Any thoughts on Venice City Pass?

I rarely find that ANY "pass" is worthwhile. It usually works out that you have to go several attractions/sites (even if you're not really interested in seeing that particular sight) and use the pass before it really becomes cost effective.

Skipping the line: I don't know of that many "skippable" lines in Venice. You already have the Doges Palace Secret Itineraries booked so there'll be no line there. You can actually book a timed entrance in St Mark's Basilica for a nominal amount. Other than those what other line would you use the pass to skip ahead??

You only have 1.5 days on your own and wandering the alleys and canals of Venice is part of the attraction of the city. Yes, there are museums like the Peggy Guggenheim where the pass may work...but with only 1.5 days I personally wouldn't choose to spend that time inside of a museum in Venice. Being outside is the place to be - with all of the sights/sounds/smells that only Venice can offer.

The pass won't help you to wander.

I agree with Tim, with the short amount of time you have before joining the tour the pass won't be much use to you. The tour will cover the entrance to the museums you will see once join it. Go to St. Mark's square early in the morning, before the passengers from the cruise ships get there, get photos before the area is too crowded, then buy a day pass for the vaporetto (20 euros) and head out to Murano. Wander in and out of the glass shops for a while, then get back on the vaporetto and spend the rest of the day just cruising the canal and getting off to wander. When at St. Mark's, if you look across the water you can see a tower (San Georgio), you can go up the elevator to the top (6 euros, I think), and get a terrific view of the whole city.

I am an enormous fan of city passes because somehow, once I've hauled myself across the world at great expense, I sometimes balk at the $10 or $20 to enter a site. I find with a city pass, I'll just go in - even for 20 minutes - and look around. I've bought the pass for Venice on a couple of our trips but I don't think you really need one for your limited time. When I have one, we go in everything - natural history museum, a textile museum...all stuff you won't be doing in 1.5 days in Venice.

One thing you might consider is the Chorus Church pass if you're going to walk into churches. Those get spendy fast if you're doing a lot of them. Without a pass for that, I find myself too cheap to go in and I spend time walking up to churches, seeing if they're free and entering only those. The Chorus Pass makes it easy and it's a pretty reasonable deal - 12 Euros. http://www.chorusvenezia.org/en/pass

I'm headed to Italy in a few weeks, starting in Venice for 2.5 days or so. Anyone know which sites the Venice Pass covers, and also, how much it costs? I thought that some passes in cities meant you could avoid the long lines ( thought I read that in Florence a Firenze pass meant you went to a different, shorter line)
Cost of vaporettos? I assume it depends on distance. Is it worth getting a pass for those? (not sure if they are daily passes or longer than that)
Finally, any suggestions on least expensive way to get to the city from the airport (VCE/Marco Polo)? Our hotel is in the Dosoduro area.
Many thanks!

natty: We arrive in Venice in two weeks. Here is the site I've been looking at: http://www.veneziaunica.it/en

If you click on the "Buy Now" link, it will show you all the options, including transit-only passes. I'm not sold on the inclusive city pass as being worth it, but it has a certain one-stop-shop attraction. As for getting to the city from the airport, I'm currently planning to take the ATVO express bus -- http://www.atvo.it/en-venice-airport.html -- to Piazzale Roma and catching the vaporetto from there to our hotel near Rialto Mercato. The bus and vaporetto certainly appear to be the cheapest options. The water taxi would be fun, but really is expensive. The Aliaguna boat, while appearing to be a good middle-ground option, gets pretty mixed reviews here.

I agree that a museum pass won't be needed for your trip. But do consider the vaporetto pass. I find that even though I walk a great deal in Venice, I also take a lot of vaporetti, and so for me, a pass pays off quickly. I've read on this Forum that you can pay a bit extra to add the airport bus to the vaporetto pass (when I was there in 2009, the airport bus was included on the vaporetto pass; now it is not).

If you do want to buy a pass, remember that for Venice they work by hours, not days. So, you may be able to make a 48 hour pass work, rather than the 72 hour one.

Harold: I've been looking at this quite bit today, trying to figure out best options. Yes, you can add the ACTV bus transfer to the vaporetto pass, but it's a local bus that makes a number of stops, and you have to take your luggage up into the bus with you. The ATVO bus, which is only 7 euro, almost the same as the ACTV, is a non-stop express with under-bus luggage storage. That sounds a lot easier to deal with under the influence of jet lag. ;-) And it looks like I can print the ATVO ticket at home and proceed directly to the bus when we arrive.

Valerie: The Chorus Church roster is a big reason I was thinking of the city pass. Since we're definitely getting some kind of museum pass and some kind of vaporetto pass, I thought the churches might tip the scales in favor of the City Pass. The Frari is the only one that was on the definite must-see list, but if we were wandering buy one of the others and we had the pass, well, why not?

I do a single-ticket cost comparison to a pass. I have bought many passes in the past, but I usually find I have less time than I think I have, or I get distracted by some shiny object, and don't use up the value of the pass.

The exceptions are the Paris Museum card and the ArteCampania card.

The vaporetto pass is a great idea for many people.