we are planning a trip in the fall and are thinking about staying at the Hotel Carlton and Grand Hotel for a few nights. We have a very early 730 am flight out back to rome for flight home. Should we spend our last night at a hotel near marco polo airport?

I've spent the final night in Venice proper before an early flight and had no problem. If the water taxis are not running when you have to leave, you can hire a private transfer. If you do not want to do that, I think I would stay in Mestre and take a taxi on the final morning. At least you will be within easy reach of a good meal..

I've stayed between Rialto and San Marco (Locanda Orseolo) the night before a very early flight to SFO via JFK and booked a water taxi to get there with no problem.

Hello jcg, just be aware that sometimes in fall the fog in Venice can be quite bad and consequently transportation can be a problem. Are you flying home from Rome the same day that you are planing to fly out of Venice? If so, how many hours do you have after your scheduled flight arrival from Venice at Rome before your flight home departs from Rome?

We had a 7:30am flight to Paris from Venice. Our apartment was right by St. Mark's Square. I was so nervous about this! Here are my notes from trip:

"In order to get to the airport on time, we had to catch a vaporetto at 5am. This found us up at 4am getting packed up. The vaparetto was on time, and at 5:40am, we arrived at Piazze del Roma to catch the land bus to the airport. We arrived at the airport at 6:15am to check in." (that may be overkill, but I was curious when I was planning about how long it took to get from Point A to Point B so I took scrupulous notes on my trip)

I checked the day before with the vaparetto stop and confirmed which stop I should get on at (which was a little different than the time table so I was glad I double checked). The vaparetto was on time. They take you to a bus stop where you catch the land bus which takes you the rest of the way to the airport.

The day before there was a ton of rain, and I was really panicked about the whole experience. However, the vaparetto stop person said something that made sense: "You are not used to this, but we are."

Your hotel is quite close to the bus stop at Piazzale Roma. You should be able to walk over in the morning and catch a bus without having to get up quite as early as some have mentioned. Walk the route the day before to verify your timing.

ditto the last Poster - the Carlton and Grand is right across from the Piazzale Roma (5 min walk) and the buses will be quick at that time of day, maybe 20 min. Just check the bus schedules ahead of time to make sure when the first bus is. I think the bus would be faster than a water taxi. You definitely DO NOT be to the airport 2 hrs before in Venice.

Hello jcg - Are you there? Any decision?

Long story short. Our second! Alitalia flight was cancelled going out. We are now going to fly in and out of Rome from our home port of Newark and purchasing Italy train pass...planning on going to Venice (haven't been in 30 years doing a Eurorail pass!), maybe Padua or Verona or Bologna, stop in Florence for some meals and Giottos and maybe Orvieto on way to Rome. Any recommendations for moderate hotel in Venice... Acadamia or San Marco? Not staying at the Hotel Carlton.

I would check carefully whether you need a train pass. I suspect it will take a lot more trips than those you describe to make a pass cost effective.

Hub and I did what Mindibz did and it worked just fine. The day before, we walked from our hotel to nearest vap station and took it to Parking Piazza and timed it. Hotel manager had night vap schedule. I think we also took the 5 a.m. You can use your vap tickets on the bus if I remember correctly. We took a taxi and were at the airport before the airlines staff arrived.