We are taking a roadtrip from Paris to Croatia and Bosnia next week and plan on spending our first night in Venice. We hope to arrive around 6 or 7 pm, thus just having a little time to walk around and have a nice dinner (I have been to Venice a couple times but my boyfriend has not).

We are undecided where to stay and what to do about the car. As I see it the options are :

1) Stay in Mestre parking the car at the hotel. This may be the easiest/quickest way to get in and out in the short time we have. We will want to be on the road fairly early (around 8) in the morning.

2) Park the car in Mestre or Piazza Roma and stay in Venice proper. If we did this I would only take a small overnight bag and would leave the rest of our luggage in the trunk of the car, not sure if that is a good idea. Is there any problem with getting parking at Piazza Roma in the evening, in July?

What do you think ? Hotels are available in Mestre or Venice so that isnt an issue. I am leaning towards leaving the car at Piazza Roma and staying in Venice (maybe closer to the station) if getting back out to the autoroute wont take too long from there and the luggage will be safe (we will have scuba gear).

Thanks for your help!

Hi K,

Too bad that you have only the one night in Venice.

Parking at the P. Roma will be about 20E.

I recommend against leaving your gear in the car.

I suggest finding a hotel in Mestre that has parking and taking the train to Venice and back.

Schedules between Venezia San Lucia and Venezia Mestre are at www.trenitalia.com

Yes, for your itinerary, stay in Mestre and train into the historical center of Venice-less hassle that way.

Thank you both for your advice. We are now booked in Mestre, I think that will work out well.

It is too bad we have just the one evening, but we will go back when we can stay at least 3 or 4 days.

Thanks again!

You are welcome, K