The Venice Card: Pros and Cons???
 

We'll be in Venice for 3 days in Oct. We don't need transport to or from the airport, just "around town" and to Murano, etc. Will we save enough to make buying the blue card worthwhile?

I don't know what a blue card is. However, we just returned and have been a number of times. Walking Venice works just fine. It's really tiny. I can't imagine that you can't get from one end to the other in 20-30 minutes. To go island hopping, just buy a day pass to go to Murano, Burano or Toricello (sp?). I think it was 8 Euros.

The card costs just under $50 for a 3 day one and all transport is free (except gondolas) but you also get into most museums and churches free with no waiting in line and the toilets and casinos are free. That was the part that made me think it might be worth it but I don't know whether or not "everything" has an entry fee.

The CartaVenezia one-day Travel Card costs 10,50 euro and is valid from 24 hours from the time of stamping (22 euro for 3 days). We went to Murano & Burano with our daypass and made an evening "cruise" on the Canal Grande in the vaporetto.

Forgot to give you the website: http://www.actv.it/eng/vapo_tariffe.htm

Thanks MyriamC, that is very helpful. I still wonder if there is an entry fee for the major sites in Venice, churches and museums, especially around St M's Square. Thanks.

Hawk61, Take a look at the web site: slowtravel.com (Italy) Wonderful first hand information to answer your questions. We will also be in Venice for 3 days in October. I've done lots of research with the help of Slow Travel and Fodorites.

If you type Venice Card into the text search box above and click find you'll see previous threads on the subject. My recollection is many of the museums/sights included in the card are not considered &quot;must see&quot; (and I think some that <i>are</i> must see are not included). I also think in just 3 days, it's unlikely you'll be able to see enough included on the card to make $$ sense. Most hotels offer free transport to Murano (in hopes you'll buy there) and often you just pay to come home.

Yes there are fees to get in to most museums and some of the major churches but I'm still not sure it pays.

When we were in Venice a few months ago, we had made online &quot;reservations&quot; for the Venice card that covered transport and toilets only.

We made 2 separate 1 day valid card reservations - that way if we didn't think it was worth it, we just wouldn't pick up the card for the second day.

The toilets that the cards cover are spread over a large area and while they give you a map, who can say that you'll be close to one when you need it. We never used the card to access any of the toilets while our card was valid.

So since we didn't use any of the toilets accessible by the card, it ended up being cheaper to purchase the regular 24 hour travel card instead.