LoveItaly

I agree with Nessundorma. As a guest in Italy I am certainly not going to try to rip them off. To me that is the same as stealing. But I can sure see how a tourist could violate the law innocently. Have a wonderful time in Venice wanderful.

Bailey

I have spent weeks in Venice....never been checked. BUT I'd make a bet that the first time I didn't have a valid ticket, I'd get checked!!!

rhkkmk

many times. and i have seen people taken away who resisted the inspection

franco

Almost everything has already been said, just two additions:
- enzian's advice is absolutely right, except for the Italian sentence he or she proposes ("senso biglietti", this would mean "I feel tickets&quot. You should rather say "sono senza biglietto" (I have no ticket).
- Everyone who stays longer or regularly should buy the "abbonamento" (you'll need a photo to do so), a full-month ticket turning automatically at the end into the "carta Venezia", a permit valid a couple of years, allowing to buy "carnets", blocks of 10 vaporetto tickets for 90 eurocents per ticket. Buying the abbonamento is not exactly cheap, but I repeat, much cheaper than buying single tickets if you are staying longer or planning to return within the next two or three years.

teaberry

Was there for 3 days. Bought the tickets (3 of us), never checked.

Midnightsun

Two couples in Venice last year for a week. We were checked about one third of the time, usually on the less crowded and longer (e.g. to Burano) routes. Friends with whom we've spoken agree that about one third of the time you'll be checked, so buy a pass and enjoy your rides.

wanderful

A few people might’ve gotten the impression in my original message that I was somehow advocating not buying tickets for the vaporetti simply because they are rarely checked. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

nospam

I was in Venice approximately 2 months ago, and there is currently a campaign to check for tickets on the vaporetto to enforce the "honor system". They now seem to be checking before people enter the waiting dock, and will turn you back if your ticket is not valid. I was checked 3 times in 2 days in this manner.

kappa

> They now seem to be checking before people enter the waiting dock ..

This has been in practice since at least 8 years (the first time I visited Venice). Most often at Rialto stop, those English speaking rather loverly girls stopped me and asked nicely to see my ticket before I got on board. I think I met this at Ferrovia a couple of times too.

maryk

We always buy a Venice card so that we don't have to worry about buying tickets each time. I've been checked at least once on every visit - and fined once because I'd lost my ticket (found it later back in the apartment). It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life - not because I was arguing about paying the fine - but because the inspectors seemed to expect me to and they were the ones making the fuss!
It seems that tickets are now always checked before boarding at Piazzale Roma, Ferrovia, Rialto and (less often but fairly regularly) at San Zaccaria

Neopolitan

What is this "Venice card" you mention, maryk? The ones I'm familiar with are usually considered not a good value as they include too many things you're unlikely to do.
The 72 hour pass alone is normally your best deal unless you know the added things on the Venice card are good for you.

People often think of the 72 hour pass as a three day pass and if they buy it on Monday they throw it away at the end of Wednesday, but actually if you first use it say at noon on Monday, then it is good until noon on Thursday. I'm not sure if the Venice card works that same way.

enzian

Franco---thank you for correcting me---I knew how to say it but not how to spell it! Anyway, everyone should know this, in case they must get on the vaporetto without tickets. Poor Eurogal could have avoided that 35 euro fine if she'd known to say this as she boarded. For those who don't with to read all the way through---tell the attendant AS YOU BOARD if you don't have tickets. Then they will sell you one without the fine.

sharon1306

We were there 3 days and weren't checked. We had bought the Venice card. Would never consider travelling without a ticket though, I would be too stressed out.

OneWanderingJew

We were checked on our last night in Venice and our multiday pass had expired literally an hour before. The inspectors were not nice and acted as if we had intentionally tried to rip them off when the fact was we thought our tickets were still valid. We offered to pay them for the fares and apologized for our mistake but they continued to hassle us. We were being polite but one of the two inspectors was really being aggressive. We had very few euros left as we were flying home the next morning and told them so. I showed them what little I had in my wallet and asked them to please excuse our ignorance and take the money for the fare. He did and I'm sure they pocketed it.

maryk

There are 2 Venice Cards - the Orange one which includes museums, toilets etc and the Blue Card which only includes the use of the public toilets - as well as the vaporetto. They can get them for either 3 or 7 days. If you're only in Venice for 3 days you would probably not bother (uness you wanted the museum entry) - but for 7 days it's worth while. You can order them (and get a small discount) at Venicecard.com. I particularly like them as it saves me having to remember to buy a new 72 hour card and they're bigger, so I'm less likely to loose it!

maryk

And I should have mentioned that as far as the timing of the ticket goes it works exactly the same way. You validate it as you're about to get on the vaporetto for the first time and it's then valid for the 72 hours (or 168 hours in the case of the 7 day one). When you pick up your ticket you should ask that they don't validate it there - unless you're getting straight on the vaporetto.

nospam

When you exit the Venice Main Train station, you walk across the street to the vaporetto. At the ticket booth, you can purchase both cards onsite at that time. Also, what I was referring to with respect to "checking before boarding" was that I did not see any agents boarding the vaporetto to check tickets. Rather, with the current blitz (and the subsequent posters in the boarding docks claiming to have reduced the number of free riders by 70% in the last 6 months), you will be checked, so have your ticket ready when you want to board, so you don't have to search for it with a lineup of people behind you.