Bob

What is the best way to get to central Venice if driving. I have read it is best to drive to the car park and take the vaporetti down the Grand Canal to the appropriate stop. Can you take your luggage with you on the vaporetti? Others have said it is best to drive and park at the airport and take a water taxi in. Even though it costs more, it is less hassle. Any ideas?

Wayne

Yes, you can drive all the way into the Piazzale Roma and park in the garage there (it's called the Autorimessa Comunale). Website to reserve parking if you want to be sure to have a place, is www.urbislimen.com. Once at the PR, you can choose either vaporetto, which is indeed tough with luggage, or a water taxi to central Venice, which will probably cost about $35 to $50 depending on where you go. Water taxis are great for getting there quickly with minimum hassle.

Rex

When you approach Venice by car, you will see the three main choices, excluding the airport. I suppose you could follow signs to the airport, but it is certainly not prominently displayed as the first choice for those arriving by car. I have never parked there personally, but in general airport parking is always going to charge a premium.<BR><BR>The first choice is Mestre, and probably the cheapest since land there is not as scarce. But it is also the least convenient - - no water transportation from there. You will have to take the 8-10 minute train ride (or is it 4-5?); leaves very frequently.<BR><BR>Most convenient is Piazzale roma. Modest-sized parking structure (no vans allowed, very low overhead clearance) - - you can get a vaporetto or a taxi there. Beware of hidden surcharges of the taxi "porters" and the taxi drivers - - or just be prepared to say "No" with great conviction.<BR><BR>But the leading choice is probably the best: park at Tronchetto. the signs will automatically direct you there. Take a vaporetto from there. Very big parking structure, sufficiently secure, and better priced.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Rex

I forgot to address the luggage issue. The vaporetto is not so bad. It all boils down to whether you can carry your luggage easily by yourself. If you can't, you're going to regret how you packed for much of your Europe travels anyway.<BR><BR>I would submit that the price given by Wayne is perhaps a slightly high number if he means per PERSON. A water taxi will not take more than 5 or 6 people in your party (depends on how many bags), and per TAXI, it might be more like $40 to $100.<BR><BR>By contrast, the vaporetto is a few dollars. Virtually free, if you buy a one-day (24 hour) or multi-day pass.<BR>

Wayne

Yes, I certainly meant that the water taxi estimate is per trip, not per person, including baggage handling by the water taxi driver. Rex is correct that the Tronchetto is cheaper than the Autorimessa Comunale (the big parking garage) and I should have pointed that out. I don't use Tronchetto because it is farther away from the Piazzale Roma, but the distance isn't really that much. And if you are indeed going to use the vaporetto, it won't cost any more to go from the canal near the Tronchetto. Some water taxi drivers might charge a buck or two more from the Tronchetto than from Piazzale Roma.<BR><BR>And by the way, I agree that if you can't carry all your luggage fairly easily, you won't want to use the vaporetto. I keep thinking of the times I traveled by vaporetto with my wife, and the struggles we had because she had more bags than she could carry in one trip. The vaporetto driver wasn't very patient when we had to go into the boat, deposit some luggage, and then go back and get the rest of it before he left with our first bunch.

Joanne

Bob: Just posted to your Milan question and will try to help with Venice. We were just there in May and turned our car in at Piazzale Roma and then took a water taxi to our hotel. It was pouring rain and made better sense to us to take a water taxi than a vaporetto. We paid about $55-60 to get to our hotel near Piazza San Marco. Luckily there was a water taxi stop about 100 yds. from our hotel which made it very convenient for us. We would have had a much longer walk from the nearest vaporetto stop. <BR><BR>Guess it just depends on your budget and the circumstances when you arrive. We each have a rolling bag and a tote (of course my husband says you could do light housekeeping from my purse) and I guess we could have managed on a vaporetto (had the weather be good), but I'm glad I didn't have to.<BR><BR>j

bob

I have done the airport trip once and the Tronchetta once and cannot see the difference on transportation. We both times used the public transportation and were able to get our bags on and off with no problems.<BR><BR>My recommendation would be the Tronchetta and vaporetto to your hotel. This should work fine. <BR><BR>They have a vaparetto pass you can purchase at the Tronchetta for 3 days and will give an additional discount for more than 4 people. (current info in Oct 99) Be sure to ask. Plus, many hotels give you discount passes to park at Tronchetta. Ask your hotel for that also as they may not offer.

Adam

We drove into Venice about 3 weeks ago. I was very nervous about it because it was my own car. <BR><BR>After considerable research and posting on this board we parked in Tronchetto. It was very easy to get to. It cost 18 Euros/day (cheaper than Piazzale Roma, more expensive than Mestre). It was the only lot that didn't require us to leave the key in the car, which was important to me .<BR><BR>Some vaparetto lines go to Troncheto but not all. Getting your luggage on the vaparetto is like getting it on a bus or train. Technically, you can be charged for luggage on the vaparetto but we were never charged for luggage.<BR><BR>If I had to do it again I would do the same thing- park at Tronchetto and take the vaparetto.

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Rod Hoots

Venice is an island which is reached by a causeway from the mainland city of Mestre. Since there are no vehicles in the city, you must park your car at the end of the causeway and then go by ferry boat to your destination in the city. As you approach Mestre, watch for direction signs to Venice rather carefully. Once you get on the causeway, look carefully for signs to the "Tronchetto" parking area. Again, it isn't marked as well as you might expect. The Tronchetto parking garage is very large, clean and well organized. You take a ticket from a machine on entrance and pay at a payment office on departure. After you enter the Tronchetto garage go as close as you can to the far end, because that is where the ferry boats depart. Just park your car (of course lock it and don't leave anything in sight) and then walk out to the end of the garage. You will see a one story building in front of you (this is where you pay on departure) and the ferry boat dock is just beyond it to the left. There are signs in English for just about everything. <BR><BR>