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Venice - Early Morning Vaporetto Service during Festa del Redentore

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Hello!

In planning my trip, I somehow overlooked the fact that I'm going to be departing from Venice the morning of Sunday, July 17th - right in the middle of Festa del Redentore. It's a bummer, but at least I'll get to see the fireworks on Saturday night.

However, I'm concerned about how that's going to affect my (admittedly, a little tight) travel plans. It seems like a fairly major holiday with a significant religious component and I know that has the potential to mess with/stop public transportation. This is what I've found for NORMAL days, but I can't find how that would be affected on holidays.

I'm taking a 7:50a train from Venezia Mestre to Milano Centrale in order to make a late-afternoon flight from Malpensa Airport. I see (from this page https://www.raileurope.com/europe-travel-guide/italy/venice/train-station/venice-mestre-train-station.html) that trains run from the Venice Santa Lucia station to the Venice Mestre Station every 10-15 minutes and it's only a 10-12 minute train. When I'm traveling in a strange place I like to give myself a huge amount of wiggle room, so I'd like to arrive at the Venezia Mestre train station around 7a to give myself enough time to get my bearings, figure out if I need to do anything (validation, etc) with my ticket, find the train, etc. This means (I think) I should probably get to Venice Santa Lucia station around 6:15a to catch the shuttle between them.

I'm staying at this hotel (https://goo.gl/maps/6sxUsKuoENQ2) which is nearest the "San Zaccaria" Vaporetto stop. My directions TO the hotel were to take the Vaporetto line 1 to San Zaccaria, so I would imagine for my departure I can also get on at San Zaccaria and take the same line back to the train station. However I have no idea how to read this Vaporetto schedule (http://www.actv.it/sites/default/files/ultimorario.pdf) so I don't know how early those lines are running, how frequently they arrive, or how that's affected by holidays. The ACTV website recommends using Google Maps, but if I put in my specific arrival date/time it says the only option is to walk (wheras Sunday, July 10th, for example, says I could take a 1 that arrives at 5:28a). Of note - I'm only 27 and healthy enough so if there's legitimately a stoppage/issue with the Vaporetto service that morning, walking IS an option (I see that it's only 1.5m which is totally doable. I live in New York City) but not ideal when it's very early morning in a strange city and I'm going to be carrying ~30lb of stuff with me.

If anyone could help me figure out the specifics of this, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks!
Ryan

Posted by
11613 posts

My first thought is that there should be trains running from Venezia Santa Lucia to Milano Centrale so you wouldn't have to change in Mestre. Even with a change of trains, if your ticket is from Venezia SL to Milano Cle, you only have to validate once, at the beginning. Use the Trenitalia website, not Raileurope (they do not show all trains).

Second thought: spend the last night in Milano and sleep a little later before your flight.

Posted by
9 posts

Firstly: I realize this was all a bit of poor planning on my part. I have everything else about this trip locked down really solid but for some reason I slipped up a bit with the last leg.

Unfortunately, I already have my Mestre > Milano Centrale ticket purchased, and it's non-refundable. You're right, RailEurope didn't have direct trains from Santa Lucia or I definitely would have done that. Didn't realize.

If I were traveling alone I probably would have gone with your second idea and stayed in Milano the night before but I'm traveling with a small group who's continuing to stay in Venice (I have to come home early) and I've already paid for my hotel that Saturday night. Plus, I do want to spend the last evening with them, especially now that I found out there's going to be these incredible Festa del Redentore fireworks that evening.

Posted by
17600 posts

You should be able to figure out the vaporetto schedule even if you do not red Italian. Look at the second box down---Linea 1 from Lido to Piazzale Roma ( they have abbreviated that). This is the direction you want. You will see that the first departure from San Zaccaria ( dock E) is at 4:51 am and there are subsequent ones at 5:11, 5:31, etc. you want to get off at Ferrovia which is the train station. The trip takes 40 minutes, so you could almost walk it that fast if you want (I walked to the train station from our apartment near Rialto Bridge in 30 minutes, but without luggage).

It appears the vaporetto schedule does not change on Sundays or holidays. But the train schedule usually does, with fewer early morning departures on Sunday. However, a check on Trenitalia shows plenty of early trains between Venezia S.L. and Meatre:

https://www.lefrecce.it/B2CWeb/search.do?parameter=searchOutputViewer&cFID=EjwSu6K3DtzI

So you should be OK. Just be sure to buy that €1,25 ticket before you board, and validate it in the machine trackside.

Posted by
9 posts

Thank you, Lola! It wasn't necessarily the Italian I was having trouble with as much as the layout (didn't realize the top was W-E and the bottom was E-W), but it makes more sense now that you explain it. Now that I look at the chart, it seems like it'd make the most sense for me to make a quick 10 minute walk to Rialto (Dock A) to catch the 5.55 and save myself 24 minutes of extra boat time. That'd get me to Santa Lucia at 6.14 which seems like perfect timing. And there's definitely plenty of trains between the two stations.

Thanks so much for your help!

Posted by
21370 posts

www.trenitalia.com recommends the 7:15 Regionale from Venezia S. L. to connect to the 7:50 Freccia to Milano.
Unless you've been to Venice before and know your way around, traipsing with your luggage to Rialto "A" seems to leave a lot of chances to get lost on the way. Easier would be to walk down the street (Calle degli Albanesi) to the Riva and hang a left and over the bridge (I believe it now has a ramp) to San Zaccaria "C" dock and take either the 4.2 or 5.2 boats to Ferrovia. These boats by-pass the Grand Canal and go around to the south and are faster to Ferrovia. Look at your schedule and you will see the following:
5.2 dep San Zaccaria "C" 6:06 arr Ferrovia "B" 6:30
4.2 dep San Zaccaria "C" 6:08 arr Ferrovia "B" 6:24
5.2 dep San Zaccaria "C" 6:26 arr Ferrovia "B" 6:50
Any of these will get you to S.L. station in plenty of time to get the 7:15 Regionale.

Posted by
9 posts

Thank you, Sam! I'll look into those boats as well. You're right the streets do seem pretty windy so getting lost could be an issue.

Posted by
11613 posts

Your train might actually originate in Venezia SL, check train numbers.

Posted by
9 posts

That's a great idea - that would have been way easier. Unfortunately, it doesn't. The train from S. Lucia is a Frecciabianca high-speed train that only seem to originate from Mestre.

Posted by
21370 posts

That train originates in Trieste, but it makes only one other stop in Verona on the way to Milan.

Posted by
34336 posts

That train is scheduled a 10 minute stop at Mestre

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