Venice Card, Museum Pass, Chorus Card -- Help for Venice!

If you will be visiting those churches, as you say, you will probably want to get the Chorus Card so that you can see the art in situ.

There are many fab churches with great art which are free but for the big players the straightforwardness of the Chorus Card is hard to beat.

I was just in Venice about 10 days ago, also arriving on a Saturday (afternoon) and leaving on Wednesday morning. My plans also included a day on Burano, Murano, etc. On arrival, I purchased, and used a lot, a 72-hour vaporetto pass for 35 euros. If you do that, you have to think some about which 72 hours to use it, since the time begins on first validation and use. Be sure it is valid on the day you travel to the lagoon islands. I used mine on Sun, Mon and Tues, meaning I did not use a vaporetto on arrival on Sat (was able to walk to my B & B) and did not add on an airport bus ticket at a 2 euro saving, because my trip to the airport would fall outside the 72 hours. I think the alternative to the 72-hour pass is a 7-day pass at quite a bit more expense. Be sure to hold your passes up to the validation machine, and be sure it registers, on each use. As for the museum passes, I looked over and was somewhat confused by the offerings. The web site indicated a 29% savings, as I remember, which did not seem like much to me, and seemed to only get to that level of saving if you went to every single site on the list. I chose to just pay the admission where I actually went. Also, be aware that various museums or churches are closed for a day, or part of a day, over the Sun, Mon and Tues you will be doing most of your visits. Also, the Glass Museum in Murano currently has a sign in the entry that says that while the museum is open, many rooms are closed for renovation. So I skipped that one, which I might have otherwise visited. Enjoy Venice!

Thanks so much for the advice. It sounds like we are taking a very similar trip to the one you just took, and your experience is really helpful.

Glad you got some helpful advice. None of these cards seems really mandatory to save money and paying as you go is not particularly inconvenient. (To skip the ticket line at the Doge's Palace, you can buy the Combo ticket at the Museo Correr, for instance.)

We will also be in Venice next Saturday through Wednesday. This is a tough call with the vaporetti pass. We will need to use the bus and vaporetto upon arrival. If we get the 72 hour pass, it will expire Tuesday afternoon. We will then have to buy single vaporetto tickets to get to the train station, making the total savings between the 72 hour and the 7 day pass, 8 euro per person. Wondering if it is not just easier to buy the 7 day pass and be guaranteed that last ride down the Grand Canal on our last evening.

We also stayed in Cannareggio and loved it! Some places it makes sense to get one of those cards, while others it may not. It depends on what kinds of things you want to do. While in Amsterdam for the first week of our trip, we got the museumkart, because there are so many museums-- we really got more than our money's worth. While in Venice for the second week of the trip, we did not get any of the cards, planning our visits at early day times to avoid the crowds, and then in the afternoon seeing a less 'popular' site, like the Ca' Doro. We spent a lot of time at museums and churches. Being flexible and doing what activities we wanted panned out. We only got a 10 hr vaparetto ticket once, when we went to Murano, and then took the boat all the way around the island and finally to island S. Maggiori, to ride up to the bell tower and see stunning view not only of the main island of Venice, but also surrounding islands and waterways.
laurel