I, in no way wanted to hijack Sashie's post, so I will start a new one.

Am I the only vaporetta rookie that gets flipped out when reading about the vaporetta?

Oranges and blues........ riding one way and make sure you don't get going the other........large amounts of people and me trying to get my luggage on and off it.........scrambling.......shuffling.......not knowing where your stop is for your hotel.

Yikes, it is very humbling for me to admit this, but when I start reading about the vaporetta, four words immediately come to screaming into my mind--------"Water taxi or gondola".

I am sure it appears to be more complicated than it is, but it makes me dizzy, very dizzy, and it slams me out of my euphoric Venetian state of being!

Please don't flame me for my vaporetta ignorance. Does anyone feel like I do when reading about it?

Humbly yours, Tiff

Vaporetti are like buses -- they can be crowded, and bulky luggage can be hard to handle. People skip buses for taxis for that reason.

Then again, most buses don't float and cruise by great scenery, so...

See, noting now it flipped me out so much that I am using "a's" and not the necessary "o's" at the end, hee!

Pardon, please.

Water taxi, water taxi, water taxi...

OK, I'll agree with you for the intitial trip. But not attempting the vaporetto ride at all is missing out on an essential Venetian experience. Get to your hotel, get settled, walk around to get your bearings, then take a deep breath and go for it!

Tiff,
I live in the Western US where public transportation is almost nonexistent, so I was worried, too. (I had never ridden a bus in my life and the only train I had been on was in England when I was 8.)

Really, it's easy, especially when you're standing in the "bus stop". At that point, the little map on the top only shows the lines that go through that station. If you know which stop you want, look at the map and know in which direction it is. If the boat comes facing the opposite direction, odds are it's not your boat. Worst case scenario, you go the long way before getting to your stop.

So relax. 2 deep breaths... You'll be fine!

I was a bit nervous about it myself before I went to Venice the first time.
As a well-meaning friend said, "You're not the stupidest person ever to travel in Venice." Turns out that was true, and after the first 5 minutes out of the train station, all was well, including managing my heavy luggage.

However, there is no reason NOT to know the stop for your hotel, and no reason not to know where to walk when you get off the boat. Your hotel can give you explicit directions, and I'm assuming you'll have a map. You may make a brief wrong turn or two, but you can't go too far wrong without realizing it.

Gondolas are for fun and for tourists,like horse-drawn carriages are in other cities, they are not a means of public transportation.

Yes, I agree LJ, embarking without luggage might make for a more pleasant experience, hee.

Good advice!

Before the trip I asked my hotel which vaporetto to take from the train station and what stop to get off. I had just one medium size duffle bag. Yes the boat was crowded but that seemed the norm.

The only difficult part for me was being on the water both the platform and the boat rocked and not necessarily together! That surprised me.

Besides that it was easy and fun. You certainly are welcome to take other forms of transportation (although I don't think there's gondola service from the train station, is there?)... but there's reason to flip out about taking a vaporetto.

I'm saying this not so much for Tiff, but so that this post won't freak out other first-timers and scare them away from an interesting and 1-of-a-kind public transportation experience.

Tiff,

I was trolling on this forum and read your post. Thanks for your kind remarks about my trip report. Sorry I misunderstood your story about meeting your husband, bit I agree with you, I like my version better.

Now, to the matter of the Vaporetto. As you may remember, our trip started in Venice, and started out with a trip on the Vaporetto. We were more freaked out than you because we had a five year old, and were arriving on Easter Sunday morning, and were concerned that there would be no public transportation because of the holiday.

My best advice is not to worry. When you buy your ticket(s) at the airport, ask the agent for instructions / directions. Better yet, ask your hotel to e-mail you with explicit instructions to their property from the airport.

Of course, I did all that and we still managed to get on the wrong Vaporetto. Our boat took us around the tail of the fish, through the lagoon, by Murano, and dumped us off at the San Marco stop. The whole time I was waiting for us to enter the Grand Canal, having ben told that it is a magnificent introduction to Venice. Instead, world traveler me came into Venice through the back door. I kept telling my wife that I didn't think it was such a long ride to get to the beginning of the Grand Canal. Another time, we acidentally took the wrong Vaporetto thinking we were headed to the Rialto Bridge, and found ourselves circling by the cruise ship terminal.

