arrival to Venice: water taxi or train
 

Which would you recommend - from Marco Polo Airport, take a water taxi to Venice or is it better ( or even possible) to catch a taxi to Mestre station and catch a train to Santa Lucia. This isn't about getting to Venice quickly but about the best arrival. I enjoy both ferry and train travel - but I remember reading a post about arriving at the train station and seeing the Grand Canal. Any thoughts?

<<catch a taxi to Mestre station and catch a train to Santa Lucia>>

Personally, I wouldn't do this - - it will add an uninteresting additional hour to what is already a 50+ minute water taxi ride (and likely to pack all the punch you you're hoping to receive from your arrival in Venice).

And you do have additional (less expensive) choices to get from the airport to your final destination.

Search here for "Alilaguna".

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi CP,

Rex has a good idea with the Alilaguna, http://www.alilaguna.it/

You come into Venice through "the Front Door".

If you were already on a train to Venice SL, I might have recommended that route.

((I))

Unless you're really worried about the price, take the water taxi. It is an exquisite way to arrive in Venice.

We were 'lucky' that there was a vaporetto strike and we were forced to take a water taxi, $80 well spent. email your hotel ahead of time and ask them how much a water taxi should cost, so you don't get taken.

I definitely don't think the train would be the 'best' arrival. Buena fortuna!

The bus runs to Piazzale Roma from Marco Polo--very cheap and very easy.

Your possibilities from Marco Polo to Venice are the following:

a) Water taxi for 80 Euro or so: Depending on the location of your hotel, it is just as likely NOT to take the Grand Canal as to take it;

b) Alilaguna for 10 Euro (last time I looked): It takes you around the back of Venice to the front and brings you to the "front door" at San Marco or San Zaccaria (among other stops);

c) ATVO bus: It takes you straight to Piazzale Roma with no intermediate stops; Piazzale Roma is -- just barely -- on the Grand Canal but because it is basically a huge bus stop and parking lot, it offers less of the "Aha!" experience than arriving at the train station of Santa Lucia does;

d) ACTV bus (for which you can buy and use a one-day or three-day pass or a seven-day Venice Card): It probably -- although I could not check; that part of the ACTV site was being updated -- stops at the Mestre train station, where you could take a train to Santa Lucia, for the "Aha!" Grand Canal experience.

Taken all in all, I would probably vote for the Alilaguna as giving you the best experience -- the Bacino di San Marco instead of the Grand Canal --with the least trouble and at reasonable cost.

Took the vaporetto once w/ stops at Murano and Burano.
I prefer the incredible contrast of walking out of Mussolini modern stazione Sta Lucia into 15-16c Venezia across the canal. Zap

A/D

Water taxi is absolutely the best way to enter Venice. Speeding across the lagoon the city is just a smudge on the horizon at first. Then it gets larger and larger and you can begin to distinguish buildings.

Before you know it, you're gliding into a canal--with just a bit of luck the buildings along the canal will have colorful flower boxes and laundry on lines between buildings flapping in the wind.

It was a great introduction to the city. Our hotel was on the Grand Canal, so after a few minutes we turned onto Venice's main boulevard--after the quiet canal we had entered on, the Grand Canal was quite astonishing. Wide, busy, and bustling.

The taxi took us right to our hotel's dock, and the bellman was there to take our suitcases before we could get out of the boat.

One of the most memorable entries into a city I've had in 50 years of travel.

Eloise, I thought I read in a recent trip report (maybe WillTravel's?) that the bus that goes to Piazzale Roma was covered by the vaporetto pass. Is this incorrect?

I did take the ACTV bus from the airport to Piazzale Roma, and this was covered by my 72-hour vaporetto pass. It's a local bus that makes several stops. The total ride was less than 1/2 hour. I had to walk about 20 feet out of the tiny airport to get to it. Once I got to Piazzale Roma, I took the vaporetto to the stop nearest to my hotel.

The ATVO bus is express and is not covered by the pass, and I haven't taken it.

For someone who has luggage that is easy to handle, there is no problem at all with taking ACTV.

Just returned from Venice and a water taxi is 80 euro and is a 20 minutes journey. Alilaguna is still 10 euro per person and takes 1 and 1/2 hours. We did Alilaguna and saved our euro for gondola ride.

WillTravel, On the ACTV, do you put your luggage underneath the bus before getting on, or do you take it on board with you?

I'm not Willtravel but since I took the ACTV bus between Marco Polo & P.Roma last few times, there is no luggage compartment underneath. They are usual city buses. You get on with your luggage but they have a luggage rack inside.

I agree with kappa. It's not a problem to take ACTV if you can easily handle your luggage yourself.

ATVO bus has a luggage compartment, costs maybe 2 Euros more than the ACTV, is slightly faster, and runs less often.

Thanks for the luggage info.