Venice getting there
Venice Holidays - TravelSavvy guide to getting to Venice Italy
With millions of visitors taking Venice holidays annually, the city has turned ferrying tourists about into an art form. Most visitors arrive for a short break in Venice by charter flight at the mainland airports of Marco Polo or Treviso and take a land or water bus across the lagoon.
Rail travellers arrive in Venice to find a water bus (vaporetto) stop directly outside the station on the Grand Canal. Bus passengers end up in the Piazzale Roma nearby.
Cars should be left on the mainland with a land or water bus into Venice. Cars are banned in most of Venice and car parking at Piazzale Roma or Tronchetto islet is expensive. Car hire is only worth it if you plan to explore the mainland Veneto.
Marco Polo Airport is on the mainland coast 12km from Venice and Treviso Airport another 30km inland. In winter airports can get fogbound, with flights diverted to Treviso airport or even Verona.
Getting to Venice from Marco Polo
Allaguna: The romantic way to start a Venice holiday is by water bus - the Allaguna. It leaves hourly from Marco Polo airport and takes about an hour, via the islets of Burano and the Lido. There is a 'gold line' direct to San Marco but it's more than double the normal price.
Water taxi: For luxury, hire a water taxi from the airport pier but expect to pay €80-€100. It takes about 30min.
Bus: Cheaper is the orange Venice airbus. One leaves every 20-40min to the Piazzale Roma and it takes about 20min. The cheapest is the public bus #5 which leaves every 15-30min.
Land taxi: Taxis queue at the main entrance and the trip to Piazzale Roma costs about €30 and takes 20min.
Getting to Venice from Treviso
Treviso Airport is mainly used by cheap flight charters who provide a bus link. Independent travellers take a #6 bus to Treviso railway station for frequent services into Venice.
Trains arrive at Santa Lucia Station at the north end of the Grand Canal. The railway terminal is, frankly, a drab Austrian-built eyesore but Grand Canal vaporetti are directly outside and San Marco is only a 20min walk. Vaporetti #1 and #82 are the ones to catch.
Heading out of Venice there are direct rail links to Bologna, Rome and Milan and services to Florence, Padua and Verona. There are also departures to Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia as well as Paris and London.
Venice ferries operate from the port in the Dorsoduro area. There are summer services to Greece and Corfu and ferries to Ancona. Venezia Lines also runs catamarans to Trieste, Croatia and Slovenia. The port is served by vaporetti #41 and #42.
Experience Plus have been providing bike tours across Italy since 1972. They have 300 bikes available for hire and run a number of European cycling tours which include Venice.
In fact, their most popular tour of all time starts in Venice. They have a very helpful website, so we recommend using the Cycling Tour Finder to find the routes which include Venice.
If you don't want to go on a tour but would like to hire a bike whilst in Venice, check out their sister company: Bike Rentals Plus.
The A4 links Venice with Turin, Milan and Padua with connections to the A1 for Florence, Rome and Naples. Drivers enter Venice over the Ponte della Liberta causeway to enormous car parks in Piazzale Roma or on the islet of Tronchetto. Many drivers park at the San Giulano car park in mainland Mestre and catch the train or bus.
International coaches operate from Piazzale Roma. Euroline coaches travel to London, Amsterdam and Paris. ATVO Italian buses run to nearby Treviso, Verona and Padua and to Milan.
Minor offenders once 'ran the gauntlet' from San Marco to the Rialto
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