Giselle

The waterbus from airport to San Marco is around 10 euros. I understand there is a week long waterbus pass on sale at water bus stations for 30 euros. My question is -- does anyone know if this week pass is available for sale at Marco Polo? I've checked http://www.veniceword.com/vetourinfo.html and http://www.alilaguna.it/ but don't see if you can buy the passes at the airport. <BR><BR>My family of four is travelling in April, so 4 tickets do add up.

GAC

The weekly waterbus pass does NOT cover the Alilaguna waterbus route from Marco Polo airport to Venice proper. You have to separately purchase the 10 Euro Alilaguna ticket from the airport.

mclaurie

Giselle, I'm not sure if you can buy the vaparetto (waterbus)pass at the airport but it doesn't really matter as the vaparetto &amp; the Alilaguna (to/from airport) are NOT the same. The Alilaguna must be paid for separately. Also be aware, the Alilaguna stops at several places in Venice besides San Marco (which I didn't know before getting there) in case your hotel is not near San Marco. For example, we were staying at the Accademia in Dorsudoro. I would have gotten out at San Marco &amp; switched to a vaparetto to the Accademia stop but by telling the Alilaguna agent at Marco Polo where I was going, he told me to get out at Zattere (the last stop on the Alilaguna) &amp; to tell the boat guy where I was going when we got on. Even though it was a walk, it was much better than changing to a vaparetto. The week passes can be purchased at any vaparetto stop. Also be aware they're by the hour, even though it says, one day, three day etc. which means they start &quot;counting&quot; from the time you purchase it (ie 24 hrs from say 2 pm rather than just for THAT day). So unless you're going to be using the pass right away, I wouldn't be in a rush to buy it. Hope this makes sense &amp; I haven't confused you more!

hike

&gt; not sure if you can buy the vaparetto (waterbus)pass at the airport.<BR><BR>You can buy the vaporette tickets at Marco Polo.<BR><BR>&gt; they start &quot;counting&quot; from the time you purchase it <BR><BR>Maclaurie, sorry but a little correction. The ticket is not valid unltil you validate it with the machine at one of those vaporetto stops. The machine prints the time and date of the validation on the ticket. I buy one at the airport and validate it once I'm on Venice island.

Giselle

Thanks for your response! I'm getting excited about my first trip to Venice and the details are starting to loom large. <BR><BR>Now I'll have to decide whether or not to buy the seven day passes for the family. Ahy advise there? We have an 18 year old and 13 year old. I think the Rolling Venice card might work for the older teen. It does seem that you can walk almost everywhere. Going into the lagoon islands is not, so far, a priority for me. I think for a day trip we may want to see Verona, though we may not get that far. Anyway, thanks again for this information!

elaine

Giselle<BR>there are family passes, but it means you all have to travel together all the time to take advantage of it.<BR><BR>I have a file on Venice; if you'd like to see it,email me at<BR>[email protected]

mclaurie

Thanks for the correction Hike. All I know is we had a 3 day ticket &amp; on the morning of day 4 when my husband was going to buy another one I decided to read it carefully &amp; discovered it was for 36 hours from 2 something pm so it was still good. Perhaps my husband had had it validated without my realizing it.

Kavey

We found having a pass very useful because even though it is easy to walk everywhere, there is so much to see that one can get quite tired and it's lovely to be able to hop onto a Vaporetto every now and then during the day!<BR><BR>Also, we liked to get on some of the lines which did Circular routes and do the whole route and get off where we started!<BR><BR>Don't forget too that the passes are valid for visiting the Lido, Murano, Burano and Torcello too.<BR><BR>Kavey

Giselle

Hmmmm. Makes sense, Kavey. Now I'm thinking the ease of having the passes to hop on and off is going to be worth it regardless of quibbling over a few euros here and there. Also my husband has trouble with his knee now and then and he may appreciate riding rather than walking to destinations.

