Tell me about Venice Lido. What is there to do nearby and how does one go about exploring Venice from there?

You can rent bikes and explore, or go to the beach (not a particularly wonderful one). That's about it.

To get to Venice, you can take a vaporetto--it's a short ride.

islandmom,

We stayed on the Lido with our kids a few years ago. It was a mixed experience. We loved escaping the heat and crowds of Venice in July. But we also felt that we missed out on doing extra sightseeing in Venice proper, because we got lazy about going back and forth all the time on the vaporetto.

Also, the beach in Lido is not all that nice. In fact, the water at times is quite polluted. If we were to visit Venice again, I would stay in Venice, so that we could take better advantage of all that city has to offer.

If what you are looking for is a nice beach near Venice go to the Venetian Riviera. We stayed there but only went to Venice twice. I think it's approx. 20 miles away.

The Lido is definitely not the best place to stay unless there is nothing else available. It is primarily a beach resort for Venetians (with not gret beach and marginal water) and the Convention Center and a bunch of hotels, restaurants etc. The boat ride back to the tourist sights is not that long - but if there is a convention on the wait to get on the boat can be 30 minutes or more - and even then it can be quite sardinish.

Definitely stay in Venice proper - so you can walk out the door and start touring right away - not looking for boat stops, waiting for the boat to come, landing at San Marco and then starting out.

If you really want to stay there check if there is a convention on. That's why I stayed on the Lido. It was not a problem for us since we had a bunch of rooms and the hotel give us one of their private launches. But after 2 days the other convention-goers complained long and loud about all the waiting and boating back and forth.

Hi

I had read somewhere that the vaporetto ride between Lido and Venice is quite costly for a return journey. Doing this every day would certainly bite into your "riso e piselli" money. Does anyone know the cost, out of curiosity?

Depends if you're just taking a single journey. For example, if you buy a single ticket, it will cost you Euro 5.00, and is valid for 90 min. However, if you're staying on the Lido, you'd want to purchase some sort of travel card, probably the 72 hour one, but the 7 day VeniceCard would also be an option) which allows unlimited use of the vaporetti between Lido and the historical center of Venice. The 72 hour card is Euro 22.00.

The below Hello Venezia website, which is linked from the official City Hall of Venice website, sorts out the different fare structures:

www.hellovenezia.it/en/tariffe.html

I believe the 72-hour pass is now 25 Euro. I would also definitely stay in Venice itself if possible.