I will be in Venice four days in June. I will be arriving by train (which stops at both the Mestre and the Santa Lucia stations) and departing on a 7 am flight from the airport. I'd like to be at the airport by 5 am. I would appreciate any advice regarding the best hotel option. It seems there are three options:
1. Stay all nights in the Santa Lucia area and take an early morning bus or train to the airport. Do they leave as early as 4:30 am?
2. Stay all nights in the Mestre area and take an early morning bus or train to the airport. Again, do they leave as early as 4:30 am? Also, it seems a shame not to stay in a hotel right in Venice.
3. Stay somewhere near the Santa Lucia train station three nights, but then take a bus or taxi to a hotel near the airport the final night.
I am leaning toward option 3, but would appreciate any feedback about these options, as well as specific hotel suggestions.

I organized a trip to Europe for my parents last year (they are in their 70's) and the last stop of their trip was in Venice. They needed to be at the airport early as well. The best option I found for them given the challenging logistics of central Venice was to take a water taxi very early (the hotel arranged this for them)to the train station which then took them to the airport. They said it was a bit tricky and somewhat disconcerting to be on a private water taxi in the dark going through all the small canals but if they did it, you defiitely could!

I would HIGHLY recommend the Locanda Sturion hotel www.locandasturion.com. We've stayed there twice and the location is amazing - right next to the Rialto bridge. The service was great, the breakfast room overlooks the grand canal and the prices were very reasonable (that was pre-Euro). Definitely worth checking out.

Good luck!

We stayed at a lovely hotel directly across from the train station in Venice. It gets fabulous reviews and we loved it. It's called Hotel Antiche Figure.

Thank you both very much. Do you know if trains run from the Santa Lucia train station to the airport very early in the morning?

Yes, if I recall the train my parents had to take was VERY early to be able to catch their flight.

Hi Jat,

There is no train to the airport.

I believe if you do a search here on Fodors using words like "early morning transportation to Venice airport" you will receive good advice.

My thoughts...

You don't need to stay near the train station (not my favorite area). You can take a vaporreti boat to the Piazalle Roma and then a bus from there to the airport. Or, the vaporreti to P. Roma and then a land taxi to the airport.

Here is a good link for more information about Venice-

http://tinyurl.com/363uho

Enjoy your trip!

Apologies...zoecat is right!! My parents didn't take the train, they took the bus to the airport! Sorry for the confusion there! Although the early morning water taxi ride is how they got there!!

You can take the ATVO bus at 5:00 am from Piazzale Roma to the airport for a 7:00 am flight. We just did it and we had plenty of time at the airport to check-in and have one last cafe.

as somebody said, there is no train to the airport.

the ACTV public bus from the Piazzale roma starts running out to the Airport at 4:40 am according to the published schedule and gets there in about 20 min.

The ATVO bus, which costs a little more starts at 5 am.

To me the Area near Piazzale Roma was a very easy area to stay in - there are several nearby hotels including the Olimpia/Arlecchino which we thought was fine and while quiet is just a hop skip and jump away from Piazzale Roma . Its convenient both for Vaporetti at the Piazzale Roma stop (one stop from the Ferrovia) and also to walk straight into a very nice part of beautiful Venice (Santa Croce/Dorsoduro) a much nicer feel than the area around the railroad station, which is a pit. Having dragged bags for long distances through Venice streets, I appreciated staying right there when departure time came. Note - there are other hotels (the Carlton maybe?) facing the park across a canal at the end of the Piazzale Roma and also on the streets which dive off it toward the Rialto, which would be other alternatives in that area.

The airport is going to be pretty dead if you get there two hours early!

jat

Many many people have left Venice on the early flight. Your options as stated:

1. No
2. No
3. No

How tight is your budget? The easiest way to get to the airport very early in the morning is to bite the financial bullet and take a taxi boat.

The second easiest way to is to take a water taxi to Piazzale Roma and take the bus from there. Less expensive than going all the way to the airport.

If your budget is too tight to allow a water taxi for any part of the time, stay somewhere withing walking distance of Piazzale Roma. There is no point in staying anywhere near the train station because you won't be departing from there.

