Staying in Treviso or Padua rather than in Venice

The best way to see Venice is to stay in Venice. The time and money spent commuting would outweigh any savings by staying outside the city. Just my opinion.

rather than renting a car, you could just take the train. There is a direct train from Treviso and Padova to Venezia Santa Lucia (which as you probably know is the train station you should get off at if you are walking through the Venice). a one-way adult train ticket from Treviso to Venice is only 2.4 Euro.

I agree with Sam. The only real way to see Venice is to stay there. You can take day trips to Padua and Treviso and to other areas of the Veneto from Venice. If you choose to stay in Venice, you'll be happy you did.

Candace

Obviously having a car while you are in Venice just means you are paying rental fees and parking. We usually fly into Venice, stay inside Venice for our allotted time (last trip was 8 days), then rent the car on departure from Venice. Iw ould suggest staying in Venice proper, then moving your base to somewhere else in the Veneto for trips in the Veneto. I think you will enjoy it more. Where to base depends on what you want to do. THe Veneto is a wonderful area and ranges from the sea to the Dolomites. Give us some hints about what you are looking for and how much time you will have.

Here's what we did last year in September. We stayed in Venice for eight days, then relocated up in the Dolomites in the village where my grandfather was born for a couple of nights. We came back to near Treviso and stayed at a nice B&B in Piombino D'ese. We then did day trips to Asolo, Castelfranco and Vicenza. The B&B was C'a De Memi and was very nice. There is a Palladio Villa nearby.

Hi everyone...... thanks for your very helpful info. We will be in Italy for 5 weeks this fall (Sept/Oct) We are starting our time in Sorrento then working our way up the country and will be leaving out of Milan. So we will have a rental car for much of the time already. I thought that giving up the car just during our stay in Venice might prove to be more of a problem than its worth as we would just have to get another car for our time after that.

Another suggestion that we have been given is to stay on the mainland of Venice and just take the train-shuttle to the island city. Does anyone know how I can find out what the train schedule is and how late it runs?
Thanks again to everyone who takes the time to respond to our "newbie" multiple questions.... it is all such helpful info and enlightens us to the many different options available.

Last year we explored New Zealand with a car and we found it to be such a liberating way to travel and see much of the back-country. /Candace

If you stay on the mainland (Mestre or Padua), don't worry about trains. There's 50-60 a day going each way into and out of Venice. They run up until 11:00p. After that, there's not much until 4:30am or so. You can see the runs on www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html Just use a date like 6/5 or so to see current schedules. If you place a date in the site beyond 6/15, the schedule may be highly inaccurate.

As for parking your rental car, you can do that in the Tronchetto. I don't know how much it costs per day but you can do it that way if you wish.

If you want to visit Venice...and really experience it...you have to stay there...suggesting something else reminds me of advising someone who wants to visit San Francisco that they should stay in El Cerrito and BART into the city.

Past posters have said the parking lots near Mestre train station are reasonably priced and safe. Trains from there to Santa Lucia station are frequent and inexpensive. I agree with the others who recommend staying in Venice for a few days. Rooms there are more expensive than Padua or Treviso, but the atmosphere and experience are worth it. You could park in Mestre and stay in Venice.

Between Xmas and New Year's, my family of four stayed at the Best Western Hotel Bologna in MESTRE. The hotel is located, literally, across the street from the train station, amazingly convenient whether taking the train for 1 Euro one stop across the causeway to Venice, or heading west to Verona, Padua, etc. The hotel is clean, modern, and the bathrooms are delightful, great breakfast, too. Everyone at the hotel was helpful, friendly, and courteous, especially when they had to call the ambulance on New Year's Eve to take me to the regional medical center or Ospedale. When I was released from the hospital three days later, they upgraded our room at no extra charge -nice touch!

To be blunt, it was much cheaper than staying in Venice, but only 10 mins. away. I believe the last train from Venice to Mestre was about 11:30PM-Midnight. If money is an issue, this might be something to consider.

Staying in Mestre is more like staying in New Jersey rather than Manhattan, dirty, industrial but safe.

I strongly object to that comment about New Jersey. You obviously don't know the state very well. We are known as the Garden State for good reason. Lots and lots of beautiful countryside and farms. Famous for the beefsteak Jersey tomato. Living as I do in a particularly lovely part of the state but only 45 minutes from Newark Airport, let me tell you there is nothing dirty and industrial here.