Elaine - Thanks for the info.

Donnabee - The bridge you have to cross is from Mestre to Piazzale Roma/Tronchetto. (Follow signs to Tronchetto).

From there you HAVE to take the car ferry to Lido if you want to take your car there - there is NO bridge to Lido.

Tell your travel agent he's a wally

Steve

P.S. I agree with Weadles. We've stayed in Lido twice and will stay there again.

Thanks Wead and Steve! Steve - had to laugh at the travel agent comment. They don't have travel agents like they used to! They just seem like it's all a big hassle to them. Now to find car ferry information....*sigh* You wouldn't happen to know of a website for them,would you??

Donnabee - Here's the ACTV link:

http://www.actv.it/eng/ricerca_linea.htm

(Enter Line 17 and choose your timeframe - it looks like there's about 1 per hour ...)

And here's a general one:

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/..._car_ferry.htm

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Thanks Steve! I am so glad I found this message board. This is helping me a lot in planning our trip!

I will be in Venice in July with my 2 teenage kids, and although we are staying in Venice, thought they might enjoy an afternoon at a Lido beach for a change. Any suggestions of where we should go? I know a lot of the beach area is private, and hate to just get there and "wander".

We are following in your footsteps and had the same question. We had read that it could be risky to park the car at the ferry, but had no idea what the cost of transporting the car on the ferry would be vs. parking at the ferry terminal. If you find out, could you post the info? See you at the Des Bains.

Just thought I'd mention that in the late afternoon in the Lido, it was possible for us to use many of the private beach clubs ( chairs, longues, etc.) without charge for a few hours. My kids really enjoyed their late afternoon swims after sightseeing in Venice.

Good luck, and have a great time in the Lido!

MStein - I decided not to stay at the Des Bains. I did a search in here on Lido, and I came across some posts that changed my mind. One was about the water being so dirty, the guy wouldn't put his big toe in it. Then I figured we would be doing so much siteseeing, we wouldn't have time for the beach. We are now staying at the Westin Europa which is the sister hotel to DesBains. They have transportation from the Westin to DesBains, if we decide to go to the beach.

Rhonda - when in July are you going to be there. My son is 16 and my daughter is 14. We will be in Venice from 7/5-7/8.

donnabee:
Sorry that we will miss you since my daughter is 16 and son is 15! We will be in Venice 7/10-7/13.

For an interesting take on how even Venetians feel that living on the Lido is different(in some ways better, in others not) from living in "Venice", read a book I've been recommending for its evocation of life in Venice:
A Thousand Days in Venice, by De Blasi.

Rhonda - too bad! Might have been nice for the kids to have someone their age around.