Early a.m. departure from Venice airport-where to stay-how to get to airport?

I'm no expert- (I only know this because we considered leaving from Venice- it was too difficult!) but I have read that Venice airport doesn't even open til 5 or 5:30? So getting there any earlier won't be necessary.

I believe there is a Vaporetto that runs midnite to 5 am.
Check the site
http://www.actv.it/en

The private Aliguna Blue Line boat starts from San Marco as early as 3:40, arriving at the airport at 5:00, which should be plenty of time. That's a small airport. If you flight is to a connection point in Europe, not directly to N. America, then that's another sign that you don't need to be so early. The airport buses from Piazzale Roma start at 5:00 and take about 20 minutes to arrive at the airport.

Rebecca, the airport operations at Marco Polo don't really open until 5:00am. True that the Alilaguna Blu line boat stops at San Marco at 3:40am and does arrive at the airport at 5:00am. There is also a night vaporetto that stops there slightly later that can take you to the Piazzale Roma where the first bus (ACTV No 5) departs at 4:40am. It's a 25-minute ride to the airport terminal. To be accurate, here's a snapshot of the N vaporetto schedule. I've highlighted the run you would need to be on. http://gyazo.com/56c6b36c13066c168cb1dc68b33922da As you can see, it arrives at the Piazzale Roma at 4:30. The ACTV No 5 bus departs at 4:40am. I believe that you can buy the 7Euro tickets on board. Have cash ready. If you miss that bus, the ATVO bus leaves from the same place at 5:00am. You can do this.

Just make sure that your hotel is close to where the N vaporetto stops. Or, if you want to be close enough to walk to the Piazzale Roma, you could stay at the Hotel Papadopoli that is about 500' from the ACTV bus. Or, you could stay at the Hotel Santa Lucia which is near the train station. It's a lot less expensive and you have an approximate 2000' walk in the early hours to the Piazzale Roma. If you are really worried, you can spend your last evening at the Courtyard by Marriot which is across the street from the Marco Polo terminal. Or, the Titian Inn is close to the airport terminal as well.

We're used to this in Sacramento. We fly to Europe on United. United has three flights that depart SMF before 6:00am to Denver, Chicago and Washington D.C. Super Shuttle picks us up at 3:30am-3:45am to get us to the airport check-in by 4:30am.

We had 6 nights so opted to spent the last one at the Marriott at the Venice airport since we also had a 0640 departure, we were traveling back home to Hawaii so had a long trip ahead of us, and wanted a decent nights sleep. Left our bags at our b&b until 5 pm, then took the bus to the airport, checked in (we each had a 19 inch roll aboard but they were too heavy for LH weight limits for carryon), noting our bags, and printed the boarding passes, then got the hotel shuttle. Next morning we caught the first hotel shuttle to the airport and went to the express bag drop line, bypassing the checkin lines. Made it very easy, but with only 2 nights I would really hate to miss staying in Venice for both. If you don't have too long a haul the next day I would opt for staying somewhere in Venice with easy airport transportation options. If you decide to stay at the airport the 2nd night do have an early dinner in Venice first, not many (good) choices near the airport.