Hi, I'll be in Venice for the Biennale. I have a few questions.

(1) I'm flying in and out of the Marco Polo airport. It seems like there are two Alilaguna lines that take about the same time. If I buy my ticket for one line ahead of time, online, can I use it for the other? Is one line preferable to the other?

My flight from Venice to Paris leaves at 7:10 am. To be on the safe side, I should probably take the Alilaguna boat that leaves at 3:40 am. But then that just seems way too early. I'm thinking of going to Piazzale Roma to take the bus, which leaves later. Any thoughts on this? It seems like there are two bus lines, ACTV and ATVO (?) -- probably got the letters wrong.

My hotel should be within walking distance of San Marco square. I'm guessing it takes about 10-15 minutes to walk, but I've never stayed there, so I don't know for sure.

(2) Has anyone been to the Biennale yet? I'm checking out some online reviews, but if you have any recs, let me know.

(3) Could someone please remind me of the various Venice/discount card options? I think there is a 24h and a 72h vaporetto pass as well? I'm not sure if I'll be visiting any museums this time (I've been to Accademia, Museo Correr, Doge's Palace, Secret Itineraries Tour, etc.). I do plan to go to Palazzo Grassi. I haven't been to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum or Ca d'Oro.

(4) Any other tips -- restaurants, etc. -- worth passing on? I've eaten at Da Fiore, Al Covo, Alla Madonna (? -- the fish restaurant). Happy to try to have a nice meal if I have time and can manage to look at this late stage.

Thanks.

I'm not sure I understand . . . The best Alilaguna boat to take is the one that stops closest to where you want to go and takes the shortest amount of time.

Venice airport doesn't really open until about 5:30. On a recent trip we did the bus from Piazzale Roma. We used the ACTV #5 bus, the local bus which is part of the travel card—cheap and easy. Your vaporetto ticket from the hotel to P. Roma will probably still be active so you an ride the bus for no additional fare.

Can't comment on the walk to your hotel since you didn't name it.

Go to veniceconnected.com to review the pass options. There's one museum pass for just the museums of San MArco, another that includes those plus a few others. Palazzo Grassi, the Accademia, and the Guggenheim are not on the Museum pass. Purchasing your travel card ahead of time online will save you some money. When you pick up your online purchase from the Venice Connected booth in Venice, your travel card is activated immediately, not at first use.
http://veniceconnected.com/

You might read my March trip report for more ideas--it included 8 nights in Venice.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

Thanks. I think there are two Alilaguna lines that stop at San Marco, which is the stop I'm planning to use, but there could well be another stop that's closer. I'll need to look at the map to be sure. So wondering if there's an advantage to one of these lines. One goes via the train station, etc., while another goes via the islands.

As I mentioned, since both lines go to the same San Marco stop, the only advantage I can see would be time, or perhaps route if you wanted to see certain things.

Linea Blu goes via Murano and Lido and takes 1 hour 20 minutes.

Linea Arancia goes via virtually the entire Grand Canal and takes 1 hour and 15 minutes.

As you said, there could be a closer stop depending on your hotel.

Both lines run every 30 minutes, one at at approximately :00 and :30, the other at :15 and :45. If I was indeed headed to the San Marco stop, I suspect I would just take the next boat leaving rather than wait 15 minutes to choose one over the other.

Hi, I think that I may just buy the 48h transportation card and use the ACTV line 5 bus. I think the first bus is at 4:40 am on a Monday, is that right?

http://www.actv.it/pdf/urbano/U-5.pdf

Thanks.

I was in venice afew years ago and accept for a short rush hour period, no one checked to see if I had bought a vaporetto pass...what a system!! Check to see if anyone is checking for passes if not, just hop on!

The fine for travelling without a valid ticket is more than 50 euro, I believe. It is payable on the spot.

Yes, and they do check, and do catch cheats!

Hi 111op.

