Hi! My family of 6 will be flying into Venice airport on a Monday morning, staying overnight Monday and Tuesday, then will need to pick up a rental van from the Venice Airport. Can anyone recommend where we should stay? We really want to pack as much of the Venice experience in as possible, but also don't want it to be a huge hassle to have to get back to the airport (with all the luggage and people) on Wednesday to get the van.
Thank you for all your help! I've never been to Venice!
Is it possible to pick up the van at Piazzale Roma?
I will look into that!
It looks like I can only get an auto large enough for my family if I pick up at the airport.
hey hey rak2636
welcome to the forum
what are the ages and any kids and when is this trip happening? you really only have evening of monday, full day tuesday, no time wednesday. check-in time is 3-4pm and check-out time is 10-11am. where are you staying in venice? with a family of 6, are you looking for 2 hotel rooms or an apt for all of you? many places have limit of how many people for safety and city rules/laws. your amount of people can be tough finding a place for all, lots of research needs to be done
wednesday shower, last minute packing, breakfast, getting to airport for car pickup if by train, bus, shuttle. you can only travel as fast as the slowest person. what do you want to cram in that one day and where are you headed to after venice.
make sure all drivers have an IDP (aaa.com/IDP) which is mandatory in italy. read all the rules, laws, ZTL zones, signage (have a translation app for them if not in english). some rental car places may or may not ask for IDP but if stopped for any reason you will need one or get a big fine $$$). keep your voucher/ticket you receive from machine for when needed to get off main road.
may sound cruel but that's how life goes and reality. if traveling during summer, it will be very busy with so many traveling nowdays with crowds in big cities, the heat is HOT HOT. hope all works out for you and you family. good luck & have fun
aloha
It looks like I can only get an auto large enough for my family if I
pick up at the airport.
That’s what I figured.
Ok a van makes sense for your group but please do your homework on driving in Italy (ZTLs, speed cameras, parking). All drivers will need an IDP- required by law. Parking that van will be an issue.
Can you tell us more?- it will help us help you.
When is this trip? Where are you headed after Venice and beyond?
It’s good you are starting in Venice- perfect place to get over jet lag.
Any chance you can add a night to Venice? As it is you have just one full day.
Apartments make sense for a group of your size but keep in mind check in for apartments is usually later afternoon so you have to store your bags (you don’t want to be lugging all that around all day!) If budget allows you might consider hotels rooms for this short stay.
There are several ways to get to the airport- vaporetto ride or walk from your lodging location to P. Roma- then bus to airport is the least expensive (but multiply x6!)
There are also the alilaguna boats and then most expensive is private water taxi (about 150 euros total) so add up the costs of other modes and see the difference.
There are many threads here that explain all these options- here is one.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/getting-to-venice-from-airport
A single vaporetto ticket is 9.50 euros now so you might want vaporetto length of stay passes if you plan to ride more than a few times- the pass is a huge money saver and is a true 24 hour pass. You must validate each and every time you board. Fines are high and they do check!
You can stay almost anywhere that fits your needs.Venice is very compact and obviously completely walkable.
I would start my research on booking.com- use the filters for budget, location, #beds, amenities, AC, elevator, bkft) You can book there or find the actual website. Read the reviews there as those reviews can only be left by folks who have actually stayed at the property.
I wouldn’t really want to be near P Roma or the train station but others are OK with those locations.
Use Google maps to pinpoint locations and see how many bridges and canals you would have to cross with luggage to get to that hotel/apartment- the fewer the better.
Do some searches here on the forum for Venice apartments, hotels. Filter by Type:Travel Forum and Date: 1 yr, 6 m etc.
Row Venice gets good reviews here- your family might enjoy
https://rowvenice.org/
We came in by train for a change, and had an apartment 50 ft. from the train station. My wife is having mobility issues and she rides a folding personal scooter. She was limited to about 1/4 mile area, but we have been there over a dozen times so she knows what is in Venice.
The apartment was decent, and so were the restaurants up and down the canal. My granddaughter and I got loose and hiked all over this magical city. Unfortunately I do not remember the name of the apartments, however we got the reservation on Booking.com.
In case no one has mentioned it, but 6 people are very difficult to travel with. I would suggest you pickup the van at the airport by yourself and have your group meet you at Piazza Roma to load up. But beware there is a strict speed limit on the causeway going out to the island and the camera/radar does not give you 1 mph leeway. Do not ask how I know.
Not to suggest the obvious but only the driver(s) needs to travel back to the airport to get the van and then return to Piazzale Roma.
I would transfer into Venice and if you're worried about baggage stay nearer the shoreside and Piazzale Roma. The driver(s) can return to airport by bus, taxi or Alilaguna with no or minimal luggage, rent the van and drive back to the city. The others can wait an hour - or wait for a text/WhatsApp - and assemble the luggage in Piazzale Roma to be picked up when the van shows up.
And then after packing the van everyone can head off to discover Italy!
I love Venice, resist the urge to stay outside the city for logistical reasons - just (figuratively) dive in.
Have a great trip,
=Tod
just what I'd been thinking hiredman Tod.
Leave the family making their way to P. Roma and go to the airport and collect the beast, drive into Venice P. Roma and park. Be extremely careful about speed on the causeway, both directions plenty of very picky, very expensive, speed cameras. The charge for parking at P. Roma will be well worth it, and the family all get to take it easy while waiting for your arrival back from the airport.
WhatsApp will be a great investment if you have wifi at the room and signal in the van. As will be time period vaporetto passes.
Look at staying in a convent ! Something unique for you and the kids to tell friends ! 3 and 4 bed rooms are available. I’ve stayed with my wife and with my wife and son and DIL at Istituto San Guiseppe, well located between Rialto Bridge and San Marco. Good info on it at monasterystays.com, but it can be booked directly for less. I’ve booked both ways.
The already mentioned Row Venice was a highlight of my trip last spring
Try to add at least another night
Thank you all so very much. This is really really helpful. I actually had not even thought of having just the driver go pick up the van! But that makes COMPLETE sense. I am going to look at adding an extra night in Venice based on what you guys suggest. We will go from Venice to Selva (Dolomites) for 5 days of hiking (3 kids are college aged and 1 is 15) and then drive to Verona to drop off van, then take train to Florence for another couple of nights and then fly home from Florence. If anyone thinks this itinerary sounds crazy please let me know! I'm planning this on my own. We have booked Hotel Saturnia in Venice and Hotel Antares in Selva. Have reserved the van. Still working out other logistics. (This is for next summer)
That is an excellent plan!
I support another day in Venice if you can find it in the schedule. Your first day will be given over somewhat to jetlag and first day on the ground travel necessities and part of the Venice experience is unhurried exploration and getting "lost".
It was touched on lightly but I would get at least eSims for most/all party members since they are cheap and make sure everyone has a way to communicate. Whatsapp is the default app - for whatever reason - to communicate with hotels in Europe so it's a safe bet and it allows text and voice calls over wifi and cellular data. This will allow groups to possibly do other things but still communicate and use maps and get back together.
Glad we could help, have a great trip!
=Tod
