Italian train system

The train system is pretty reliable, although strikes do occur at times.

The station you want in Venice is Venezia Santa Lucia, assuming you are staying on the islands and not in Mestre. From the station you can catch a vaparetto to your accommodation.

Note that the vaporetti go in two different directions on the same route at each stop, so if you get on the wrong one, you will have a long ride (routes and directions are well posted, but Benice can be distracting).

I forgot to say. If you google 'tripadvisor venice arriving and departing' you will find a comprehensive guide to getting to and from the airport. It tells you everything you need to know.

Rick Steves Italy has details on taking the train, which stations to use in each city, and the various options for getting between the city and the airports. It will also be invaluable in thousands of other ways, so I highly recommend picking up a copy (and no, I don't work for them).

For getting between Venice and Marco Polo Airport, all methods are "reliable." What differentiates them is speed, price, and whether or not you have to change from a boat to a bus, or instead have a "one seat ride" with no changes. Again, you can choose which is best for your situation after you've read the details of the options in the book.

Butch,

To answer your question, the train system is very reliable most of the time. However as the others mentioned, there can be strikes from time-to-time (which are announced well in advance). Note that there are some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using public transit in Italy, and hefty fines can result for infractions. For example, tickets on Regionale trains, buses and metro MUST be validated prior to use on the day of travel. Fast trains such as the Freccia high speed have compulsory reservations with are specific to train, date and departure time, and those caught without valid reservations will also be fined.

To get from Venice to VCE (Marco Polo airport), you can either use the Alilaguna water bus or take a bus from Piazzale Roma to VCE (about €6-8, I believe).

Butch,

Where are your travels taking you besides Venice & Rome.

You may consider traveling North to South-- fly into Venice and out of Rome.

Flights out of Venice tend to be very early in the morning & you will have to get up at the crack of dawn
to give yourselves plenty of time to get to the airport.

It's faster to get to Fiumicino Airport (Rome)- about 30 minutes via 'Leonardo Express' train from Roma Termini.

Priscilla, we are getting off a cruise in Rome, then traveling to Venice for a few days. Thanks for the help. Great information. Butch

Butch,

As you'll be arriving in Rome from a cruise, you may find it helpful to have a look at the excellent Ron In Rome website for information on getting from the cruise port at Civitavecchia into Rome to connect with the trains.

I'll amend my earlier reply. Instead of getting Rick Steves Italy, get his Mediterranean Cruise Ports book. This will have all the information you need on Rome and Venice (including the airport transit question), as well as lots of your other ports.

Also, be sure to look at Cruise Critic. Here is their Italy Ports Forum: http://tinyurl.com/bwqtmhk

Here is their Port Review of Venice http://tinyurl.com/cscz8z7 and Rome http://tinyurl.com/7g3jrb7.

And here are their Roll Calls, where you can meet other people on your sailing. A big advantage of this is that you can form a small group for a private tour, at a better price and higher quality than the ship's shore excursions: http://tinyurl.com/ap7h55m