Train from Florence to Venice

I believe the USD Credit Card / Trenitalia thing has been sorted out.
You want Venezia Santa Lucia or Venezia SL as your arrival.
Yes, you can take water taxi to Arsenale, at considerable cost. You can also take water bus for 7.50 euro per person. You need the No 1 waterbus, slower of course than the water taxi. However, there is something very Venetian about using a water bus (vaporetto in the local signage, meaning steamer. The last steam powered water bus was withdrawn around 1956, but don’t expect the name to change any time soon. Vaporetto is so much more romantic than “diesel fueled four stroke turbocharged engine-o).

1. The station you want is Venezia S Lucia
2. Used a US credit card a few weeks ago on the Trenitalia website with no problems

You want Santa Lucia. Mestre is on the mainland.

You don't want to take a water taxi unless you have more money than you can count, they will run you about 100 EUR. You want to take the vaporetto, the public water bus, costing 7.50 EUR per person. Take the No 1 if you want a slow cruise down the Grand Canal. There are ticket machines and windows on the water front outside the station, and many different vaporetto docks for different lines. Look for the one to the right which says No 1, direction Lido. Scan your ticket as you walk onto the dock.

Give your credit card a try, but let your credit card co know you are making a foreign purchase, otherwise they will block it (fraud protection). You can also buy tickets at www.trainline.eu, which is not as fussy with credit cards. Also American Express often works.

Thank you, Eric, Peter and Sam! And thank you also for clarifying the "water taxi" versus "water bus" issue... I appreciate the very speedy responses.

And since I often don't know left from right, you want to dock all the way to the RIGHT, looking at the canal. I corrected my original post.

Vaporetto is so much more romantic than “diesel fueled four stroke turbocharged engine

motore turbo a quattro tempi alimentato a gasolio---- Agreed, 'vaporetto' is so much better

Susan,

One other important point to mention is that you MUST validate your Vaporetto ticket prior to boarding. This is done electronically by touching your ticket to the reader. If you get a green light, you're good to go. Failure to validate may result in hefty fines which are collected on the spot!

As I recall, there's a ticket office to the left as you go down the stairs in front of Venezia Santa Lucia station.

Regarding rail tickets, I'd recommend the Trainline site mentioned in a previous reply. Once you've registered on the site, it's very user friendly. They sell tickets for not only Trenitalia but also Italo and many other rail networks in Europe, so that provides easy "one stop shopping".

Another vote for Trainline. More choices for you

hi srink
as ken has mentioned, i use the trainline.eu website. will you be taking the train from chianti all the way to venice? when you reserve your train, check times in arrival and if your host will let you check in early or drop off bags. get a map from canal stop to your place. you're a ways from the crowds, walk all over, get lost, people watch, sit at a cafe and enjoy a glass of wine. maybe do a cicchetti crawl (finger food, wine, and history) email [email protected] (rick steves has used him) i've been there times and love it. took a ride to mazzorbo-walked over bridge to burano-ride to the lido-walked down main street-stopped and had wine, people watch, the kids playing, dogs walking their owners-ride back to venice during an absolute gorgeous sunset. you'll have a great and fun time. no schedules, you never know when you should have zigged instead of zagged, pack light.
aloha

Buy the 72 vaporetto pass. There is an ACTV office/store in the train station where you can buy the pass. they also sell a nice map. Even though you have the pass, you must validate before every voyage

Stephen omitted an important word - you want a 72 hour vaporetto pass.

You can also take the Italo train from Florence to Venice. Their website is more user-friendly. October fares start at €19,90 one way.

https://www.italotreno.it/en

Susan,

I have taken Trenitalia from Florence to Venice (and elsewhere) and I've take Italo from Venice to Florence. I really can't say if one train line is better than the other but the website for Italo is a bit easier.

If you take one of the regional (slow) trains, remember to validate your ticket before boarding. Rule of thumb - if the ticket doesn't list the specific train number, carriage and seat assignment, it needs validating (time/date clock on platform( but if ticket does list a specific train, carriage and seat assignment, it doesn't need validating.

The train line between Florence and Bologna is almost completely underground so be prepared a lot of tunnels (74 kilometers of the 78.5 kilometer line).

If you suffer from motion sickness, you may want to sit on the aisle versus next to the window. When the train is doing 200+ km/h and it passes another train going in the opposite direction, it can cause some people a lot of discomfort.

Happy travels.

Wow, this is great information. Thanks to everyone who took the time to offer suggestions. That's why I LOVE this travel forum!

Susan

Update: We have booked our tickets, confirmed we can store our (minimal, since we are only there for 2 nights) luggage with our AirBnB hostess when we arrive and after we check out, and have confirmed our vaporetto stop (Arsenale). Thank you, again, to everyone who offered advice and direction in response to my question. We are now just a bit more than 3 weeks away from our great Italian adventure and I am really getting excited about living la dolce vita for one month in Chianti.

Susan

hi susan
sounds fabulous that one more "task" is done. i'm sure you are marking each day off the calendar until you take off. two years ago i sat at an outside table at ristorante da nino on the grand canal across the train station and had the best tiramisu and glass of prosecco, my own opinion, watching all the boats, people watching, sharing a table with a family with kids from padua, enjoying their holiday, on a gorgeous sunny day. have fun and let us know.
aloha