hawaiihoneymoon

I know this topic has been discussed to death - but it seems like all the possibilities suggested don't work for me. So I wanted a second opinion.

The flight is from Marco Polo at 7:20 a.m. to the US. So I know options are:
1) Private Water Taxi - Too Expensive for us
2) Public Water Bus - but the earliest one doesn't leave until 4:50 and gets you at the airport around 5:50. And then I read that you need to catch a shuttle from the port to the airport. Just sounds like it might get frantic.
3) Bus from Pizzale Roma - but once again the earliest bus is at 5:00. And I've been getting mixed information - some places says its only a 20 minute ride, some say 40 min. So lets assume 1 hour - worst case scenario. we could get there by 6 latest. Considering it is an international flight - aren't you supposed to be at the airport 3 hours early?? But then I read somewhere that the airport doesn't even open until 5:30 a.m.

So what is the right way of doing this?

Is our only option to stay in Mestre? We really would like to avoid - but will do it if there is no other option.

LoveItaly

Hi hawaiihoneymoon, that is my big complaint about departing from Venice to the US. The flights are so early in the morning.

About the bus from Pizzale Roma, I have never taken that so I am not sure about the length of the trip but hopefully someone else can advise you. But I do not think (but "think" is not the same as knowing for sure) the bus trip takes an hour.

This is the website for the Venice airport: www.veniceairport.it

I would suggest that you do check out this website, they have a lot of information on it.

My experience has always been when I get to the Venice airport (plane usually is suppose to depart around 7:00am) that the airport has not even opened up yet.

This is something you probably should discuss with your airline too.

I have only used the Private Water Taxi (and yes it is expensive) and of late my friends drive me from the town in Veneto to the airport early morning of the departure. We have to leave so early I never even bother going to bed the night before.

hawaiihoneymoon

So do you know if the port (or drop off location) for the private water taxi you took is the same as the drop off for the public water buses? If so - is it far from the actual airport? I can't imagine it dropping you off at the doorstep - I would think you would have to take a shuttle or something?

WillTravel

VCE is a very small airport. The ACTV bus took less than 30 minutes to get from the airport to Piazzale when I took it at midday and it was very conveniently located.

I think I'd probably be okay with the bus leaving at 5 AM, for a 7:20 flight, but not sure - I get easily stressed by such things.

Take a look at your ticket rules. My recent ticket purchase (not for VCE) says to be at the airport two hours in advance, although I'll probably show up three hours early anyway.

Sjoerd

For almost all flights wherever in the world, arrival at the airport one hour before departure is more than enough to catch the flight. More often than not, there is a long queue two hours before the flight leaves, and check-in times are so much shorter when you arrive an hour before the departure time of your flight. This is even more true at a relatively small airport like Venice Marco Polo.

TexasAggie

We had a similar situation last June. We took the early waterbus and the area to check in at the gate wasn't even opn for half an hour after we arrived at the airport (I think it opened about 6-6:30am)

LoveItaly

Hi, I went on the veniceairport website and their Cafe MarcoPolo shows it opens up at 5:30am.

If you go to the website hawaiihoneymoon you can email the Venice Airport to get more details.

I cannot remember where the private taxi let us off. But, that was when there was the old airport anyway, now Venice has their new airport so everything would be different anyway.

WillTravel said the bus trip takes about 30 minutes so if you caught the bus at Pizzale Roma at 5:00am you should be fine. I do not agree with the statement that it is necessary to only arrive on hour before depature, especially for an international flight.

Fairhope

Last T'giving we had a 6:30am flight.We took a private water taxi.
What you need to know is that the shuttle from the landing does not begin until 5:30. Therefore YOU have to get your baggage to the terminal and the way is not clearly marked if you arrive before 5:30.
If the bus takes you to the TERMINAL at that hour I would suggest it over an early water taxi which was a 1/2 hour ride from the upper part of the Canal

damama

As you've probabaly seen in my previous post, we are on the same flight and decided to stay at the Plaza in Maestre. It seemed to be the most stressful way. We will either take our luggage there early and leave it to go back to Venice for the evening or just go over with our luggage after dinner. We are leaving on Tuesday so I will report how it worked when we get back after the 26th.

KT

There are two different types of buses from Piazzale Roma--the ACTV city bus that takes about 30 minutes and the ATVO airport express that takes a little less and costs a little more. Both are quite cheap, and have definite timetables you can check online.

