St. Lucia train station 10:30 pm single woman needs to get back to San marco

Huh??? Where is the hotel?

jane,

It would help to know which hotel you'll be staying in.

THIS website provides the timetables for Vaporetti.

Star Splendid hotel San Marco mercerized 760. Any advice would help.
Just nervous going alone and coming home alone, but dang excited to go to Florence.
Thank you.

Not sure why you are using a tour to go to Florence. The high speed train is much faster. Also Viator is an intermediary not a tour company, so you will be actually touring with some other outfit.

If you go on your own the last two trains back from Florence depart at 8:30pm and 9:30pm. The arrival time at Venice Santa Lucia is 2 hours 5 minutes later, at 10:35pm and 11:35pm respectively.

Your hotel is actually closer to the Rialto bridge, than to Piazza San Marco, therefore if you make the vaporetto (the last one from Santa Lucia station departs at 11:44pm), get off at the Rialto bridge and walk from there. You can also walk all the way from the station, but it's almost 30 min walk.

You mentioned that you are a single woman and I'm not sure if you pointed that out because you are worried about safety or because you would like to know your chances of finding your future husband during that walk. If the former is your motivation I can assure you that Venice is probably the safest city in Italy and there will be people walking around until very late at night, especially if it's a warm day. If the latter is your goal, I can only wish you the best of luck. I'm sure there will be single men around at that time at night. Venice is a busy vibrant city until very late in the night.

jane,

While it would be possible to walk back to your hotel, it's somewhat of a convoluted route and not one that I'd want to do at 22:30. According to the schedule in my last reply, the Vaporetti should be running at that time of night, so that should be an option. Your hotel appears to be closest to the Rialto stop so that's an easy trip.

Even when the normal vaporetti finish for the day there is a night number 1 boat that goes down the Grand Canal frequently all night.

I walk around Venezia alone at night, you will be fine. If you don't feel like taking the vaporetto, maybe a water taxi? Or have your husband meet you at the Rialto vaporetto stop for a late-night stroll to your hotel.

Cancel the tour. Spend the night in Florence. Will allow you to enjoy Florence after the tours and day trippers leave.
Return the next day to Venice.
Train from Venice to Florence is interesting. My guess is that by not paying for a tour, you would have enough money for night in Florence and some money left over!

Oh Roberto I am laughing. I guess the right word is solo traveler. My husband has business there and I have never been to Venice, so I will be alone Mon-Fri. And I am just nervous about getting back to the hotel from the Santa Lucia train station. Thank you so much for you response. I just want to go to the Uffizi. Someday with more time and money I can come back to Italy.

...I just want to go to the Uffizi....

IF that is your sole goal, then do it on your own. Makes no sense to use a tour company for something that would be that simple and easy to do. Take the train the AM, easy, short walk, to the Uffizi, spend as much as you want there, nice stroll through Florence on the return and the train back at a time most convenient for you. Haven't checked the schedule but would assume that there is nearly a train every couple of hours, if not every hour, between Florence and Venice.

I haven't had problems walking around at night as a solo female traveler in Venice, but that's not to say you shouldn't take the usual precautions, of course. Once I arrived at 10pm at Santa Lucia station and there were a lot of tourists around and an incredibly long queue for vaporetto tickets. That was in the summer though, it might be a little quieter in winter. As the others have said, it's possible to do a day trip to Florence by train on your own, if you just want to see the Uffizi (and maybe a couple of other highlights). The Uffizi is an easy walk from Florence train station. Frequent trains between the two cities.

Buy your vaporetto ticket for the return in advance, at any machine or ticket office. They are good any time until validated, and not route-specific. There always seems to be a long line at the Ferrovia ticket office, anytime. The machines are better, but I still like to have the ticket ahead of time so I can board the first one going my direction.

oh my gosh thank you all SOOO much from Seattle Jan

jan:

if you are in Venice multiple days, you may want to consider the "BIGLIETTO TURISTICO A TEMPO" (tourist travel card) for your vaporetti needs. They come in 1 day/2 days/3 days/7 days denominations and allow unlimited travel on the vaporetto during its validity (validity starts from the first ride validation). For example the 3 days ticket costs only 40 euro, and the 7 days ticket costs 60 euro. Since each ride on a vaporetto costs 7 euro, if you plan to use the vaporetto for more than 2 rides a day, you are better off with that multi-day deal.

You can buy those tickets at any shop, ticket office or automatic vending machine displaying the ACTV transport agency logo