Help!
Our cruise ship docks in Venice and we spend the night on the ship, leave the ship the next day and spend it in Venice, then fly out the next morning at 6:50-AM. No choice, unfortunately. So, I have one night in Venice on our own. Are we better off staying near the airport that night, or staying near St. Mark's Square and trying to get to the airport at the crack of dawn? How long does it take to get to the airport from somewhere like the Hotel Ala? Can you cab all the way or do you need to take a combination of water taxi and cab? Thanks for advice!

You can stay just about anywhere in Venice and just take a water taxi to the airport. You can arrange this with your hotel, hopefully one with a dock.

my friends had the same problem as you last July.
It cost them 100 euro from there Hotel in Venice to reach the airport by taxi. Only transport available
You'll need to be at the airport at least 2 hours before (04.50)....enough said.
Stay near the airport as they did not and regretted it. Paying for a night in a hotel you leave at 3.30 am is no fun, plus the 100 euro for transport to the airport.
Stay in a nice hotel near the airport and catch the bus into Venice (easy) during the day/night.

It's worthwhile to have a sympathetic desk manager at your hotel who would alert you at say... 3:30 am - - in the rare event that the lagoon is "all fogged in". If so, the worst case is that you would have to walk to Piazzale Roma, where there will be more cabs (with four wheels) than usual to take you to the airport.

Don't give up staying in Venice, where one of the best hours of the day (night) is the last hour before you go to bed. You're just going to sleep all day on the plane the next day anyhow!

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi LOYL,

Will you have visited Venice prior to the cruise?

We have the same problem although we will have spent two full days in Venice. From information from various Fodorits, we have decided to stay the last night at the Plaza Hotel in Maestre. It is right at the train station so we plan to stay as late as possible the last night in Venice and then take the train to the hotel. It is faster, easier and less expensive to get to the airport from there than from Venice. Also, why spend a lot of money for a room in Venice when you will only get to sleep for a couple of hours?

You could stay near Piazzale Roma and take a bus or land taxi to the airport.
The Hotel Al Sole is a very short walk from Piazzale Roma - http://www.alsolehotels.com/
Depending on where your cruise ship docks this may be a convenient location as well.

The #5 bus will take you from Piazzale Roma to the airport in 25 minutes. And you won't have to give up your last night in Venice.

I believe the airport closes at night, so if you get there at 0450 it will be closed. I think security opens at about 0600. You can get from Venice to the airport on the slower Alilaguna boat for 10 euro apiece, arriving as early as 0545.

See

http://www.alilaguna.it/

<<when you will only get to sleep for a couple of hours? >>

While I have never been on a cruise that terminats in Venice (so I don't know the precise timetable), it seems to me that they will have the use of the room for 14-18 hours - - not much different from any overnight hotel stay.

I would not personally choose Mestre.

Thanks for all the good advice. We have never been to Venice before, and don't want to miss anything.