Venice water bus and itinerary suggestions?

8) walk or take the vaporetto to the train station.

6) coffee is available in any bar.

2 The water bus (vaporetto) can be found by walking straight outside the train station. There is a ticket booth. Buy either individual tickets or a two-day pass. Decide which bus you need, probably #1 or #2. Find the bus you need along the water there. Read your ticket at the electronic thing before boarding and each time you board.

7) Do what many do. Walk around a lot. Take the vaporetto to piazza San Marco and look around there at the basilica, etc.

If you don't yet have a book on Venice, try to find one. You can find lots of info here on the RS website but you will probably want a map and other information.

Thank you so much!

Christa, I see you are visiting other parts of Italy as well as Venice. I urge you to get the Rick Steves Italy 2017 book if you don't already have it. There is lots of great information in it.

Christa, see this photo here: https://travellingdaveukdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/venice-railway-station.jpg
The ugly single storey building with "FS" on the front is Venice station (Venezia Santa Lucia). the floating pontoon with the yellow stripe is the vaporetto (water bus) stop, with one pulling in.
The hut on the right under the trees is where they sell the tickets (unless its been moved).

The one confusing thing about vaporetto is for normal buses, the stop on one side of the road is for one direction, and on the other side for the other direction. Not so for vaporetto, they zig-zag from one side of the canal to the other, and the same stop serves both directions.

@Swan - Do not put a hash (#) at the front of your lines in posts, unless you want your text to be in

huge blue letters.

1. and 2. The water bus is called a vaporetto, different from a water taxi. You can buy a vaporetto pass for the number of days you think you will need it (2 days for you, including the rides to and from the train station) either inside the train station or outside near the vaporetto stop. Once you buy it, you tap it on the card reader every time you get on a vaporetto. Individual tickets are very expensive.

2. There is a sit-down fee to eat at caffes and bars, where locals usually stand at the bar and drink or eat something light. Restaurants my have a service and cover charge, but it is not very much overall.

3. Reverse the route that you took to come in - take the vaporetto nearest your lodging in the opposite direction of the one you came in on. Stops are posted so you can see the train station stop at the bottom of the list. If you get on the wrong vaporetto and you have the vaporetto pass, just get off at the next stop and take the next vaporetto going the opposite way.

Vaporetto schematic map in pdf.
http://www.actv.it/sites/default/files/ultimamappa.pdf

From the train station, how do I get to a water bus? Is this obvious and I just walk there?

Totally obvious. They are lined up in front of you. The (minor) problem is finding the right one (routes are numbered) and going in the right direction. Not too hard to figure out.

There are vending machine at most of the docks to buy tickets. 7.50 EUR per ride, or you can get a 2 day pass for 30 EUR. 4 rides and its payed for. Or stop in at the Venezia Unica office to your left outside the station. Scan your ticket (imbedded chip) as you walk on to the dock. It will beep to signal you are good to go. Again, this is obvious as everybody else will be doing it.

I'll just add that the website for your hotel should have info on which vaporetto stop is the closest. That stop will show what lines service it.

You should definitly get Ricks guide book but here is what I would do:
1) Go to Plaza San Marco. Tour the Basilica.
2) Doge Place - get tickets to tour ahead of time on website
3) Enjoy the Plaza.
4) Get a map or just follow the signs to the Rialto Bridge, The market there in morning is amazing
5) Ride the vaporetto round trip . Try to sit in the front.Its worth getting up early to be on in the ealry AM.
6) Just wander and enjoy the City
7) If you like art, the Accademia ( I thim thats the name) is wonderful.

One of my favourite things to do in Venice: take the vaporetto (water bus) up the Grand Canal just after sunset to see the chandeliers sparkling inside some of the residences (palazzi) along the Canal.

Here's the way the coffee shop works. If you go inside and stand at the bar, it's cheap. If you sit at a table inside the cafe, the price goes up substantially, you're paying for the table service. If you sit outside, it goes up substantially more since you're also paying for the view. I don't remember ever seeing people eating a meal standing up. In some places there may be a small bump in the price of food to sit outside. I usually sit inside to avoid the cigarette smoke and the cold (in winter) or heat (in summer).

I have always found this to be a helpful resource re Venice:

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/

Just to add to Chani's post about coffee shops. First, they're called a bar or caffe in Italy.

Yes, it does cost more to sit down, but in exchange for this extra fee, the table is yours for as long as you want. So, if you just want to rehydrate or re-caffeinate, buy your drink at the bar; if you want to rest, pay the higher sit-down price, and enjoy.

A big no-no is buying something at the bar, then taking it to a table and sitting down. And it's not just beverages - I made this mistake on my first Italy trip at a gelateria. If a place has tables and you want to sit at them, be sure to sit before ordering, and wait for the waiter to take your order.

Full restaurants, as opposed to caffes and bars, used to have a pan e copperto (bread and cover) charge of a few euros per person for a meal. I know there have been changes to the laws, so this may not still be permitted, or only in some places, or be technically for something else. However, if it does exist, it's small - don't worry about it.

1. It's in front of the station
2. Eur 7.50 for one ride. But the passes may be a better deal (1 day=Eur 20, 2 day=Eur 30, etc..). They are also sold at the station.
3. Just ask local workers. If you see someone working loading and unloading boats, ask them. Those people are always hungry and know where to eat well for little.
4. Just walk around.
5. In many bars and cafes in tourist areas in Italy, if you drink/eat standing up at the counter you pay less, than if you sit down at the table (where you have table service). The posted menus have to lists of prices for the same item: PREZZI AL BANCO (prices at the bar/counter) and PREZZI AL TAVOLO (table prices). The latter will be higher. For example an espresso at the counter can be one euro, but it could be several euro if the same espresso is ordered at the table. The thing to consider however, there is no tips for the waiter, therefore the higher prices is to pay for the server.
6. anywhere.
7. San Marco (Basilica and Doge's palace), Accademia, Rialto, Frari, walk around the city. Probably not enough time to visit Murano and Burano islands.
8. Vaporetto (water bus)

Thank you all so much for your amazing help! I really appreciate it!