We will be arriving at Marco Polo airport at 2:25 AM. Is there any other way to get into the city to a hotel at that time besides a private water taxi? Any other less expensive options? Thanks for the help.

Also, for cost comparison in development of an itinerary, how much would a taxi be to the Mestre train station versus to Venice?

Thanks again

Any feedback? Thanks again...I'm not finding much info on the net that's helpful for that time of night.

You can take a land-based taxi with four wheels from the airport to Piazzale Roma. Unfortunately, I don't know what other options exist at that hour of the night other than water tazi once you get to Pzzle Roma. but you CAN walk from Piazzale Roma to every corner of every sestriere in Venice if you wish - - excepting other islands, of course - - so that would include la Giudecca, Murano, Burano... and even il Cimitero (no lodging for warm-blooded folks there... wink!) - - in fact, none routinely offered on Murano or Burano either, as far as I know.

Just curious... who has a flight arriving at such a late hour? From where?

A water taxi sounds like your best option - - hope the late flight provided you some savings that makes it worth the hassle!

Best wishes,

Rex

Here's a website for a private water taxi company. Perhaps you could write and have them waiting for you when you arrive. You might also ask your hotel for assistance. Good luck.

http://www.stiktravel.it/servizi/taxi/watertaxi.htm

Hi S,

I think a land taxi to Mestre would be about the same price as to Venice.

Will your hotel be open?

I'm also curious as to who is flying into Marco Polo at that hour.

Do you have hotel reservations yet? If yes, I would ask them about transportation from the airport plus make sure someone will be at the front desk to let you in in the middle of the night.

The flight is MyAir from Madrid to Venice Marco Polo.

I haven't made hotel reservations yet because I can't decide whether it is better to try to make it into Venice at that time of night just to pay for a few hours of rest or whether I should just hop on a 3:30 am train from Mestre to another city and sleep on the train on the way there. It sounds like the taxi costs involved for both options would be about the same amount.

FYI for everyone - at 3 AM mid-week we arrived at Marco Polo. It was closed with the exception of two security guards. No taxis...not even water taxis, and certainly no bus service. The "taxi phone" was not working. I managed to talk my way into a fake taxi to take us to Piazzale Roma for 30 euro. The rest of my plane was probably stuck there for a couple of hours because they weren't having much luck.

In short, don't show up in the middle of the night in Venice.

Interesting. Out of curiosity I looked up the water taxi service (alilaguna.it). Looks like the earliest one out of the airport is at 6:15:

http://www.alilaguna.it/?funzione=12...amp;contesto=2

Thanks for the update, S.

Just so folks don't get confused, the alilaguna boats are akin to the water buses (vaporetti) in historic Venice, not water taxis. The water taxis are smaller boats usually carrying up to 6 people.

I'll further clarify RufusTFirefly's description of water transit options in Venice:

Alilaguna = airport to Venice shuttle boat (not vaporetti)

ACTV/vaporetti = water bus service (no boat service to the airport; ACTV also operates land buses on the mainland)

water taxi = a taxi that happens to be a boat

Arriving that late at night you'll either want lodging very close to the airport (so you'd stay that first night on the mainland) or have arranged in advance for a land taxi to meet your flight and take you to Piazzale Roma. Book a hotel or B&B that's close by the Piazzale Roma so that you can just walk there. There is night service offered by the vaporetti (water bus) that would take you to areas farther from Piazzale Roma, but it's not very frequent at that time of the night.

Having a water taxi meet you is a possibility, but likely an expensive one.

Maybe you could just crash in the airport until the morning...

You can see the present schedule at:

http://www.actv.it/english/navigazio...=vapo_notturno