Venice VCR Airport to Train Station bound for Florence

Bus or taxi

Are taxis easily accessible at airport - a taxi stand?

Yes they are.

Do you see any risk in purchasing high speed train tickets (2) to Florence once we arrive at train station? I'm feeling uneasy as it's our first trip to Italy and I want/need it to begin smoothly. I'm more of an on-the-fly/make it an adventure out of things than my travel partner is :)
My other consideration is hiring a driver from VCE to drive us to Florence. Can you tell me where to find driver recommendations on RS's site?

Do you see any risk in purchasing high speed train tickets (2) to
Florence once we arrive at train station?

No- there are several trains every hour. No need to purchase in advance

A driver is going to cost a fortune-600-800 euros
Just take the train.
You can get an idea here:
https://daytrip.com

Even cheaper than a taxi would be the shuttle bus from the airport to the Mestre station with the ATVO City bus company. It's a 20 min ride.

Buy the train tickets at the Venezia Mestre station. All high speed trains from Venezia Mestre to Florence and beyond, make intermediate stops at Padova, Ferrara, Bologna, Florence. The train journey is 2h01min and trains currently depart from Venezia Mestre every hour at 38 min after the hour (Trenitalia). Assuming no changes when you go, and assuming no flights delay, you should be able to catch the 10:38 train and be in Florence at 12:39. I don't think you can make the 9:38 train if you land at 9.

There are more options if you are willing to change trains in Bologna, but I wouldn't bother. It's easier if you take a train that requires no changes along the way.

www.trenitalia.com
I haven't checked the other company (Italotreno), but they have fast trains every hour too to Florence.
www.italotreno.it

Why land in Venice if headed to Florence? Are you locked into that schedule?

The No 15 "Aerobus" to Mestre station is 10 EUR per person. A taxi could run around 50 EUR.

To Frank’s question, there are nonstop fights from the US to Venice, at least during the higher season. Flying into Florence may require a connection in Europe with Schengen zone immigration before running for the connecting flight.

Thank you all very much. Yes, we are keeping with our direct flights into Venice. What airport signs do we follow to find the Eurobus #15 or the ATV city bus to get us to Mestro station?
Do we pay on bus or do we need to find bus ticket machine. Credit card or Euros for payment?

The buses are all outside the arrivals terminal
You can buy your ticket at the desk in the arrivals hall or at a ticket machine

A good guide book will provide you with all this info

I'm not sure if the Aerobus goes from the Airport directly to Piazzale Roma in Venice without making stops in Mestre. So make sure you ask and take the right bus. They all depart from the same place in front of the terminal. There are also slower city buses going to Mestre which make several stops along the way. They all work, but the direct shuttle is faster, since it goes only to the Mestre station or Piazzale Roma (Venice city center in the middle of the lagoon)

The No 15 bus goes to Mestre station, the No 5 bus goes to Piazzale Roma. Two different routes, but both cost 10 EUR.

Info re the bus to Mestre:

https://www.atvo.it/it-venice-airport.html

Thanks for the helpful information.
I'm now working on our return into Venice from Firenze. Can you tell me the bus that travels from Mestre station to Piazzale Roma? From there I assume we take water taxi or vaperetto to our Venice hotel?

If you are going to Venice to stay in Venice take train from Florence to Venice proper
The station is on the Grand Canal
From there you can get to your hotel a number of ways-walk, vaporetto,water taxi

There are several posts here that give those instructions-look for posts by “Aussie”

Station names
Firenze SM Novella
Venezia S Lucia

If you tell us your hotel we can be more specific

Also look at your hotel website
They usually have directions “how to reach us”

Returning to Venice from Florence by train, buy your ticket to Venezia SL (Venezia Santa Lucia), not Venezia Mestre.

Venezia SL is right on the Grand Canal. The view as you leave the station is a knockout. Best view in the world.

AreWeThereYet11
Durant Imboden has quite a few YouTube videos on walking to hotels from a vaporetti stop. Do know if there is a video of your hotel or not. I used his video in 2022 to get to my hotel.

Jackpot that the train goes to the Grand Canal! We are staying at H10 Palazzo Canova. I'll look for the YouTube, and inquire with hotel for recommended way of reaching them from the train. Thank you all!

on your hotel's webpage is a "how to get here" page - here it is https://pro-static.h10hotels.com/documents/HPCENHowToGetHerev2.pdf