Susan56

We were in Venice for 3 days this February and our family of 4 made good use of the 72 hour vaparetto passes. Having the passes we were able to just hop on and off the buses whenever we pleased. We also just took the buses to look around, and at night the riding the grand canal is fabulous! We did visit Murano, but other than that we just used the buses to get around Venice. I say go for the passes! We were glad that we did. My son who is 15 used the &quot;Rolling Venice&quot; Card and related vaparetto pass, but the folks at the train station tourist office told me that nothing was available for my 12 year old daughter, I would have had to pre-arranged some sort of kids pass. We just bought her the basic 72 hour pass. I was not sure if the information they gave me was correct, but I did'nt feel like arguing, so I just paid the extra.

Kavey

Yes exactly what we found.<BR><BR>Infact we bought our passes, validated them the first time we used them, and then were asked to show them only once during the rest of our stay. So we just kept them tucked away in a zip pocket of my camera bag.<BR><BR>In the end, because we could just use them for short hops as well as longer we did use them quite a bit and as I said, those longer trips are included too.<BR><BR>Elaine would probably be able to tell you how many individual trips you would need to do before they became worthwhile pricewise but we felt that we were happy to have them even if it meant paying a little more because of the convenience.<BR><BR>When we got onto a boat we headed straight for where we wanted to stand or sit (the part with a view) when others had to try and buy tickets from the operators first.

elaine

thanks for the vote of confidence Kavey, but I'm usually useless on public travel passes. By the time I figure out whether or not I can save 5-10 euro over the cost of a week, I'm getting a headache! The cost differentials may be more significant to families, I realize.<BR><BR>However, we used to have on this message board a travel expert named Paulo, and he once said that in Venice, if you're going to use the vaporetto at least 6 times in 3 days (and most people do), then get the 3 day pass.

Kavey

Oops, sorry Elaine, didn't mean to land you in it! That was one of the little factoids I thought I'd remembered reading in your file!<BR><BR>I think you're right in the 6 uses per day estimate.<BR><BR>I suspect it drops to maybe 5 or less when purchasing the 7 day pass...<BR><BR>And it's EASY to use the vaporettos that many times a day on average because although on some days one uses them less, other days one tends to hop all over.<BR><BR>Well, we did anyway, we loved to be on the water... felt sooo &quot;Venice&quot; to us!

bobthenavigator

Elaine is right on--as always. We all miss Paulo--a real gem.

hike

Maclaurie, you were at least half right about vaporette ticket validation. So I thought I had to post this re-correction.<BR><BR>I have just returned from sunny 4-day long weekend in Venice and checked about this ticket validation. On the ticket booth at one of the vaporetto stops, it was written « tickets are sold already validated ». I don’t know it has always been this way or the rule has been changed recently. Anyway I asked the clerk if I can buy a ticket today for a ride I will do tomorrow and was told yes I can by asking for a non-validated ticket. This is an usual practice because many people don’t want to buy tickets at the last minute. Also I imagine if you buy a vaporetto ticket at the airport it should not be sold validated because there is no vaporetto line starting at th airport but it would be safer to ask for non-validated ones anywhere you buy unless you are taking a boat right away. <BR><BR>By the way I stayed at a single room of Pensione Accademia for 80 euro per night. The room number 23 with a window facing the entrance yard and a side canal + Canal Grande visible. The room was small but perfectly adequate for me. Didn’t feel stuffy. The very high ceiling helped, I guess. Nice furniture. Also a very nice included buffet breakfast in a very nice breakfast room. Staff very courteous and helpful both at reception and breakfast room.<BR><BR>The water level looked very low and there was no sign of acqua alta. <BR>

mclaurie

Thanks for the follow up Hike. Glad to know I wasn't mistaken. Ironically we were in room 22 at the Accademia over New Years. You got a bargain I think. We paid 225e for our room next door.

hike

Hi Mclaurie, 225e at New Year time for a hotel with the quality/location of P.Accademia seems to me not bad at all. My 80e single is just a low season rate. I paid another low season rate of 155.00 last november for a standard double. I think it was room 43 in a further wing also facing tha canal.