Venice to Greve (Tuscany)

Do you want to travel from Greve or the cruiseport which I assume to be Livorno? These two are in different provinces of Tuscany. Greve in Chianti is directly south of Florence. I don't see a train station there so you may need to take a local bus to Florence to pick up the train. Livorno has a train station. These are very easy train trips to Venice. You do not need a rental car. Also, you mostly get those extra Visa charges when you drive into the dreaded Zona Traffico Limitato zones in Florence and other cities where cameras take pictures of your license plate. I suggest the train.

We get off the cruiseship in Venice, then we need to get to Greve (Chianti) the same day (Sept 9th). Is there a train station right near the cruiseport?

Debbie, there is no train station near the Venice Marco Polo airport but there is frequently run bus service that will take you to the Venezia Mestre train station from the airport. CLICK HERE to see the bus schedule.

At Venezia Mestre, you can catch a high-speed train to Florence (about 3.5hrs). At Florence, you will need to leave the station and walk about 1000' south (across a busy boulevard) to the SITA bus station. At the SITA bus station, you can buy a ticket to Greve (about 1hr). I don't know how often the bus runs to Greve.

Larry, we arrive off the cruiseship in Venice, not the airport.

I can't believe that I'm having so much trouble understanding your message. It's not you. My apologies. From the cruiseport, you are 10 minutes away from the Piazzale Roma a major bus, taxi and vaporetto stop. The train station vaporetto stop (Ferrovia) is one stop away but not any easy walk with luggage until the new bridge is complete. What you can do is take the vaporetto one stop to the Ferrovia and get off. The fare, even for the one stop is 6.50Euro (they like you to buy the passes). You can take your chances on not having a ticket for one stop as they don't check tickets as you get on. However, if the roving inspectors on onboard, the fine is very expensive. Once at the train station, you can easily get a ticket on the high speed to Florence.

BTW, I found a 10-page SITA bus schedule to Greve. CLICK HERE to see it.

Debbie - some extra info would be helpful. Getting to the train station in Venice should not be too hard unless you have a ton of luggage. So try to pare down. Getting to Greve will require most likely a train to Florence and then the bus since the train doesn't go to Greve. However, depending on what your plans are once you get to Greve, having a rental car may make you stay in Tuscany more enjoyable. So what are your plans once in Greve?

Ron, that's exactly what we are doing. Get off the cruiseship in Venice, somehow get to Florence and try to rent a car and then drive to Greve and stay in and around that area as well as Sienna. We are spur of the moment people, so hopefully once we're in Greve (staying at a B&B in Greve for 4 nights) then, I don't know.....just drive till the map stops us. haha. My biggest worry is renting a car in Florence. Get this...we have to get back to Barcelona on Sept 15 to catch our flight back to Canada on the 16th. We haven't made those arrangments yet from Italy back to Barcelona. My husband doesn't seem worried about...it's just me.

Renting the car in Florence should be doable enough. I believe there are rental agencies very close to the train station. Just make sure you follow their directions to get out of town towards Greve and resist the temptation to sightsee. the problems arise when folks stray or get lost and then find themselves in a zone that prohibits car traffic. these are monitored by traffic cameras and they'll get you a few months down the line.

Thankyou Ron, you have settled our decision..finally!
Train to Florence from Venice.
Rent a car in Florence
Then off to Greve...

Thankyou so much!! :)