Daytrip from London to Venice?

Well... You have to factor in getting from the airport to the city and back again with plenty of time to get thru security. That takes a lot of time. And what are you planning to see in the short amount of time? It's probably not worth the expense and hassle to go for just a few hours. Don't just go to check someplace off your "must-see" list.

But there is something kinda magical about late evening and early morning in Venice when the crowds are gone and you practically have the place to yourself. It's certainly worth a night. In fact, my next trip coming up this fall I have 3 nights planned.

Paris can be a great day trip from London, since you can take the Chunnel train and go direct from one downtown to the other. I've done it, but I actually stayed in Paris for 4 nights when I did.

The best time to experience Venice is early morning and in the evening...I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to spend the night...and to only have 6-8 hours there is criminal! When we flew in, it took us the better part of an hour to get thru the airport and on the bus into the city. Not to mention having to be at either airport a few hours ahead...so spending I'd say 3-4 hours doing airports for what may be an 8 hour visit. And you are either paying thru the nose to take a water taxi from the airport, or spending 30 min each way on the bus (there goes another hour). Not my idea of fun, or a good use of money, to just join the hordes of daytrippers and be herded sheep-like thru the major sites. Venice deserves better then that.

...and as some people like to put into perspective...that would be like me say...staying in New York, and flying to Miami for 8 hours then flying back to New York...you probably wouldn't recommend that to anyone coming to visit.

I pretty much don't want to see any of the museums or "sights" - I just want to walk around, eat some food, visit a couple of shops, and soak Venice in. A more in-depth visit to Venice would be part of a future trip to Italy. A train to York from London is two hours travel each way - and yet that is considered a perfectly reasonable daytrip; would it really be so different by plane to Venice? By my calculations I could easily have 8 to 10 hours in Venice (not including travel time).

start Venice experience 5:30
1 hour from hotel to London airport
2 hours ahead of flight
earliest Easyjet flights at Gatwick at 8:35
arrives Venice Marco Polo at 11:40
customs and immigration - who knows how long
an hour to get into Venice by bus or water $$$ taxi
start down the Grand Canal at 12:45 or 1:00 (bus) or 12:30 ish (water $$$ taxi)
= = =
so at most 6 hours in Venice our of an 18 or 19 hour day. If that rings your chimes, go for it. Seems to me that you will see very little of a most beautiful and fabulous and completely unique city for a huge investment. If you want to do it and check a box saying "I was there" go for it....
= = =
Leave Venice by bus or water $$$ taxi no later than 18:30
at airport by 19:30 - 19:45
Last Easyjet back to London 21:35
Arrive Gatwick 22:45
Customs and immigration - who knows how long
first likely Gatwick Express 23:30
back at Victoria station midnight
back to your hotel after that
Finish Venice experience if you use a taxi, maybe
00:15

sounds to me like you are simply asking for affirmation. Sorry. I think its crazy.

Wandering over to a centre city station and hopping on a train 5 minutes before it leaves which takes you right into the centre of York, and you can walk in just a few minutes to everything, and uses the same currency, and the same in reverse at the end is completely different from getting to an airport way out of town clearing security and immigration and customs and arriving way out of town at the other end where wheeled transport will not get you where you want to go, and there are only a very limited number of flights and you need Euros.

Not the same at all, IMHO.

I think you are underestimating the travel time. London to York in a couple hours takes you city center to city center. London to Venice means you first must get to likely Gatwick, Stanstead, or other airport, a good half hour to hour, get there in time for security and check in 2 hours recommended, your two hour flight, immigrations at Marco Polo, half hour, and another half hour travel to Venice, the two hours is more like 5 1/2 minimum, same on the way back.

That said, a look at schedules (Easyjet, British Air shows several routes getting to Venice Marco Polo at ~10:00 AM, so into Vence maybe just before noon. Return flights are at about 9:00 PM, so you would need to leave Venice about 6:00 PM.

So if 6 hours in Venice and 12 hours of travel is worth it, go for it. Do be aware that it means you will need to leave for the airport about 4:00 AM and will be getting out of the airport in London at close to 11:00 PM, so public transport options may be limited, you would need to be especially wary of getting to the airport that early, either adding time to catch less frequent public transport runs, or cost of a taxi.

The big difference between York by train and Venice by plane is the logistics. I can walk to the train station fifteen minutes early, board the train, and two hours later get off and being in the center of York is less than 15 minutes. Total transit time from city center to city center is two and half hours or five hours for total trip.

For the plane, transit time to the airport - 30, 45 minutes, check in - at least an hour or an hour an half to be safe, two hours flight, deplane and get to city center another 30 minutes or more - total time, maybe 5 hours one way and another five return for at least 10 hours or more of transit time. That is the difference.
Can it be done? Sure, if that is what you want to do. Just be sure of the limitations.

Okay, awesome! Thank you so much...this is exactly the information I needed. It's so hard to figure out exact travel times when you haven't been over these routes personally. I think I will either skip Venice this trip, or see if I can manage an overnight visit.