s1951

We will be in Venice June 23-29 with our 18-year old daughter.
Is it necessary to buy a Blue or Orange Discount card before we go, and does my daughter need that and a Rolling Venice pass?
Based on what we have read in the travel books, we need this card to help with transportation and admission to churches and museum. Please advise me your experience regarding this. Thanks.

jdraper

We bought the Venice pass for our children when we went one time and it was a total waste of money. They did not use it enough to get the money paid for it. We usually just get a vaporreto pass and pay for other things if we deicde to go. I personally would never buy the Venice pass again.

s1951

Thank you for letting me know.
Did you buy the vaporreto pass in advance or when you arrived?

NeoPatrick

Assuming you arrive by train, you step right out of the station and buy your pass. I've never waited more than a minute or two to do so, so I can't imagine any advantage of buying one in advance.

jt7dreamz

def no orange pass. we bought the 3 day vaporetto pass and got our moneies worth. dont get tricked into thinking "oh they wont chk my tickets" my gf's and i got caught on our first trip and paid the steep fine on day 1!!!

Girlspytravel

Absolutely-you should ALL buy a Venice Blue card, you'll be there almost 7 days-you will need it-this is a post I did that shows what you will save:


Date: 04/13/2007, 06:53 pm

Sorry to disagree, but the Venice Blue Card is an EXCELLENT deal-simply for the transportation costs alone-and this is particularly true when you are there for 7 days.

Consider this:

Venice Blue-7 days-all forms of transportation-vaporettos, land buses-55.90 Euro all inclusive.

ACTV Travel Card for 24 hours: 15 Euro.

15 x 7=105 Euro, as opp. to 55.90-quite a difference

ACTV 72 hour Travel Card: 30 Euro
2 ACTV 72 hour Cards for 6 days = 60 Euro

You come out WAY ahead if you buy the 7 day Blue card-once you buy this card, you can change to whatever vaporetto you want, whatever land bus you need-Venice Lido, Mestre, included- most times you don't have to show it, just have it with you-and it is valid from the time it is stamped, not just the day it is purchased.

ACTV travel cards (the ones you buy at the vaporetto stops) are only a better value if you are buying a 48 hour pass: (25.00 Euro as opposed to Venice Blue 48 hour pass: 33.90 Euro.

If you are staying 6 days or 7, the Venice Blue Card is your better value, and the cheapest transportation ticket.

www.venicecard.com/prezzi_eng.jsp

http://www.actv.it/english/navigazio...iffe_vaporetto

rialtogrl

You do not "need" this card to help with transportation and admissions - it is only a convenience. Even then, unless you plan on using the vaporetto a LOT and utilizing the card's restaurant discounts etc (which I think are getting better) then the card may not be worth it.

It sorts of depends where you are staying - if you are staying somewhere very central, you can walk to most everything without using the vaporetto at all. If you are staying somewhere a bit further out, you will probably want to hop on the vaporetto more often and then the pass is worth it.

I think a lot of people end up walking more than they think they will in Venice. In these cases spending all that money on a card is a waste.

Girlspytravel

No, for 6 or 7 days, if you do the math, you can clearly see that the Venice Blue Card is what you need. You will want to go out to the islands, San Giorgio Maggiore, Murano, Burano Torcello, to Piazzale Roma, and use the bus during those days, just to name a few of the places that you can use your Venice Card for -it simply makes no sense to pay more for less.

jdraper

s1951 - We just purchased the vaporetto pass when we arrived so there is no need to buy it in advance. There have been many threads in the past on the value of buying a pass as some people never use the vaporetto and other use it a lot. DH and I tend to use it a lot as it is a nice interlude in the long day just to sit and ride down the canal and rest a bit. It can be so calming, especially at night. I also like the convenience of knowing I can hop on and off as I see fit and don't have to worry about buying a ticket every time. As for the Rolling Venice pass, the discounts weren't that great and the kids just didn't use them enough to get the value from them and we would have saved money just to get the vaporetto pass instead. Maybe the benefits are better now than they were three years ago but we were sorry we bought them.

s1951

I really appreciate the valuable input. It has been VERY helpful to hear your opinions.
We are flying from Lisbon to Venice and will have to take the Express Shuttle Bus to Piazzale Roma and then a public boat to Palanca Stop to get to the Hilton Molino Stucky, which is on Giudecca We will have to take this route back to the airport.
Looking at Girlspytravel's math, it may be the most economical thing to do by purchasing a Blue card. I agree with jdraper, too, in that it would be nice to have either or so you can just jump on and off without having to purchase a ticket.
Again, thank you for the great advice. Our trip is close at hand.

maryk

As you're staying at Molino Stuckey you will be using the vaporettos a lot. Definately get a blue card.

NeoPatrick

OK, now I've been convinced we should get Blue Cards for our 1 week stay instead of two 72 hour cards. I've read the website, and seen names of where you can pick up a prepaid card -- but I don't recognize them. I'm assuming that one of them is at the Venezia Santa Maria station. Which one?

s1951

Where do we pick up at the passes at the airport?

caroline_edinburgh

I think, as someone else said, that a lot depends on where you are staying - but I guess that if you are staying on Giudecca you will use vaporetti a lot.

Last time we went for a week (staying on Dorsoduro) and got by with 1 x 72 hour vaporetto pass + 1 x 24 hour pass each, since a)there were days when we just walked and b) a 24 hour pass is for 24 hours, not a day - so our 24 hr pass we bought around midday on one day (after a late start), used that afternoon and the next morning & it covered all our transport needs for those 2 days.

We didn't think we'd have got oyur money's-worth out of the attraction discounts & loo access the orange/blue cards include.