Just got back from our 6th Venice trip & 4th Biennale a week ago. Not a great year for the Biennale - the curated shows in the Central Pavilion and the Arsenale aren't very interesting and the Italian Pavilion is dire, except for the 'Museum of the Mafia' section. In the Corderia, the James Turrell piece is nice but no better than some of his other pieces we've seen & certainly not worth queuing for 90 minutes for.

We went to both of the Pinault spaces, the Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi (€18 for 1, €20 for both) and found the opposite to two years ago - this time, we didn't like much at the former but liked quite a lot at the latter.

Let me know if you want more recommendations for collateral/other offsite exhibitions. When will you be there ? Not all of the offsite exhibitions are on throughout.

Re your specific questions...

All Alilaguna tickets are the same price, it's just an Alilaguna ticket, single or return. If you are going to the stop near St Mark's Square, just get the next one to arrive. The Alilagune boat back at 3.40 presumably gets to the airport at 5 or after, so not that early for a 7am flight. Our passage back through the airport last week was quick but last September we queued for about an hour for security.

Restaurants - the Osteria-Enoteca Ai Artisti was our favourite last time & again this time (not to be confused with the Bar Ai Artisti in Campo San Barnaba, which is however a fine place for breakfast or a spritz). Went for the first time to La Zucca and liked it very much - would go again on any or all future trips.

All the ACTV fares are here, on their own website - http://www.actv.it/en/movinginvenice/fares1. You don't say how long you are going for, but if you anticipate spending at least 2 weeks there, ever, it's worth getting a CartaVenezia - you can then buy boat tickets at €10.50 for 10. It costs €40 upfront for non-residents, lasts 3 years then costs €10 to renew. Plus we just love having our own Venice 'bus passes' !

As for "was in venice afew years ago and accept for a short rush hour period, no one checked to see if I had bought a vaporetto pass...what a system!! Check to see if anyone is checking for passes if not, just hop on!" - outrageous ! Setting aside the question of morality, I have certainly been on boats when ticket inspectors have been round - and they got on after me, so can't see how this person's 'system' would work unless only going one stop.

Highly, HIGHLY recommend Da Franz. It is very close to the Biennale area. Closest vaporetto is Giardini. No set menu - changes daily. I'm quoted (from my Fodor's trip report) in the "Reviews" section!

http://www.hostariadafranz.com/

I would use a private water taxi for the early flight. I'd also use a private water taxi for arrival but it isn't necessary.

We just returned from our 3rd trip to Venice. Our vaporetto pass was checked at one of the Murano stops. The inspector got on after us. Glad we all had tickets. This was the first time I ever saw a inspector but then we always have tickets.

Go a lot was just there in May had a wonderful time.

eurocheapo.com Venice great city guide budget tips food etc.

virtualtourist.com Venice lots of locals with great tips

When I go do the Vaporetto pass over multiple days you

can ride everywhere you break even after about 5 rides

Figure my flight departure time to coincide with the

end of my pass... P. Roma bus to from VCE cheap not far.

I figure 3 hours total B4 my flight from there.

Airports boats always more costly not great hot stuffy too

I do not like them.. for a very early flight like yours

try to stay my last night out at the airport in a hotel

with a free shuttle Marriott Courtyard is new good many

others at VCE booking.com Otel.com

I stay out of the major tourist areas like San Marco

during the day too crowded food expensive "coperto"

charges are giant rip offs over 30% of a bill there

So I stick with neat places in the Dorsoduro or Rialto

area has nice cute little restaurants where u can dine

in amd among the gondolas with a wonderful view split

a nice pizzaor entree plus only 12% service so my wife an I

can have a nice lunch or dinner for 5-6 euros each that way.

Read menus carefully... Happy Journey!

Qwovadis, if you go a lot it would be worth your while getting the CartaVenezia I described above. Forgot to mention it also gives almost half price travel on Alilaguna, return fare for €14 instead of €25. The Alilaguna is not hot early in the morning.

