Alilaguna Water Boat from Marco Polo to Ca' Pisani

The most economical way is to hop one of the frequent shuttle buses from the airport to Piazzale Roma for €6. Faster and more frequent than Alilaguna. From there, take a vaperetto 1 or 2 down the Grand Canal to the Accademia stop or the 5 or 6 to Zattere.

I'm not terrifically impressed by Alilaguna. I don't like the low down cabins with pretty awful visibility, occasional fumes, and slow speed (or when finally faster for a little while it develops quite a rocking motion as it breaches a wake), and the long walk to the dock.

I understand that there are now moving walkways towards the dock at the airport but I've not experienced them.

The bus to P Roma is easy, frequent, fast and cheap. Then you get a ride down the length of the Grand Canal to Accademia. I know which I prefer.

Others may see the other side of the coin.

I suppose it will be the same the other way around going from our hotel in Venice to the airport? Thanks.

I am wondering if I have several pieces of luggage, say, three carry-ons and one big one, is it easy to stow them on to the bus? Does the bus have some racks to store the luggage?

The Aliliaguna Blu line takes 1 hour and 38 minutes to get from the airport to Zattere. Departures are 1 per hour on the hour, so conceivably you could just miss it and it will be 2 1/2 hours to get to Zattere. Nigel described the experience.

Taking the No 5 bus from the airport, it goes every 15 minutes (M-Sat, 20 minutes Sundays and holidays) from just outside the exit door and takes 24 minutes to get to Piazzale Roma. At Piazzale Roma, you can take either the 5.1 boat, every 20 minutes and takes 13 minutes to get to Zattere, or the No 6 boat, every 20 minutes and takes 14 minutes to Zattere.

The combined airport bus/vaporetto ticket is 14 EUR each way. If you are getting a vaporetto pass for 1, 2, 3, 7 days, you can add the airport bus for an additional 6 EUR each way. The bus alone is 8 EUR.

The No 5 bus is an articulated low entry bus that is very open inside. Seats on the sides with plenty of "strap-hanger" loops for standing.

The No 1 boat Nigel mentioned goes every 12 minutes and takes 31 minutes to Accademia where you'd get off. Your hotel is behind the Accademia Museum, also an easy walk. The ride down the Grand Canal from Piazzale Roma is a great introduction to Venice.

I’ve tried both methods. I prefer the bus and vaporetto mode. As mentioned above it offers more frequent service, you get to ride on the grand canal and the vaporetto offers a better view.

Thank you, Sam, for your detailed reply. It does look like it'll make more sense to take the bus as far as I can. In fact, Googlemaps gave me the same directions that you outlined. I'll be meeting a friend in Venice, but she's not arriving till the next day. I don't speak a speck of Italian, and I wonder if you could give me any reassurance--or not--about the practicalities of navigating this route that has a transfer from bus to boat. For starters, does everything that Googlemaps laid out here make sense?

Venice, Venice (Airport VCE), 30100 Venezia VE, Italy
Walk about 13 min, 1.0 km

Tessera Centro, Bus5Venezia
22 min (16 stops)
Corsia A1
Walk about 3 min

P.le Roma (Parisi) "E", Ferry5.1Lido
13 min (2 stops)
Zattere SX
Walk about 3 min, 270 m

Ca' Pisani Design Hotel, Rio Terrà Foscarini, 979A, 30123 Dorsoduro, Venezia VE, Italy

When you get to the Piazzale Roma, you can either get the #5.1 or the #1 vaparetto. The #1 takes a bit longer but the cruise down the Grand Canal is spectacular - what a way to be introduced to La Serenissima. Your hotel is equidistant from either the Accademia or Zattere stop.

Gotta chuckle. Your google directions are very accurate, except that google wants you to walk 1 km from the airport to the 2nd bus stop at Tessera Centro. Why not just board at the first stop at the airport door? Trying to dodge the ~6 EUR airport charge?

Look on page 2 of this map.
http://actv.avmspa.it/sites/default/files/attachments/pdf/urbano/mappe/5-UM.pdf

No, Sam, I'm not trying to save a buck. (Or a quid. Is there a slang term for euros?) Those directions are merely what Googlemaps fed me. I'm very happy, in fact, to catch the bus right at the airport!

Thank you for the maps. I'll tuck them onto my phone. Does your font of information end when I step off the bus, or can you give me any more nuggets to get my English-speaking self to the right vaporetto?

