Can I use a credit card to purchase my 72hr vaporetto pass? Are there self-service machines and if not, are the lines typically long to purchase passes? We will arrive at Marco Polo at 2:30pm. Thanks!

We were in Venice last Oct and paid for our vaporetto tickets with credit card. The lines weren't too long. The ticket booths are just outside the train station. I didn't see any self-service machines.

www.venicecard.it - you can reserve a 72hr pass (or 24hr or 1 week) online, and then pay by credit card at the airport. The blue pass gives you free (orange) bus transport to Piazzale Roma and free use of all vaporetti in Venice and the islands. Also free use of public toilets! You can for a bit more reserve the orange pass which gives you free admission to some museums as well. With both passes you can pay an optional 20euros for a return journey on the alilaguna boat to the city. The counter is on the left as you go through customs - people who haven't booked queue at the 3rd desk, but if you have reserved you can go straight to the middle desk and just flash your plastic with your computer print-out and you are almost in Venice!

It's easy to buy the 72-hour ACTV vaporetto pass at Marco Polo airport when you arrive.

Then if you like, you can use this same pass to take the ACTV bus to Piazzale Roma, followed by the vaporetto to your hotel.

Just make sure to validate your pass when you first use it.

Can you buy the pass at the Port of Venice as well?

You can buy the pass at any vaporetto ticket booth.

Unfortunately you can't buy a vaporetto pass at every booth - just the main ones that are manned (and not all of them are manned all day). I would suggest the 72 (3 day) Venice Card which can be bought at the airport or pre-ordered at www.venicecard.com.
I don't think that there's a Venicecard booth at the port, and I'm pretty sure that the closest vaporetto stop there is not manned.

The main vaporetto stops that are manned, open all day & have ACTV tickets/passes &Venice Cards are; Piazzale Roma, at the railway station, Accademia & San Zaccaria. Other manned booths have the ACTV tickets & passes.
If you need to buy a ticket and are travelling from an unmanned vaporetto stop, you can buy it on board.

> just the main ones that are manned ..

Just curious but if there are not manned booths, what is the use of such?

Personally I had no problem buying it at booths. VeniceCard is a bit too expensive for what it provides (vapo, toilet, only state museum), isn't it? At least I felt so for mayself.

Is finding and using a public restroom a problem in Venice? Is it worth it to pay 27 Euro for the 3 day VeniceCard to get the restroom access versus the 22 Euro Vaporetto pass for 3 days?

The unmanned vaporetto booths are the smaller stops and they have machines where you can validate your ticket if required. Several of the mid-sized booths (san Toma for example) are only manned from around 8am-5pm and close for lunch. The 3 day ACTV pass v the 3 day Venice Card is a matter of personal preference. I prefer to pay the little extra for the Venice Card and not have to worry about having a 50euro cent coin for the loo!

WillTravel, you mentioned making sure you validate your pass when you first use it... how does one do this?

There's a machine on the bus or vaporetto into which you stick your pass. It will get stamped with the date and time.

I remember the last time I was in Venice, there was a nominal charge for an all day bathroom pass. Does anyone know how much it currently is, or if it's even available anymore?

Also, when they sell you a 72 hour pass (Venice Card or Vaporetto), is it 72 hours from the time you first use a pass?

Since I will most likely be the one on line picking up the Venice Card when we get there, is it required that the others be with me to pick up the cards? I ask this since a friend will be joining us after our arrival, and I wanted to get him a card for his use.

Thanks!

I've not seen or heard of a bathroom pass the last 2 times I was in Venice (2001 & late last year).
When you collect either your 72 hour ACTV pass or Venice Card ask them not to validate it before they give it to you. You then can validate it when you go to get on a vaporetto for the first time.

Having everyone with you when you collect the Venice card seems to be a bit dependant on who you get. The first time I collected ours we had to show passports (so everyone needed to be there), the next time I wasn't asked for any id and there was no need for my husband to be there.
If you're getting a 72 hour ticket, you'd probably be best to just purchase the 72 hour ACTV pass for anyone who isn't going to be there. You can buy these from any of the major vaporetto stops.

re the Venice Card with the bathroom pass - we didn't find that it was worth it. They give you a map that indicates which bathrooms are covered with the pass - and we were never in the vicinity of one when we were in need. It seemed to us that they were quite spread out. Luckily, we had only purchased a 1 day Venice Card.

Additionally, when we arrived to pick up the Venice Cards, out of the long row of customer windows selling tickets/passes, only one was for the Venice Card - and no one was manning it. We stood there for about 15 minutes until someone showed up.

The rest of our time in Venice we used a regular vaporetto pass.