Here's a link to the Washington Post's review of the Biennale:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...5YH_story.html

My daughter was there a couple weeks ago and thought it was great.

I bought the €16 day pass for the ferries in St Lucia station a month ago and wandered all over the place using those (and my feet). Maybe it would have been cheaper some other way, but it was worth it to me for convenience.

It is dearer than most other city's day passes, but so is almost everything in Venice.

I haven't blogged that visit yet, this is one about past visits: http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/2007...d-trieste.html

Cheers, Alan, Australia

Hi, thanks again everyone. I just came back from my trip. It was really nice. The weather was great.

I ended up buying the 48h transportation bus with the ACTV bus option to and from Venice airport. Without the bus option, this was 28 euros. The ACTV bus was 3 euros each way, but would be 5 euros if purchased separately. There's also the ATVO bus. Everything went off more or less without a hitch. I took the 4:40 bus from Piazzale Roma. I think I didn't have to get to the airport quite so early, but it was definitely bustling already, as there were flights leaving around 6:30.

I had very little luggage, so the bus + vaporetto option worked out well. I even started sightseeing right away as I had taken the "wrong" vaporetto from Piazzale Roma.

Surprisingly Venice was much less crowded than I was expecting. So I had a great time!

Caroline, the James Turrell piece was very similar to the installation at the Gagosian Gallery in London. I saw it there, but I did wait to see it again in Venice. Apparently there's supposed to be a 2 meter drop somewhere in the room and you are not supposed to be get too close to the edge. They said someone actually fell off!

My wait was only about 20 minutes or so, I think. Unfortunately I missed the Anish Kapoor "Ascension" at San Giorgio. I mistimed things a bit, and it was tricky getting there via vaporetto.

I think my favorite was probably Mike Nelson at the British Pavilion, but apparently it was similar to what he'd done in Istanbul a number of years ago. This is my third Biennale (I missed the 2009 Biennale). I think I liked it more than you, Caroline, and I enjoyed catching artwork from artists I like -- such as Maurizio Cattelan and Francesco Vezzoli. The latter had videos at Palazzo Grassi, which were I guess not as amusing as the Caligula trailer that took Venice by storm a few Biennales ago, but still entertaining!

Otherwise Christian Marclay's "The Clock" was interesting. I had missed this in its run in NYC, and it was really nice for me to catch about 20 minutes of this in Venice.

111op, hi. Not sure you missed much with 'Ascension' - it wasn't really working when we went. I don't know if the fans weren't set up right or what, but instead of a column of smoke it was just wafting off in all directions.

My favourites in the Giardini were Germany, Austria & Canada plus Denmark & France to a lesser extent. My favourite offsite exhibition I think was 'Penelope's Labour', stunning modern tepestries - did you see that when you were on San Giorgio Maggiore ? Also liked 'The Future of a Promise' at the Magazzino del Sale, Iraq, Iran, some of 'Venice in Venice' (which featured a small Turrell piece) & 'Real Venice' (also on SGM).

Oh, plus Estonia, Singapore & Iceland.

Hi Caroline, interesting to see your thoughts on the Biennale. Goes to show just how much there was to see! I had read about how the Kapoor installation fizzled, but I assumed they had fixed it by now. Anyway, I didn't make it to the island at all, as the only way I could visit from San Marco before the 6 pm closing was to take a 40 euro water taxi, which just seemed too much to me.

I remember the German, Canadian and French pavilions. I recognize Boltanski's work, but I had never heard of the German or the Canadian artist. As I'm sure you know, the German pavilion is controversial this year, as it won the Golden Lion but Richter lashed out at this choice as "the decline of painting." It seems like Schlingensief established his reputation as a director?

I *think* I went to the Austrian and the Danish pavilions, but I'm having a hard time recalling what was there....

Anyway, I thought it was great they put three amazing Tintoretto paintings at Giardini!