chicjenny

What is the best option getting from the airport to our hotel in Venice?

Eloise

Fastest and cheapest, in my opinion, is with either ACTV bus (if you plan to buy a one-or three-day vaporetto pass, you can do it at the airport and use it on the ACTV bus) or ATVO (slightly more expensive, no stops) to Piazzale Roma and a vaporetto from there to your hotel.

capxxx

It depends on what you mean by best, and where the hotel is....

1. Water taxi is expensive, but exteremely glamorous, and will take you as close as possible to your hotel.

2. The Allaghuna (misspelled) is my favorite. This is the airport shuttle -- it stops at a couple places in Venice, and then you can walk or take the Vaporetto (water bus) to the stop closest to your hotel.

3. Land bus to Pz. St. Marco, is cheapest, then tak a Vaporetto to the closest stop.

Eloise

The Alilaguna is a closed ship from which you cannot even see Venice approaching; moreover, it takes longer than any of the other options.

You cannot take a land bus to Piazza San Marco; the land bus goes to Piazzale Roma.

If you take a vaporetto from Piazzale Roma, it will probably take you along the Grand Canal and give you your first view of its splendid palazzi.

nytraveler

Which/where is your hotel? Do they have their own dock? Will they send a bellman to the closest public dock?

How many people are you?

How much luggage do you have and can you easily drag/carry it through the streets of Venice?

By best do you mean most convenient? Or least expensive? Or some combo of the above?

We always take a water taxi. But then we always have a hotel with a private dock. The cost is now about $80 (when we first did it it was about $45).

To give you the best answer we reaally need to know the above info (1 student on a budget will get a very different answer than 4 seniors going on a luxury cruise).

olijoc

Take a water taxi from the airport to your hotel. It takes FOREVER on the Alilaguna water 'bus.' We were in Venice 3 weeks ago. We took the Alilaguna from the large canal, at 11 Euros per person, to the airport. It stopped everywhere and we will never take it again! We could have taken a water taxi directly from our hotel for 90 Euros per taxi. This is what we'll do the next time we go in or out of Venice.

joycap

I just returned from Venice a few days ago with two other couples. We arrived by car and left via the airport. For the return trip our hotel arranged a private water taxi which took us from our hotel to Piazzale Roma, where we met a driver who dropped us off right in front of the check in counter at the hotel. It cost 160 euros for both. In my opinion, it was worth the money (since we were able to split the cost), as we did not have to worry about trying to figure out where we were going and the ride in the water taxi was most beautiful as we said our last good-bye to Venice.

KT

The multitude of opinions on this issue have appeared on many threads. If you search for "alilaguna" or "venice airport" they're bound to come up.

NYtraveler pretty well sums up the variability of "best." For me (budget traveler who travels light, and has stayed near the Frari on my past few visits), a bus to Piazzale Roma and a walk from there works out just fine, and is faster than the Alilaguna plus a vaporetto would be to that location. But other peoples' "best" varies quite a bit.

capxxx

Yea, sorry I messed up the name. I just got back from Germany and was a little jet lagged. But I still like the Alilaguhna best of the three options. We could see fine out the window, and enjoyed the trip.

bardo1

The Alilaguna is 1 hour and 10 minutes (it's the same time on the red or blue line). http://www.alilaguna.it/?ang=en
For two people it's 22Euro

A water taxi is about 25 minutes and 90Euro.

It's up to you as to whether the extra 68Euro is worth it to save 45 minutes.

PeggyE

Do you have to arrange a water taxi ahead of time thru your hotel? Or are they always available. We will drop our rental car off at Piazzole Roma, then what? Is there a distance between there & the water taxis? Sorry but I am confused on this point since we have never been to Venice. Our hotel has private dock, Palazzo Sant Angelo. Thank you for any information!

nytraveler

When you get to the Piazzele Roma you unload the luggage from the car. You're right next to a water taxi station - but if you have tons of stuff there are carts it can be put on. Then they take the car away into the garage. Just be sure you get a receipt - and leave NOTHING in the car.

PeggyE

Thank you! One last detail not to have to worry about.

Josser

I always go by Alilaguna
Of course you can see Venice approaching.
Perhaps Eloise spent the journey in the hold.

kappa

Alilaguna and land bus are both just fine for me.

Alilagna boat takes forever? Not in my case. It makes one or two stops at Murano and 1 stop at Lido. Isn't that it? 1hr + is just fine for me. Maybe because I'm usually not in such a hurry. When I took it, they let me stand on the exit area when the boat was approaching the Piazza San Marco (obviously not everybody can do this. There is not enough space for all the passengers to stand there.). Has anybody mentioned a new line called Alilaguna Gold Line ? I heard that would take you direct to Venice in 30 min or so but costs €25, twice the usual "slow" one. I find it too expensive but for some that's an option, isn't it?

capxxx, you are still jetlagged ! That's Alilaguna without h

amyb

I took the Alilaguna Gold line when I was there in May. I had just missed the regular boat and didn't want to wait the 30-45 mins for the next one. So I paid the guy an additional 14E (the regular one costs 11E) and it was fine. I sat below deck and you can see absolutely everything (not sure why someone says you can't!) and I got goosebumps watching as we approached the city. It was worth it to me to pay the extra to get there faster (both in terms of fewer stops, it goes directly to San Marco, and also in not having to wait for the next one) but it runs much less frequently, I just lucked into having it there when I was ready to go.

lyb

bookmarking for myself --- thanks for the info on the Alilaguna Gold line --- after reading Eloise's post -- I started to wonder if it was a big steel bubble....it certainly didn't look like it from the pictures I've seen....

capxxx

Jetlagged and spell-challenged.

Girlspytravel

The Alilaguna GOLD line (as opposed to the regular Alilaguna 70 min. line stopping at Murano and other places) is a new addition to getting back and forth from Venice's Marco Polo Airport to the city of Venice. It costs 25 Euros, per person, one way, and it is DIRECT-no stops between the airport and San Marco.

It's a great way to arrive into the city without having to pay 100E for a private water taxi-and the views from the boat of San Marco, particularly if it's a bright sunny day, are breathtaking.

The Gold line does not run as frequently as the regular Alilaguna-the first one leaves from the airport dock at 9:30am, and runs until the afternoon. From San Marco to the airport, the first one leaves at 7:45am, however. You can check the Alilaguna Gold timetable here:

http://www.alilaguna.com/?funzione=2...=53&modo=6

The Gold is a good alternative to the regular Alilaguna, if you are leaving during its operating hours, and don't want to make stops along the way in or out of the city. There's nothing like coming in by boat to San Marco from the airport, so if you are staying in and around the San Marco/Castello area, the Alilaguna Gold would be my preferred means of transportation.

Jed

Need info. We are 2 couples, ?4 suitcases, need to get from the airport to Ferrovia stop.

Since the water taxi is €90, for 4 people it seems reasonable.

Questions - Is a water taxi suitable for 4 people? Is 90 standard? Do we tip? Thanks