Venice Alilaguna boat or bus?

I used both methods. I think it depends where you are staying in Venice.If near St.Marks either method works.If staying near Piazza Roma,The RR station or Rialto the bus works as you can take the Vapporatto or if traveling light walk.

Do not take the Alilaguna boat it will take you forever to get to Venice. Take the bus or a water taxi. I made that mistake once and will never do it again.

There are five separate Alilaguna routes, with some the equivalent of a "local" and the others an "express". Sounds like Cliff ended up on a local. If you take the Linea Oro it only takes you one hour from the airport to St. Mark's. http://www.alilaguna.it/lineaoro-eng.html

The Alilaguna Linea ORO (Gold Line) will take you directly to the San Marco (Giardinetti) stop from the airport with only one stop nearby at San Zaccaria. If you take the bus, you will still need to take the slooow moving vaporetto down the Grand Canal to get to your destination, so nix the bus. The water taxi is way too expensive. The Alilaguna is a privately owned transportation service and is kind of a hybrid between a vaporetto and a water taxi. This is the best way to go. http://www.alilaguna.it/lineaoro-eng.html

The problem with Linea Oro is that while it is true that it only takes an hour from the airport to San Marco, that only shaves ten to twenty minutes off of the other routes trips. BUT and it is a big but, Linea Oro now costs 30 euro per person one way compared to the 13 euro per person for Linea Blu or Rosso. Not really worth it in my opinion. IF you think that the 60 euro for a couple was ok, then I'd suggest taking the bus to Piazzale Roma and then a water taxi to the hotel. A water taxi from there should run around 50-60 euro. Unless you take a water taxi at around 100 euro, it is going to take you at least an hour or longer to get from the airport to your hotel in Venice. The exception would be if you are staying close to either Piazzale Roma or the train station.

I'm glad that someone brought to my attention that "oro" line costs 30 euros a head to get to Venice from the airport. Weather or not we can afford the luxury of a water taxi or an express route into Venice, I don't feel that a portion of a budget should be spent on getting to your hotel. It's also been my experience that by the time we get to Europe, we're so wasted from the flight, that the first night is a wash. So maybe we can just sit back and enjoy the ride, even if it takes a little longer. Now knowing that the "blue" or "red" line take longer to get there, is it worth it, just for the views of Venice? I know that this is a very subjective question, but if the views are not worth it, then why use the Alilaguna? Then just take the bus to the train station and the Vaporetto to the hotel and try to do it on the "cheap". And yes I know that the word "cheap" might not apply to traveling to Venice, but you got to try.

It's a personal preference whether you want to pay a higher price for the convenience of a more direct route and shorter travel time. I can assure you that by the time you wait to purchase your bus ticket, wait for the bus, drag your luggage onto and off of an already crowded bus, walk to the vaporetto stop and then wait to buy a ticket and wait for it to arrive and depart, and then chug down the Grand Canal, you could already be at your destination. There are a lot of steps to take in-between when you choose the bus route.

Great answer on the bus question. I was wondering @ all steps we would have to take on the bus. Our hotel is right off San Marco, so we could get off the Alilaguna and walk straight across to the hotel. And part of the Venice Connected can include the boat from the airport to San Marco. I think the boat is a better option for us.

In the interest of full disclosure, any method, other than a private water taxi, you take getting to Venice will involve schlepping luggage, waiting to buy or pick up tickets and then waiting for transport to arrive. We have taken them all and they all take about the same amount of time, except the water taxi which is faster. Going to San Marco on Alilaguna involves taking either Linea Blu, Rosso or Oro. That means getting a ticket in the terminal, walking 5-10 minutes with your luggage to the airport docks, waiting for the boat and then taking about an hour 15 to get to Venice on Blu or Rosso for 13 euro. Oro will take an hour for 30 euro. All the Alilaguna routes operate once an hour. Linea Blu and Rosso take the same ticket so you can board either. They depart at either 15 after or 45 after the hour. So you will wait from no time to 30 minutes on the boat. Oro departs once an hour at 30 after. So you could wait up to an hour for it. The main advantage for Alilaguna is that if you are staying close to one of the stops you won't have to transfer luggage to another transport. You also get a bit of a tour of the lagoon since Blu and Rosso stop on Murano and the Lido. Both the blue ATVO fly bus and the orange ACTV bus run about twice an hour to Piazzale Roma, so possible wait around 30 minutes same as Alilaguna. Walk out of the terminal to board either. Takes about 25 minutes to P le Roma. walk a few feet to the Grand Canal, get a ticket, wait for a vaporetto and go. The number 1 vaporetto down the Grand Canal takes about 39 minutes to get to San Marco and a boat runs every 10 minutes from P le Roma. So max wait 10 minutes. The 41 or 51 vaporetto go the opposite way and down the Guidecca canal to San Marco and take about 25 minutes and leave about every 10 minutes.

Just to highlight a point in Ron's post: There are two buses - ATVO and ACTV - that go from the airport to the vaporetto stop at Piazzale Roma, both in 20-30 minutes. If you're buying a transit pass for the Venice vaporetto system, the ACTV bus is INCLUDED in that pass, so you're really maximizing your money. Enjoy Venice!!!

As Emma points out the orange ACTV bus is part of the same system that operates the vaporetto system and if you are getting a multi hour vaporetto pass, it is covered by the pass. The blue ATVO bus is another company and currently costs 3 euro and is not covered by the vaporetto pass. The ACTV bus is a local and is set up like a city bus, luggage storage with you in the bus either overhead or in the seat. takes about 25 minutes. The blue ATVO fly bus is an express takes about 20 minutes. It is set up like a tour bus or a long distance bus. Luggage storage is in the compartment under the bus passenger compartment. They both go to basically the same spot in P le Roma.