There isn't much point in staying in Mestre, because you will still need to get to the airport.

What is your hotel budget per night? Can you afford to take the water taxi, even from a hotel to P. Roma?

We could all list hotels, but not knowing your budget makes it a bit of a pointless endeavor.

I stayed at Hotel Santa Chiara when I had an early a.m. flight. It is located on the Grand Canal, right on the corner of Piazzale Roma. I had a very nice room overlooking the Grand Canal. Very nice hotel, good breakfast, excellent staff, and it has an elevator. Kind of rare in Venice. It is easy to catch the vaporetti right by the hotel to take you to all areas of Venice. I took a cab to the airport (it picked me up at the front door of the hotel)for about 30 euro. I was traveling alone and felt I needed a little extra help with my luggage. But it is easy to catch the bus at Piazzale Roma. I have been to Venice a number of times and have stayed in a number of different areas. Its all good.

Be sure that you need to be at the airport at 5AM and that your airline will have an open desk that early. Many have posted reports about arriving at the airport "two hours before their flight" only to discover that this didn't work for early morning departures.

And this is why we (at least Ira and I do) recommend flying into Venice and out of some other city on open jaws flights. At least for those with long, connecting flights home. Leaving so early, not only do you miss some time in Venice, you have to figure out early morning transportation to the airport.

We've done the early morning flight out of Venice several times. Last time, when we stayed at Hotel Abbazia (www.abbaziahotel.com), the hotel arranged for a porter to come and get us and our luggage from the hotel (around 4:30 a.m.), walk with us (and our luggage on a cart) to an area behind the train station, where cars are parked, and drive us to the airport. It was an easy walk; we avoided walking over a lot of bridges or taking a vaparetto to get to Piazzale Roma, and avoided the higher cost of a water taxi. The hotel offered this option when we requested that they arrange a water taxi, and I don't recall exactly how much it cost, but it seems to me it was about half the cost of the water taxi. Hope that's helpful.

My opinion:
In the name of all that is holy, do NOT stay in Mestre. It simply is not the Real Venice.

And to be next to the Santa Lucia station is not my preference either, but if that is your only other option, then I'd stay there.

The Hotel Antiche Figure is directly across the canal from the station and we thought it was a great location. We were out of the main St Marks tourist hubbub (although there are tourists everywhere) but still in a lively area. It took us about 10 minutes on the vaporetto to get to the square but gee, that's not much of a hardship. I don't know what the rates are now but it was very reasonable in 2005 and the room and bathroom were gorgeous. We opted to pay a bit more for a canal front room with a tiny Juliet balcony overlooking the gondola parking spot. I thought the noise might be a problem but there were well-sealed windows and wooden shutters and the room was absolutely silent.

It is possible to get later departure flights out of Venice, but I am wondering if they are offered on a seasonal basis. Our Delta flight departed about 1pm last Sept.

The issue with early flights out of Venice has to do with two facts: Many posters here are traveling from the US, and few airlines at Venice airport offer direct flights to the US.

I think Alitalia and Delta each have one direct flight to and from NY each day. Both of these flights depart at a comfortable mid-day time. If you can't get a ticket for either one of these, you must catch a short-hop flight to another airport to connect to a trans-Atlantic flight. For instance, if you have to catch a mid-day trans-Atlantic flight in Milan, Rome, Paris, or Frankfurt, you have to get a very early Venice departure to make the connection.

In Sept, Delta connected in Atlanta, New York, and Cincinnati, and maybe more. We flew out Venice, changed in Atlanta and on to Florida.

US Air also had flights that weren't early, maybe 11:00-1:00 timeframe...

If you stay somewhere in Cannaregio or San Polo, and do not pack too heavily, you can quite easily walk to Piazzale Roma, and catch a #5 ACTV bus. I know there is one that leaves before 5 AM, and it would take about 20 minutes. You could also prebook a taxi from Piazzale Roma. Then you do not have to miss out on staying in a charming area.

I'd probably opt to have a prebooked taxi for 4:30 AM, and if that failed to show, I'd catch the bus. I always like to have a backup plan.