There's another option that nobody's mentioned yet: a land taxi from Piazzale Roma to Marco Polo. Last I heard, it cost about 30 euros, which is quite a bit more than the bus but less than half the cost of a water taxi. I don't know whether there's a taxi rank at Piazzale Roma or whether you'll have to arrange in advance for a pick-up, but I imagine your hotel would be able to help.

jbee

Hawaii-

The shuttle from the water bus or taxi dropoff spot is a short ride: 5-10 mins. or so. I think it's actually a short enough distance to walk, but the shuttle is free and drops you off exactly where you need to be.

That's about all I have to add as we took a noon flight out last September. Even then, we were there 2 hours early and sat in the terminal for 1 1/2 hours - check in was very speedy. Good luck with your plans!

i_am_kane

Hawiihoneymoon, Am I understanding you correctly? You have a direct flight from Marco Polo to the U.S.

You do not have a connection from M.Polo to another European city, and from there, on to the U.S.

If one has a connection in Europe, does that type of flight require as much of an advance check-in? I wonder if somebody can answer that question.

LoveItaly

I_AM_Kane, Hi! When I fly from Venice to SFO I have to change plans in Amsterdam. My flights have always instructed to be at the Venice Airport 2 hours before flight departure. So I am. And noone to check me in. Ah the Italians! LOL. But at least I get checked in when the counter opens and then go through security and can relax, have coffee, read whatever.

I will be interested in damama's trip report when she returns. I imagine a lot of us will be.

And Damama, have a beautiful trip!!!

RufusTFirefly

If you have some luck, you can find one or two other couples leaving early the same day and share a water taxi.

nhmom

You've gotten some good information regarding the 2 buses to the airport. We took the ATVO (cost and easy walk to P. Roma were the determining factors). Being off season and early in the morning, it took no more than 20 minutes to the airport. (The bus driver pointed out where I needed to purchase the tickets.) The airport is small. It seemed well staffed and lines moved quickly. I didn't have the sense of a lot of people desperate/late to catch a flight. We took a 7:50 bus for a 10:10 flight and had plenty of time for coffee.

damama

Thanks, LoveItaly. At the time we did the Maestre thing, it seemd to make sense. Now I'm not so sure but am not going to worry about it. My biggest problem(?) is the winter I was planning for in Italy is now forcasting 60s in Rome and Florence and high 50s in Venice. Must go shopping for the change in weather!

dickv2

Check into www.veniceexplorer.net has a very good listing of Shuttles to Marco Polo and etc. Have mostly used Venice as an entry point into IT, but
if used as a departure, would have the
homebound flight the next day in another city such as Rome or Zurich..
Richard of LaGrange Park, Il..PS would take the water taxi!!!!! No hassle must be worth something...Your concierige will make all necessary arrngements...

kelbo

I just had this same dilemma last sept. In the end we took the private watertaxi for 85 euros. We had no stress and we just decided to save on other things during the trip and splurge on this and I totally reccomend it. It is worth the money and it would be such a hassle to switch hotels, etc.

LoveItaly

kelbo, although I, like most of us, do not like to spend anymore money then I have to sometimes making things easy on ourselves mentally and physically is worth the added expense.

I was just discussing this with a friend last week. I am taking a flight to Atlanta and did not choose the cheapest flight, chose a nonstop with flight times that hopefully will work out well for them picking me and and returning me to the airport.

And there is always a way to save money on something else, well usually, that does not seem to be as important.

But we all have our various ways to budget of course. Peace of mind for me is probably the biggest consideration.

hawaiihoneymoon

wow - i checked back after a couple days and was surprised to see all the reponses - thanks!

Yes, I came across the land taxi in a Venice guide book as well. I guess that can be a backup plan incase the bus idea doesn't work out.

As for arriving at the airport 1 hour before - I would never attempt that. We accidently arrived 1.5 hours before an international flight out of Paris rather than the usual 3 hours - and ended up missing the flight and being stranded in paris for 3 days - until they finally had room for us on another flight. Never again - which is why I want to most fool-proof way to get back home.

For those who asked - no the flight is not a direct flight. It actually has a 2 stops - Milan and Amsterdam before continuing on. We contacted the airline and they said 2 hours before is sufficient - but they had no idea what the VCE airport hours were. I will look into the website mentioned.

As for the buses - I came across some info that said there are 2 buses - 1 is blue which leaves at 5:00 a.m. And then there is the Orange bus which starts at 4:00 a.m. Regardless, it seems almost pointless to leave at 4:00 a.m. if the airport doesn't even open until 5:30 a.m.

I think either way - the bus or land taxi should work out fine.

Willtravel - you mentioned you had taken the bus. WOuld you be able to tell me - where they drop you off -which terminal? Are the terminals for various flights spread out (as in CDG airport? - trying to catch shuttles from one terminal to another was a nightmare). Or are you basically where you need to be - once you get off the bus???