I'll be visiting Venice for 4 nights in October. I booked an early flight leaving Venice at 6:50 AM., and my hotel is near San Marco. How can I get to the airport that early ? I heard water taxi is expensive. Is it worth the effort to move to a hotel outside Venice the night before ? Please help. Thanks.

Well, water taxis are expensive, but they are very reliable. You certainly could move out of Venice for the last night and get closer to the airport, but only you can decide whether losing that final night in Venice is worth the effort. Just looking at nominal costs, the situation might add up as follows:<BR>-To stay in Venice and take the water taxi: Hotel at $150, dinner at $50, water taxi the following morning at $60.<BR>-To move to a different hotel: Some expense just to get there (assume vaporetto and bus/taxi) at $15, dinner at $30, hotel at $75, and transport to airport the following morning at $25 (assume taxi).<BR><BR>Thus to stay in Venice you spend perhaps<BR>$260 for that last night. To stay in another hotel nearer the airport you spend maybe $145. That's a difference of over $100. Now, these figures are all just guesses, but I've been in Venice enough to make some pretty good estimates. Your costs could be different, but I'd bet you'll save about $100 if you move out of the city. <BR><BR>What you need to consider is whether staying in Venice one more afternoon and evening is worth that difference. If I had spent well over a thousand dollars in a trip to Europe (and I'm assuming you had to buy your tickets) I wouldn't hesitate to stay in Venice and enjoy my last night there. It seems to me that the difference in cost, in the context of the cost of the entire trip, isn't enough justification to leave that magical city.

Assuming you need to be at the airport at 4:50 AM (2 hours ahead of 6:50)) and the water taxi takes about 25-30 minutes from San Marco, you need to leave the San Marco dock at 4:20 AM. At that time of the early morning I do not think there is much public transportation such as the vaporetta (sp?). The water taxi may cost $80 but it is something that can be shared if another hotel traveler is also going to an early flight. A move the night before to a hotel closer to the airport may still incur travel by land bus or land taxi. Its not worth the hassle to move. Enjoy San Marco the night before and reserve an early morning water taxi. The October 1 sunrise is 7:09 AM so it will be pitch dark, but enjoy your 4 Venice nights.

We took the Alilunga motor launch to catch a 7 am flight. It leaves from close to San Marco and the times are coordinated with the flight times. We caught it at probably 5 am.I think you just have to be at the airport one hour early. The airport is very small. You can check the schedules on a Venice web site. It costs a lot less than a water taxi.

The Alilaguna option is apparently a pretty good choice - - you can find more about it here on this forum with this correct spelling.<BR><BR>I know that there has been a thread here today on the excesses of grammar/spelling police - - but it seems worthwhile to correct the spelling of a PLACE - - so that others can find it with a search here.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Thank you very much for the answers.

You're very welcome.<BR>