Arrival in Venice

Where in Castello? that is a large neighborhood and encompasses most of the eastern end of the island. For some areas you would get off at Rialto; for others you would stay on until Arsenale or Giardini..

http://www.actv.it/sites/default/files/xWeb_mappa%20linee%20di%20navigazione_03_NOVEMBRE_%202014%202.pdf

If you take the bus from the airport, you arrive at Piazzale Roma and board the vaporetto there. For Rialto you would take a 1 or 2. For Giardini or Arsenale you could also take a 4.1 or 5.1 which go anti-clockwise around the outside, not down the Grand Canal.

Make sure you purchase tickets and validate them before boarding.

We are staying east of Piazza San Marco, near Campo Bandiera e Moro.

What are the time differences for the trips on the different vaparetto lines? Arriving at 7 PM after a plane trip that originates in California, we may want the canal ride or we may want to "just get there." Thanks.

The normal bus fare from the airport to Piazzale Roma is 6 euro, and the normal one way vaporetto ticket is 7 euro. You can buy a combined ticket for 12 euro. If you plan on getting a multi-day vaporetto pass, you can add a one way airport bus transfer for 4 euro, or a RT for 8 euro, but must be done at your initial purchase.

Your closest vaporetto dock is Arsenale, although San Marco-San Zaccaria is not much further away and you will come to that one first on the No 1 boat from Piazzale Roma. It runs every 12 minutes until 8:45 pm, then every 20 minutes. It will take 43 minutes to get to San Marco-San Zaccaria, but it is a scenic ride down the Grand Canal.

Line 1 (through the Canal Grande) is slower.
Line 5.1 (through the Giudecca) is probably the fastest.
Your stop is SAN ZACCARIA/SAN MARCO or ARSENALE
http://www.actv.it/sites/default/files/ultimorario.pdf

The No.2 is faster than the No.1, but it does not go past Rialto in the evening. I did not realize that when I mentioned it earlier.

A tad more information on the Piazzale Roma vaporetto dock. There are actually several docks marked with letters. There is an electronic sign board that shows which boats are departing at which docks and their final destination. The 4.1 boat would also be an option, but the last one is at 8:18 pm, which might be a stretch if you land on time at 7 pm. So between the 5.1 and the 1, there will be boats every 15 minutes or so. I usually hop on the first one that is going where I'm going. The 1 is worth the extra time, just for the view, if you have to wait 15 minutes for the 5.1. If the 5.1 is the next boat, take it by all means.

Unfortunately all websites for public transportation in Venice are complete disasters. ACTV timetables are impossible to figure out. I know I struggled to understand which ferry goes in which direction and where they stop.

My favorite district in Venice is Dorsoduro, very quiet some great hotels and not as full of tourists as San Marco.

You can get to Venice from airport by water taxy ( really expensive ), http://www.radiotaxivenezia.com/en/ or you can take Alilaguna ferry.

I disagree with the previous poster about finding timings for Vaporettos.

Have a look at the app VeneziaUnica. It is really really good.

As a regular visitor to Venice I use it regularly and have always been satisfied. It works both on line and offline.

Does your hotel have recommendations on how to get there? We will also be staying in the Castello area in a few weeks. They recommend taking the Alilaguna boat blue line to the hotel directly from the airport. It costs 15 Euro (14 if booked online) and takes 40 minutes, plus a short walk to the hotel. Our stop is Fondamente Nove, but the next stop or two could work for you. Check out www.alilaguna/it/linea-blu/map. The boats leave every half hour at quarter past and quarter of the hour. We will definitely do the Grand Canal vaporetto trip, but will save it for when we are more awake.

The problem with the Blue Line is that it makes a long detour before reaching Arsenale. After Fondementa Nova it goes all the way to Lido before returning to Arsenale and San Zaccaria. So its about an hour and twenty minute ride from the airport, but it is an option.

A lot of people have difficulty reading old fashioned printed bus and train schedules. When we want to go somewhere, we just hop in our car and go. And whenever I run to the dock hoping the boat is running late, I invariably watch its departing stern. So they do a pretty fair job of keeping to schedule.

I see that my link didn't work cleanly, but it does bring up some links to the Alilaguna site. I thought the Bacini stop could be an option. It's before the long detour, perhaps about 45 minutes from the airport. Again, hopefully the accommodations can give some recommendations. Ours gave us an easy walking map from the Fondamente Nove stop.