We are doing a driving tour of Italy in 2012 and wondering where we should leave a car when staying in Venice. Is Mestre the only option, or are there other choices? Does anyone have a rough idea of costs for secure parking in Mestre (or elsewhere)?

Many thanks.

We were there a few years ago. I recall a charge of 5€ to 8€ per day. Back up your car against the wall if you leave something in the trunk. You would be parking in a multiple story parking structure.

There's also Tronchetto and the airport but no doubt they would both be more expensive. Here's a website for Tronchetto - http://www.veniceparking.it/ - not sure if this is the only company represented there but maybe worth a more extensive google.

Could you make Venice your first/last stop, fly to/from there & pick up the car when leaving / drop it off when arriving ? How long will you stay in Venice - if it has to be in the middle, would it be worth turning in one car on arriving & collecting another one on leaving ?

As Caroline has suggested, we dropped off our car at Piazzale Roma (right next to the train station) and rented another on our way out of town. There was also a place (pay) where we left the bulk of our luggage and just took an overnight bag for our three deays in Venice.

We parked our car in the Tronchetto garage this past May, and it was roughly 20 Euro per day. As we were only in Venice for 3 days, it was more convenient for us to keep the car (and get the cheaper 2 week rate). We had no problems in parking or getting the car out, and the directions to the garage were clearly marked.

Dropping off a car and picking one up may increase the daily rate on the car rental which might not make it worthwhile. Mestre is only 15-20 minutes by train from Venice.

We drive the length of the causeway and leave the car at the huge garage in Piazzele Roma. Have done this 3 times and never had a problem. Don't know current raes but I would expect similar to a major city garage - about $40 per day.

From there you can easily get a vaporetto or water taxi to your hotel.

Thanks everyone. We seriously considered the 2-car option. Our trip is shaping up to be a long one (10-12 weeks Rome-Paris) and initially we planned to drop off the car at Venice, do Venice-Avignon by rail, and pick up our French car (a Renault lease deal) from Avignon TGV station. But the whole thing (higher car daily rates for shorter hires, rail fares etc) did make for a significantly more expensive package.

Not that we've closed our minds to that option. I guess the question I've posted here is part of making that decision.

Our time in Venice is not planned to be long. We've been there before, but on that occasion stayed in Treviso and went to Venice by rail (about half an hour). We loved it (both Venice and Treviso) but this time we think it would be nice to stay a couple of nights in Venice itself. The Mestre carpark sounds cheap enough, and I'll check out the others suggested here as well. Thanks.

You can pick up a lease in Rome, but have to pay a premium for picking it up outside France. For 10 weeks (1 week without car in Rome and 1 week without car in Paris, as an example) the lease becomes worthwhile. It used to be that the break even point was around 45 days of lease versus rental.