Have I said thank you? (I mean it.)

Google is your friend. In this case Google maps. From home you can print the map with the route. And if you have a smart phone I suggest you install google maps and download a map, so you can use it without data access. If you have an EU based phone you can use data access without the extra fee, but if you have a phone from outside EU it can be pretty expensive.

Without data, you can see the map with your position - With data, google map will create a walking route you can follow. I did that in August and it can be very useful if you want to catch a ferry or if you are tired of being lost - but remember that it is when you are lost you get the best experience in Venice :-)

And you will be very unlikely to meet an Italian in Venice who doesn't speak English.

MyMac,

No worries on the language barrier. I've spent much time in Venice and it was my experience that almost everybody working in Marco Polo, Venice and the transportation systems between the two at least understood English if not conversationally fluent. I don't speak any Italian and I've never had a problem in any of the tourist centers.

I've also taken the Alilaguna from Marco Polo and found the experience only marginally charming. The front cabin is rather low and the windows short and high. Not much of a view if you are sitting on the bench... The rear of the boat (orange line) was reserved for luggage.

As for the vaporetti, the stations near the bus and train stations can be crazy. I would take one of the vaporetto lines that go past the cruise ship port (lines 4.1/5.1). If you want to go down the Grand Canal the stops by the train station look crazy-busy, I would cross the bridges and get on at either Riva De Blasio or San Stae. Of course, you can probably walk to your hotel faster...

I'm so grateful that Europeans are better educated than I! I'm also grateful for the reassurances and advice I'm getting here. (And I'm looking forward to getting lost--but not when I've just got off the plane and am pulling my suitcase. Day two!)

Will I be able to buy a combo bus/vaporetto ticket at the airport?

Yes you can buy the vaporetto pass with airport bus transfer(s) at the airport. Immediately to your left as you exit the "nothing to declare" door. Sign at the desk says "Venezia Unica".

At Piazzale Roma, you see the docks about 100 ft away. There is an electronic sign board with the boat numbers, directions, which dock (there are several designated by letters "A", "B", etc) and minutes to next departure. The No 5.1 goes around to the south along the Giudecca Canal and is the fastest way to Zattere, Alternate in the No 1 going down the Grand Canal to Accademia. Both routes are Direction Lido, but the No 1 originates at Piazzale Roma, so all the No 1 boats are going that way and the No 5.1 always goes that direction, the 5.2 goes the other direction.

Aw, Sam. Thanks.

I'm all set! (Thanks so much.)

For whatever jet-lagged reason, we found getting out of the airport (I never did see a "nothing to declare" sign) and finding the bus a bit on the chaotic/confusing side, but we muddled our way there in a matter of minutes. We used the ATVO express rather than the #5 city bus. The bus attendants scanned our tickets (which I'd printed at home before leaving) and showed us where to stow our bags under the bus. The bus must have just arrived, because we waited a good 15 minutes before it departed, but it was all good.

Once arriving at Piazzale Roma, we were again a bit disoriented and weren't quite sure where to go to pick up our Venezia Unica pass, which I'd also purchased online in advance. Hint: It's the building with the red-tile roof a bit to your left and toward the water as you get off the bus. Look for "ACTV" on the facade. I'd purchased one of the combo passes including four-day vaporetto tickets.

We chose the bus/vaporetto route based largely on advice I'd gotten here on the forum, and that's still how I'd do it if returning to Venice. I will say that, while many are enchanted with the novelty and local charm of the vaporettos, they were extremely crowded almost every time we used them. The weather was hot and the boats were packed with tired, sweaty, sometimes grumpy tourists. And thank goodness we only had carry-on luggage when arriving and departing. A lot of the grumpiness came from the people schlepping multiple giant cases on and off the boats, trying to find a corner to stand and then something to hang onto as the boats rocked and jerked and their big bags tried to roll away.

Just be aware that the ATVO is not part of the vaporetto/bus ticket combo. It is a separate entity from the ACTV, which is the Venice public transit authority that runs the vaporettos and the numbered city buses. Thus the previous poster had to buy separate tickets.

True enough, but I don't think there was a big difference in cost, I bought the tickets in my living room and we went non-stop from the airport to Piazzale Roma.

Thanks, friends. The devil's in the details, so the more the better.