Venice water taxi

Chris, why not ask your hotel to arrange it for you when you get there? Its not that big a deal that you need to pre-book from here.

I was considering getting the hotel to do it but I didn't know if it would be the same price or if they would charge me extra for it.

If you wish to reduce stress I would have the hotel order one for you. We have heard tales of pre-booked water taxis not showing up at the appointed time. Taxis called by the hotel will be reliable.

I do not believe there is an extra charge if the hotel calls for one. It should be around €60 from the Rialto area to the station (at least that is what my bro-in-law paid when he took one last September from Ca' d'Oro to the station).

Thanks. That's very helpful. Has anyone ever taken a water taxi down the Grand Canal instead of a vaporetto as RS suggests? It seems like with the vaporetto there is no guarantee that you'll see everything. I was thinking that it may be worth the money to take the water taxi from the train station one night down to Piazza San Marco at dusk.

I think the trip down the Grand Canal in a water taxi may be more intimate but you will see the same sights for alot less money on a vaporetto. If you order a water taxi from the hotel you may not be subjected to getting ripped off with an inflated fare

The water taxi and the vaporetto travel on the same body of water (the grand canal) so there will be no difference on what you see.

On a water taxi I'm thinking that you can see everything much better because you aren't stuck on one side of the vaporetto or with other people in your way.

Sound like you want a boat tour not necessarily a taxi service. Anyone have experience with that? Chris, are you not considering a gondola ride? Thats the traditional way to do it.

We're doing a gondola ride, too, but I'm talking about the Grand Canal tour that RS talks about in his book. He says to take the vaporetto at the train station and ride down to Piazza San Marco. Now I don't know if it's worth it to do that because I've never been there, and if it's not then I won't bother doing it, but if it is I'm wondering if it would just be better to take a water taxi instead of the vaporetto.

It depends what time of day you take a No 1 vaporetto down the Grand Canal. I caught a No 1 around 9:30 a couple of days ago and it was not crowded, maybe I was in the window between the commuter traffic and the tourist traffic. Or if you get out really early, say 7:30, you will have the place to yourselves (well, sort of).

Chris, you could go up and down the Grand Canal all week on the vapporetto for what that one taxi ride will cost you.

That's actually an excellent point that for some reason I didn't consider. But in my defense my brain is fried from planning this trip!!!

I'd second going out early - my mom and I were out at 6:30am a few yrs back and it is pretty deserted. On the vaporetto ride back to our stop (around 8am), we saw schoolkids getting on and off - you actually see 'real' life going on at that time of day - it'd be a great time to take a spin around the grand canal. :)

I was actually thinking around dusk would be a great time but I assume everyone else will think the same thing.

Chris, if you have the time, I would recommend taking the RS audio tour (download to your devices and use ear buds), using the vaporetto. His tour utilizes "pause"/"play when you leave such-and-such station" so, as the vaporetto makes its stops, you can recalibrate where you are on the audio guide. It is also recorded at a pace that matches the vaporetto's pace -- I don't know how you could possibly get your audio-tour's worth while doing it on a water taxi that is much faster and more direct.

I've been to Venice twice (both times, multi-days) before, and I am going again next week (yikes!)... for 4 days!. I have used his audio tour twice on EACH occasion, because you forget, and it's just such a great, cheap thing to do. We always get a multi-day vaporetto pass, so we get our money's worth. We have every intention of doing this "tour" at least twice this time around.

Here's a tip... it's REALLY better to get a seat in the bow of a vaporetto for this tour, and not all boats have bow seats (don't do the tour with luggage). We've been very fortunate by catching it at the Piazalla Roma stop (one stop above "ferrovia"/train station), because the boat is emptier. If the vap does not have bow seats, then just wait for the next one... it probably will, and you will be at the front of the line.

We've enjoyed using the audio tour in the daytime, and also in the evening. At THAT time, you can see inside all the lit buildings and see all the Venetian glass chandeliers lit up. :-)

Enjoy!

Just returned from Venice and we had our hotel arrange a water taxi for a similar early morning departure to the VCE airport.

The price was no higher (110 euro) to have the hotel arrange and driver was exactly where the hotel said he would be and was waiting for us.
Could not have gone smoother.

Was not aware how long the walk is from where the water taxi's drop you off to the airport terminal, easy walk but a casualty of our time in the Cinque Terre with a large wheeled suitcase was the loss of 2 wheels on our 50 lb bag and it make the walk from water taxi to airport terminal quite long. All on an easy pedestrian pathway and simple to know where to go so easy but long.

I'll second - STRONGLY - the recommendations to get a vaporetto pass for the length of your stay, and to plan on riding on the Grand Canal (with and without Rick's audio tour) more than once, by day and by night. Will you see everything on one ride? No. That's OK, just like you can't see all of Venice in one visit. So, plan on multiple rides from the start.

It's also fun, in a different way, to take the other vaporetto lines. Particularly in the evening, you'll actually see Venetians on these, and you see the less Grand parts of town. Again, with a vaporetto pass, these are included, so it's a low cost way of seeing the city.

I will second or third the fact that Venice completely changes depending on the time/crowds.
I was up early for sunrise each morning the entire place is a lovely ghost town and so amazing in the early morning hours without the mass of day trippers and tour groups.
You don't have to get up that early but do try to get out to the sites before the masses.
Most of the main sites were un-enjoyable by noon time and remained that way until about sunset.

There's nothing like seeing St Marks Sq and the Bridge of Sighs at 7:30am - no fighting hordes of people, tour groups, elbows, people with luggage and selfie sticks. When my mom was on my trip, it was my 4th time to Venice. We're both early risers (left my hubby to sleep in) - so we went out and I told her by 9:30-10am, SMS would be crawling with people - and of course, it was!

The ride between the Rialto and Ferrovia - the railway station - is quite short, only 19 minutes, every 10 minutes. You could actually walk it in not much more than 5 minutes more.

Much of what there is to see is the other side of the Rialto to S Marco.

The taxi is limited in speed to similar speed of the vaporettos in the Grand Canal.

What are you doing the night before? An almost perfect time to settle in an hour or so before sunset and ride both ways the full distance of the Grand Canal. How will you get to your hotel?

Is your train at 8am, or is it the time you are leaving your hotel?

Okay, here's a question. If I get a vaporetto pass for the day or whatever, and I take the vaporetto from the Rialto Bridge to the spot beyond the train station, can we stay on there to come back down to Piazza San Marco, or do we have to get off and get back in line again?

I'm pretty sure they will shoo you off the No 1 boat at Piazzale Roma. The boat may not be going back immediately, maybe they give them a quick cleaning. Also there are separate docks for arrivals and departures there, and they want to make sure you board with a validated ticket. It's not a big deal. Get off and go to the departure dock, validate your ticket again and board the next boat. If you want to be first on and you are in the back of the line, just wait for the next one and then you will be first in line. They go every 12 minutes until 8:45 pm, then every 20 minutes.

I have stayed on a number 1 as it turned around at P. Roma. Nobody shoved us off.

It was a couple of years ago, there is perhaps a slight chance that that things have changed but unlikely.

I guess I can ask my hotel while I'm there. Anyway, thanks everyone. You were helpful.