I am travelling to Nice in late October. My friend wants very much to go to Venice. We will have a rental car. How long will it take to get there? Where can we leave the car outside the city? How expensive are the autoroutes? Any suggestions on this or places to stay in Venice is appreciated.

Driving from Nice would probably take around 8-10 hours. Toll will be pretty high by U.S. standards ($30-40?). You can drive right up to Venice and park in one of three garages, and they are not cheap. My wife and I paid $20 for 3 hours last fall. We were told that it was the rate for 24 hours, whether you stayed that long or not. If you stay in Venice, from here you will carry your luggage down the the boats (instead of buses) and take the boats to somewhere near your hotel, and carry them the rest of the way. The other option is to stay in Mestre, which is on the "mainland" across from Venice. There is not much to see here, but parking is free at reasonably priced hotels, and you pay $1 to take a city bus (20 minutes) to Venice.

have stayed both in venice and padua in padua we stayed at a fairly new sheraton with ex cellent accomadations and great breakfast included also moderate rates.you can take bus from in front of hotel to venice and return ...takes about 20 minutes each way... be sure to double check time of last bus returning that will drop u off at hotel... no charge for parking.. any furtherquestions e mail me...enjoy.

have stayed both in venice and padua in padua we stayed at a fairly new sheraton with ex cellent accomadations and great breakfast included also moderate rates.you can take bus from in front of hotel to venice and return ...takes about 20 minutes each way... be sure to double check time of last bus returning that will drop u off at hotel... no charge for parking.. any furtherquestions e mail me...enjoy.

no

but you can park your car and swim across
you can take the train though or drive to the main
land which it isn't far or drive to vicenze

You can drive TO Venice. Forget about driving IN Venice. Park in Mestre in thr huge parking garage and take the vaporetto across. Decide where you want to be let off in Venice and ask which boat goes there. Staying in Venice is marvelous. After everyone leaves the streets are quiet and great for strolling---no cars etc.

I was interested in knowing if you, or anyone else cansuggest any nice hotels/inns etc in Venice that are very clean and nice! The Sheraton in Padua sounded nice-what is there to do in the evening in Padua, or did you stay in Venice in the pm! Any thoughts on advantages/dis of staying in or near Venice? Thanks