I'm booking a visit from Boston to Milan then on to Venice to meet up with my daughter. The only return flight from Venice I can see leaves at 6:25 am on Saturday 6/15/24. The airport looks like it is a ways away and doesn't look like water taxies run very early morning. I'm thinking we need to arrive at airport around 4:30 am. Any experience in how I can accomplish this will be helpful.
Much appreciated,
John
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17563 posts
Where is your hotel? If you stay close to Piazzale Roma you can have your hotel book a land taxi for a 4 am pickup (or earlier if you like). Our son and his family did this last September. They stayed at Hotel Arlecchino, and our daughter and her partner stayed at Hotel Olimpia next door. Both hotels are close to Piazzale Roma on a little back canal. Another option would be the AC Hotel if you have Marriott points.
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
1147 posts
Hello jhbonnell, and welcome to the fourm!
Honestly I'll say you need to stay in a hotel right near the airport to accomplish this. As much as I fought it I finally gave up last time and did this for a flight that was later than yours. No one wants to spend their last night in Venice at the airport hotel but it is the logical decision.
At least until April it looks like the first bus is 4:20am and should take about 20 minutes. If you were within walking distance of Piazzale Roma you could get up and walk over to catch the first bus. At that time of day I don't think much will be open or airport crowds will be an issue. But this dictates your hotel location for the your whole stay just to get to the airport.
If you absolutely refuse the only other option is to prebook a water taxi to the airport for 4:00am and the 140e or so it will cost to get picked up and taken there directly.
I absolutely love everything about Venice except early morning flights. You have my sympathy,
=Tod
Posted by
Southwest Florida
903 posts
I had a similar quandary when last in Switzerland. Hope I can make it on time to the airport or spend the last night at the airport hotel. Chose airport hotel as it eliminated any chance of missing my flight. Fortunately the hotel was nice but not inexpensive.
Posted by
389 posts
Making my return flight is the most important connection I need to make.
Things can happen that are unexpected so I spend the night before close to or actually in the terminal.
For my return from Venice I have reserved the Guest House Bella Onda Hotel. Very good reviews on Booking.com.
10 minutes walking to the airport!
and inexpensive.
I think that there are options also close but nothing with a 10 minute walk.
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7941 posts
I understand your problem, but it might be better to add a day to your trip, and even fly home from Milan if necessary. After many trips to Europe, we began to accept two-segment flights. This is despite the luxury of living in the NYC travel market. They turned out to be useful and (for us) without disasters. In fact, with sudden labor actions (strikes), we sometimes got good alternative routings from the (identical) provider of both flights, arriving home the original date.
This comment is affected, I'm sure, by the fact that Lufthansa is a United partner, and that United has a lock on Newark NJ (EWR), which is our preferred airport. We have often found that the second flight segment costs us $100 or less. In some cases, a two-segment trip has more Award Travel availability, and lower mileage usage cost. Just an idea for you to consider.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17563 posts
Tim has an excellent suggestion—-add a day to your trip and head to Milan for your flight home. There are two airports (Malpensa and Linate) and many more flights from these, at reasonable times of the day, than from Venice.
That is what we do, after a very bad experience at Marco Polo airport in September 2022. The airport was so crowded with cruise ship passengers, many of them with huge bags to check, with lines so long we were in danger of missing our flight even though we arrived at the airport 3 hours early. We didn’t miss it, but only because the flight was 2 hours late in departing.
After that my husband said “No more flying out of Venice” and I agreed. So the next two trips we flew from Bologna, and then Milan, and that was much less stressful. So after accompanying our son and the rest of the family to Venice at the end of our trip last September, and staying with them at Piazzale Roma the the one night, we moved to Milan for the night before our flight, which departed Linate at a very civilized 11 am.
Our kids had already booked their flights out of Venice, and they couldn’t be changed, so that led to my choice of the Piazzale Roma hotels to solve their early departure problem. But I much preferred the Milan option for us.
Posted by
872 posts
For VCE we stay at the Annina Park Hotel, shirt walk to the airport; arrival at dinner time, restaurant excellent.
Posted by
Atlanta
5237 posts
No one wants to spend their last night in Venice at the airport hotel...
Very true. But to eliminate a lot of stressful logistical problems, it makes a lot of sense to do that.
Posted by
back in the Americas
727 posts
The direct ATVO bus from Piazzale Roma in Venice to Marco Polo begins service about 4 AM and it is only a 20 min direct ride to the airport. A few months ago I had a very early morning flight out of Marco Polo. I walked over to Piazzale Roma the day before and bought my ticket from the machine ( there is also an office there) so it would be one less thing to do in the morning. I stayed at a rental in nearby Santa Croce and just walked to Piazzale Roma very early that morning. I do recommend buying your ticket in advance since that very early bus had lots of riders. Single one way ticket costs 10€ . Here is the timetable link ATVO bus to airport