around to buying Vaporetto passes in advance, we decided to assess the situation once we got there. We stayed on the opposite "end" from St. Marks and walked everywhere - ended up getting a one day vaporetto pass on our last day there and made the most of it (Murano, Burano, Lido, Grand Canal...)

I don't think anyone suggested walking to the railway station. What I suggested was just getting the vaporetto to the station - even though a single at E6.50 is exorbitant, it's still cheaper than buying an unnecessary pass when with only 2 days you can walk everwhere else.