I keep going back & forth. 7 days in Venice. What is the best strategy for getting to and around Venice?

Should I get should get public transportation "Venice Card"(49 euros)?

Should I get should get public transportation Plus transport to San Marco airport" Venice Card"((71 euros)?

$124-$180 for two people is a lot of money. Isn't the fun walking around?

You may not need a 7 day pass, but I would certainly recommend a 3 day pass (you could try to concentrate your vaporetto trips to three consecutive days, and walk the other 4 days). Bear in mind that the Alilaguna boat to Venice airport is 10 Euros each way, and not covered by the pass (unless the special pass which includes the airport).

We just walked everywhere. We only used the vaporetto twice. Once from the train station, and once for an evening cruise.

Hi

My experience is the same as Statia's. I only usethe vaporetto for cruising the Grand Canal in the evening and at night.

We walked everywhere. We only took it to and from the rail station

How funny to read these posts. Usually I'm the one saying I never get transport passes (London and Paris for example) because we walk so much we never get our money's worth. But in Venice I've always done the three day pass (which is usually how long we're there). Even though we walk a lot, I love hopping on a vaparetto and circling all the way around, or just riding over to Lido and back for an afternoon cocktail, or doing the full circuit for a day of Murano and Burano, etc. Although we've always stayed right at Rialto and it is a quick walk to St. Mark's, I still like hopping on the vaparetto after dinner to head one way or the other as I simply enjoy the canal. I suppose in other words I don't use the vaparettos so much for transportation as I do for pure pleasure.

The last time we were in Venice - 9/03 -
we bought the three day Vapretto pass and used it a lot.

It is fun to just get on and sight-see.We even got on one going the wrong way and saw part of Venice that we wouldn't have seen otherwise.

Whatever, have fun :-B

I just looked at the Venice Card site. It's a bit vague on a couple points. There's a Venice Card orange that includes museums but no complete list of what museums -- anybody know? Is it worth it to do the extra for the museums? Kind of hard to figure when I don't know which ones.

I believe the three day pass is 22 euro, so if you're really pinching pennies, you might do two of those and not do any vaparettos one day and come out ahead from the Venice card (by 7 euro each). If you are arriving and departing by plane, I'd think the extra is worth it for the airport transport. We're arriving by train and leaving by car, so I won't be doing that, but probably will do the 7 day card, just because it's easy.

But does anybody have any first hand experience about the difficulty of collecting the prepaid card at the train station?

By the way, one thing to keep in mind -- if you arrive at say 1 PM on Monday and get a three day card, it's good until 1 PM on Thursday. You can almost think of it as a four day card.

I'm with Patrick. Figuratively speaking, that is!

Venice <i>is</i> eminently walkable but we also found that having a Vaporetto pass was worthwhile.

We loved boarding circular routes and going full circle.

We loved hopping on for very short hops now and then when we felt like it. No worries about buying tickets or anything so hassle free decisions.

We loved being able to get out to some of the islands, again without extra ticket purchases etc.

We may not have saved money over buying individual tickets but we certainly saved effort.

And when boarding, we headed straight for the few outdoor seats with views whilst others had to hassle about with tickets.

By the way, as many times as I've ridden I think I can count on one hand the number of times I saw them check for tickets. But I wouldn't be tempted to ride ticketless. The couple times they did check I saw how they treated people without tickets. Not a pretty sight!!!

Ditto, we were asked to show ours only once in our 5 night stay.
It may be that we strode on with a confident air (because we knew we had tickets) and they could see that and assumed we did.
It may be that they didn't have time to check - they were busy &quot;driving&quot; and docking etc.
The one time we were asked was by separate ticket inspectors and we didn't see those often.

We were just there for three days. Saw them do on-board checks three times. Saw clerks in bright vests checking at major stops - Ferrovia Train Station, Rialto, etc.. several times.

We definitely got our 22 Euro worth on the three day pass. Rode multiple times a day. Sometimes for convenience, sometimes for fun. Great way to liesurely cruise the canal. And if you get lost in a random neighborhood, you can always head to the water and likely find a vaporetto line to jump on.

I agree with those who used the vaporetti for transportation and convenience. We enjoyed riding and found it a great way to sit and relax after and full day of walking all over Venice. From my point of view the price was well worth the convenience of being able to board at any time and have all of Venice easily available. In my opinon the cost of the ticket is one of the best deals in Venice and we will certainly purchase passes for all seven days that we will be there in April.

Crusty,
Just back from four nights in Venice which we loved. I would definately go for the pass...

I'm with Patrick and Kavey, we loved taking the vaporettos I had a three day pass and used it extensively, sometimes just for the fun of being on the water and watching the city glide by. What I liked about the pass is that it meant we didn't think twice about taking the vaporetto just for a stop or two. I don't think it's a choice between walking or talking the waterbus...we walked and walked and walked and hopped on and off the vaporettos. We also used the pass to take us all the way out to Torcello which was charming.

I didn't understand the pass with the Alilaguna which seemed to be offered at no additional discount mearly adding 10 euros each way in addition.

On the question of which museums are included in the Museum pass it's the municipal museums including the Doge's Palace (not the secret tour) the Ca Pesaro, the Library and Archeological museums, the Costume Museo at the Palace Mocegino and a Modern art and Oriental Art Museum as well as a couple of others...Goldini house and I think the Naval museum. I suppose it just depends on how many you think you'll visit.

I wish we had been there for seven days!

Dh and I are big walkers but we used a 24 hr vaporetto pass when we were there for 3 days. I'd suggest the 3 day pass. It is so much easier to get around, hop on and off, and save your walking for when it drops you near the Jewish Ghetto or another area to go explore back alleys and canals! Also pop over to San Giorgio for their 8am Gregorian mass for an interesting experience. We were never asked for our pass but werent' willing to risk it!
Also, we were there in June and 90 degree weather so hopping on the boat into the breeze was a welcome respite.

I've been thinking. (sounds like trouble, doesn't it?)

Our plan this summer is to arrive on Saturday by train say around 4 PM. So let's say we buy two 3 day passes at 22 euro each. They're good until 4 PM on Tuesday. Then we just don't ride any vaparettos or busses between 4PM Tuesday and 9 AM Wednesday (easy enough to do). On Wednesday morning we buy two more three day passes which will be good until 9 AM on Saturday. Since we're getting our car when the rental opens at Piazza Roma on Saturday morning, we've covered all our transportation for a full week for 88 euro instead of for 98 euro for two week long passes. Sounds like a plan to me.

See how clever at looking for bargains we can become when the dollar drops? Every 10 euro helps!

We were there for a week in May 2003. I had intended to get the week pass, but when I asked they said it had been discontinued, so I got a three-day pass. We rearranged our schedule so all our island hopping and canal tours were within the three days, and walked the rest of the week. On leaving we just paid cash on the boat to the airport. I was glad we had the passes because the islands (we went to Murano and Burano) were nice, and we got to take grand canal tours and nighttime cruises. On the other hand, we were perfectly happy walking for our last four days. Other than the islands, we didn't see much for tourists that cannot be reached on foot.