Overwhelmed with venice transit/attraction options

No, it does not need to be complicated. Venice is one of the few places where I like to just go with the flow, lose the map and just wander around. Transportation is easy with the water bus system and getting to the sights is not that hard. Relax, enjoy yourself.

Ferrovia? Do you mean Venezia Santa Lucia? I believe ferrovia just means "train station". I doubt it is so much more expensive to go from there than from Mestre, unless you are still able to get the super economy tickets and not from the other. It'll probably end up being the same exact train as well, if that is the case. Yeah, take the bus and save the cash if you don't mind the extra hassle to get there.

The 72 hour pass is probably a good idea. Buy your ticket for the doges palace from the Correr museum to avoid lines.

Staying in Mestre when you want to see Venice is like staying in Jersey when you want to see Manhattan. Don't do it. Mestre is booooooring. There are reasonable lodging options in Venice. You need a good guidebook, as evidenced by your use of "Ferrovia" as if it's a location, instead of the railroad. You need to buy the Rick Steves Venice guidebook to have it all simplified and explained for you. It will be the smartest money you spend on your vacation.

Hi Debra, I just returned a day ago from a month in Italy, south to north, final stop being Venice. It is not so complicated, although getting around from place to place in Venice can take some time and quite often involves some getting lost, which can be enjoyable, unless you are trying to keep to a schedule for tours, closing times of sites, etc. Ferrovia is actually the name of the vaporetto (water bus) stop right at the train station. Near the train station is also the bus station and the parking garage, all at the inland (west) end of the city. East of that in Venice, everything moves on foot or by some form of boat. All of the activities you mention are easily possible, although you may have trouble fitting them all in if you are staying just three nights, meaning two full days. By "go to islands" I assume you mean Burano and Murano, maybe also Torcello and the San Michele cemetery island. Each island takes some considerable time to visit, plus time on the vaporettos, and often waiting for vaporettos at the stops. These islands will take a good chunk of one of your days, or a whole day if you visit more than two of them. A 72-hour vaporetto pass for 35 euros makes sense probably only if you plan to visit some of those islands. Vaporettos are often very crowded, think NYC public buses, and are often slower than walking within the city. Easiest way to get in from the airport is usually by very frequent airport bus to the bus station, then walk or vaporetto, depending on where you are staying. I think there is no reason to even have the word "Mestre" in your mind, let alone on your itinerary. I don't know why you think travel from Mestre is cheaper, I have never even been there in several trips to Venice over the years. Yes, it is best to just buy tickets for each site when needed, unless you plan to arrange for a day tour, or pre-scheduled tour of a particular site, like the Doges Palace. Traveling light is very important for Venice, where you will likely be walking some with your baggage, including up and down steps at various major and minor bridges, most of which do not have ramps. There are constantly people, tourists and locals, rolling their suitcases around town, many more than I have seen anywhere else. Big or heavy bags mean more struggling. If you have more specific questions I'm sure that I or others on this forum can help.

Avoid Mestre, forget schedules, and just buy the 72 hour pass and be done with it. Now you can sit back and just enjoy your Venice experience.

Where is your hotel? You also need to think about how you will get from the airport to your hotel. There is a very good explanation of the options on the Tripadvisor Venice forum page. Note that the 72-hour Travel card does not cover the bus from airport to Piazzale Roma, but it does give a 2€ discount. You would need to buy your staves card at the airport to get that discount, and lines can be long.

We like the Alilaguna for going to or from the airport. It costs more but you avoid the transfer from bus to vaporetto. It comes across the lagoon but unfortunately you do not generally get good views as the windows are too fogged over ( or just dirty).

Remember to validate your vaporetto pass at the IMOB machine before you board, every time. You just hold it near the indicated point and listen for the beep.

For the train ride south, use the Venice Santa Lucia station ( Venezia S.L.), not Mestre. Any savings from starting at Mestre would GE insignificant and vastly outweighed by the inconvenience of transferring from a bus. The best way to archive savings on the train tickets is to buy them well in advance on Trenitalia, unless you are taking a Regionale train.

Thank you, everyone. I DO have the Steves book, but it's in the hands of my traveling companion right now, so I'm working a little blind. My bad re "ferrovia", I'm pretty sure I was thinking of the name of the vaporetto stop there. Yup, saw a train fare from Mestre that was 30E cheaper than from Venice SL, but you all are encouraging me to just not worry too much about it. We will definitely be packing light, and may also just take my lumps (and maybe save some queuing time at the airport) and go via Alilaguna to our hotel which is betw F.Nuovo and Rialto stops. Yes, I know those are two different lines.

Hmm... 30 euros is a lot of cash. Is that for one ticket, or total savings for multiple tickets? This is what my hubby would do in such a case (and he considers himself a financial wiz). Take a cheap regionale train from Venezia S.L. To Venezia Mestre. Then hop off that train and onto the train you want going from there. Or yes, take the bus if that is even cheaper than the regionale trains.

Let's look at that train...

I find it hard to believe that a comparable train from Mestre is €30 less than coming the few km across the lagoon from Ve SL.

Very few trains originate in Mestre so where is it coming from, and where is it going? Please tell us about this train.

I really think you must be comparing apples with oranges. Is the train from Mestre a Regionale, Regionale Veloce or InterCity and the train from Ve SL a base price FrecciaRossa?