Vaporetti in Venice
 

My husband and I, both in our 70's, and healthy will be in Venice for a week ( with one day in Verona in the middle of the week.) Though we are walkers and Venice is a walkable city, we are not sure whether to get a vaporetto ticket for part of the time we are there in case we are really tired by the end of the day. Our hotel is in Cannareggio which is not close to many of the areas we will be visiting. Thanks for any recommendations.

I would definitely gat a day pass. Individual tickets are outragously expensive. Besides, I always enjoy just cruising along the main canals, doing a loop clockwise or counterclockiwise, before visting any specific place. Gives you a different perspective of the city.

Consider how many times you might need to ride a vaporetto for any purpose. . .

Will you need to take a vaporetto when you arrive in Venice?
Will you need to take a vaporetto when you depart?

I recommend any visitor to Venice ride the length of the Grand Canal at least twice—once during the day and once at night. The best facades of the buildings face the canal, so this is the best way to experience the architecture plus take the pulse of the city as you see business and deliveries conducted by boat.

With a week in Venice, I suspect you might enjoy a trip to Murano or Burano/Torcello, which would require a ticket to go and a ticket to return.

If you plan to do the six trips I've mentioned by purchasing individual tickets, you would pay 6.50 x 6 = 39 euro. For 50 euro (11 euro more) you could ride for 7 days as many times as you like and never have to think twice about getting on a boat.

If you think you won't need boat access for your entire visit, you could purchase a travel card of shorter duration and use it carefully. They are for a set number of hours from the time you first use them. For example, we arrived in Venice at 10AM on Day 1 and immediately began using our 72-hour card (33 euro) to get to our hotel, riding any boat we wanted on Days 1, 2, and 3. On Day 4, we departed our hotel at 8:30AM heading to the train station, still on the same travel card, which would become invalid at 10AM.

http://www.actv.it/en/movinginvenice/movinginvenice

I'm no expert and I didn't plan ahead. The few times we walked far & wanted to hop on a vaporetto to get back to our general neighborhood... we just bought a ticket for that one ride.

Not saying that's the best, just it is possible, and easy. The #1 route on the Grand Canal is amazing.

You can get reduced prices for the vaporetto tickets on www.veniceconnected.com. The weekly rate will drop to 42.50€ (or even lower, depending on the season you're there). We've spent several weeks in Venice over the past twenty years, and we really enjoyed the convenience of having the pass our last trip.

I feel you should get a pass. Pre-purchase your passes on-line from veniceconnected.com for a discount. Here is a great website that explains the pass purchased through veniceconnected and offers additional helpful information.

http://livingveniceblog.com/veniceconnected/

Even though Venice is, as you say "a walkable city", your walks will take you up and down over many bridges ( I think we heard there were about three or four hundred)-and lots of steps. We also stayed in Cannaregio-and used the vaparetto pass (we were there for two weeks), sometimes multiple times per day-AND we also walked... a lot! With a pass, once it is activated, the vaparettos become sort of Hop On, Hop Off water buses-just scan or show your pass and you are good to go. So much more convenient than purchasing individual tickets for each trip.

My suggestion would be to buy the seven day pass, for 50 Euro. It allows you to be more spontaneous – “let’s take a vaporetto over to Guidecca and see what it’s like”.
In a week, you are likely to use a vaporetto at least seven or eight times, so the 50 Euro will save you money, and a lot of walking too.
On our next trip in November, we will certainly do something about getting cheaper vap. tickets.

The single ticket prices of 6.50 can be a bit daunting.

Excellent point about the reduced travel cards through veniceconnected.

Hi joandobbs ,
We were in Venice last October for one week. It was so quick and easy using the 7 day pass. The vaporetti come by every few minutes. I would definitely use it again. 42.5 euros online...can't be beat. You will definitely walk ALOT in Venice even with the pass. The ride up and down the canal at night cannot be beat. The facades of the buildings are all lit up. It's a memory that will stay with you forever.
Have fun,
Michele

Another vote for getting the pass. In advance if possible.. to take advantage of the discount. Being able to hop on and hop off, even just to cross a canal, is awesome.

I always get the pass, usually for the whole time i am there. It is so convenient and even using once a day would be well worth it IMO.

I love just hopping the vaporetto, preferably not at commute time (though locals now have special passes), and riding around the various routes, but especially the #1 and the #52. And definitely it would be needed to get to some other areas such as Torcello, Murano, the Lido, and the like. I speak as another walker who routinely walks 10+ miles a day during my travels. Remember to validate it on the first trip.

> (though locals now have special passes),

Passes? or you mean Vaporetto No.5 reserved only for the residents? If so, this No.5 has been discontinued since a year or so.

Vaporetto passes are so expensive now, 72 hr pass costs like 50 % more than 10 year ago. Venice Connected is the way to get it cheaper but it has its own disadvantages. Still I buy one every time I'm in Venice.

Thanks to all for your suggestions. We will definitely get a pass of some kind and look forward to the #1 ride up the Grand Canal.

Joandobbs