The good news was that we didn't care, and that we had built enough fluff into our schedule so we weren't too tightly scheduled. Tthe luggage was also not a problem. The operators are quite used to tourists carrying on luggage, and we were never charged, as some had mentioned. If you find yourselves on a crowded boat you may have to jockey a bit for position, but don't sweat it, you're on vacation.

I heartily suggest that you ride up and down the Grand Canal as often as you like, but Venice is so small and intimate, that you will probably find yourself doing a lot of walking.

It will all seem so easy when you're there, trust the gravyman.

gravysandwich

No one says you have to use the vaporetti. Or that you can;t use a water taxi. Their benefits and detriments are similar to those of public transit vs cab in every other city. Just on water vs land.

If you would take a cab in from the airport in London or Paris - do the same in Venice. If you would drag your luggage all over hell and gone in London or Paris - it;s no worse to do it in Venice.

Just depends on your dollar vs irritation factor.

(And once you're rid of luggage I reco Venice on foot - just like London or Paris - supplemented by public transit when necessary.)

I think you're overintellectualizing this.

Some very interesting responses.

To NYtraveler, Yes, well, that is me, 'overintellectualizing again' again, hee.

To Gravysandwich, Yet again you slay me. Your "world traveler me came into Venice through the back door" was most sarcastically humorous.
I did remember your story, and others that I have read here, that is what has made me laugh and sparked some of my post, seems you are not the only one "using the back door".

I was sincere in my original post but wanted to put a rather sarcastic lighthearted spin to it and just wanted to see if anyone else's head was spinning over what should appear as simple public transportation.

Laughter and preparation is the key to good travel. Just wanted to share a little laugh with anyone who felt such as I, sorry if I scared anyone as Suze suggested I might have, indeed that was not my intent.

Happy travels all, T.

Been to Venice twice, and I have to admit that my husband & I were pretty uneasy the first time about using the vaporetto and understanding it all. When arriving at the airport, we did not attempt it with our luggage - use the water taxi. It definitely was worth it eventhough the fare was ridiculous.

My husband caught onto the vaporetto system fairly quickly, and we looked on it as part of the experience of Venice. We did mess up one evening coming back from Burano, and had a VERY long ride back to our final stop. The rest of the time we just relaxed, and had some interesting conversations with Venetians/other travelers sitting or standing next to us. We even enjoyed one crowded evening listening to the happy chatter and laughter of the locals. The vaporetto is a significant part of the true Venice. So, try to relax and enjoy!

I want to disagree with nytraveler, but only in the mildest and kindest way. I always use a taxi to get to/from the airport, including in my own home city! I am a big baby when it comes to unknown public transportation particularly with luggage in hand.

But for some reason in Venice, using the vaporetto just seemed like the natural thing to do (and it turned out fun and easy, even though i was a disoriented wreck from coming in on an overnight train ride).

If you're arriving by train, it can be easier to put your luggage in the left luggage office at the station, and then you're free to familiarise yourself with the city. You can walk to your hotel or use the vaporetti without being burdened. The ideal time to take luggage to a hotel is in the early evening when it's cooler, the boats aren't so crowded, and you've got your bearings and know the easiest way to the hotel.

your hotel's website will tell you which line and which stop to use. It's not that hard.

There's no need to figure it all out in advance at home by poring over little pages of paer or computer screeens. It will be easy and obvious once you get there. Other than walking, it's the normal and sensible way to get around.

And it's vaporetto (not vaporettA). I wouldn't ordinarily bother to correct this type of mistake that probably wouldn't interfere with your abaility to research the topic in the index of a book (not many words starting with vap..., or vapore...), but you repeated the spelling so many times!

It isn't really all that difficult. If there happen to be a lot of people on the vaporetto you are boarding, then there will be a couple of minutes fumbling around with your luggage and apologizing to people when you step on their toes. Then you'll ride to your stop and have a couple of minutes fumbling around to get off. Not a life-changing experience.

If it's not crowded, then you won't even have the couple of minutes fumbling around.

paper
screens
ability
I probably made even more typos in my post above. (Just now typed pot for post, but caught it.)

But...vaporettO.