In to Venice; Out of Rome

daniel,

Unfortunately you've discovered why the flights you chose were somewhat cheaper. Especially with the arrival time in VCE, that's a most inconvenient time.

My suggestion with the VCE flight would be to head directly to your hotel, but of course you'll have to emphasize that you'll be a "late arrival" and confirm that a week or two before the trip. I suspect it's going to be a bit more difficult to get over jet lag as you'll be arriving about afternoon in "home time". LHR is not the most ideal place for layovers although having said that, I found the experience much more pleasant when I was through there in September.

The departure from FCO shouldn't be a problem. As your first flight is an intra-European flight you shouldn't have to check in as early. As you noted, the earliest departure of the Leonardo Express isn't until 05:35 so in that case I'd probably ask the hotel the day prior to travel to arrange a Taxi or Shuttle. At that time of the morning, traffic will be light so it should be an easy trip to the airport.

thanks, ken. The good news is we moved our trip up 1 day so that we could land in Venice late and have a full "Day #1" - so there was some give and take...

Do you think the time we arrive at the Venice airport will be prohibitive of actually getting into historic Venice? Is it still possible to get there without hiring a private water taxi (100+ euros) or should we just stay near the airport and then catch the train into town in the morning?

I agree with Ken. Just head into Venice whenever you get your bags. Venice is a small airport, so it won't take you too long. And you will have gone through immigration at LHR, so the most that will happen at VCE is that a security guard will glance your way as you leave the terminal. Your internal clock will be messed up anyway. You will be so happy when you wake up the next morning in Venice.

Two hours early is definitely early enough in Rome; possibly too early. In fact, confirm the times that the ticket counter opens. You will be really annoyed with the world if you arrive at 6:07 and there's nobody from your airline manning the ticket counter (speaking from personal experience). And because it's the plane to LHR, and not the inter-continental flight, there won't be as many other people checking in, etc. so it won't take too long.

daniel,

I believe the Airport Shuttle Buses are still operating from the airport to Piazzale Roma at that time of night, so that would probably be the cheapest and easiest option. Depending on where your hotel is located, you may be able to walk from there. You might check your hotel website or contact them for more specific instructions on getting from Piazzale Roma.

Daniel,

It seemed to me the hotels just outside the train station along Rio Terà Lista di Spagna (across the bridge from Piazzale Roma - where the bus terminal is) have 24 hour lobbies. I've been down there pretty late at night and the place was still full of tourists and the hotels showed no sign of closing the lobbies. They aren't the most quaint hotels in Venice, but at midnight, you're probably just looking for a bed... (You can always move the next day).

The bigggest question is probably transporation. I've never looked into the ACTV bus that late but if it's still running, by all means, head into the lagoon. You can check their schedule on their website or go to the Venezia Unica City Pass website (where you can also purchase advance tickets).

Good luck.