Venice water taxi

I think you mean VAPORETTO not water taxi

Vaporettos are like water buses
Water taxis are small, private and expensive

We always get a length of stay vaporetto pass when we arrive
There are kiosks right outside the train station and the vaporetto docks are right there
Much cheaper to get a pass than paying for individual rides
There is a 72 hour pass and that is a true 72 hours from first use.

Be sure to validate your ticket each and every ride

Thank you for the info! Can I buy them ahead of time before I get there? I like to have my stuff in order and ready to go.

If I remember correctly, even though I purchased our vaporetto tickets on line, we still needed to present the voucher at the kiosk located on the canal outside of the train station. This was in August. Very efficient and easy. Even though you will walk a lot in Venice, it is nice to have the vaporetto option. We had the 7 day and used it up easily in that time frame. I blocked out the trips I thought we would take and it wasn’t very many before the cost of the pass was well worth it, especially if you do a round trip on the Grand Canal as a starter. That uses a good portion of the pass right there. If you are planning an island round trip in addition, you’ve basically paid for the pass. Needless to say, it’s also easier to validate and get on the vaporetto rather than buying each individual ticket, validating and boarding-time saver.
Enjoy the magic of Venice. Nice too, as it shouldn’t be as crowded now and you’ll have breathing room everywhere!

I suppose you could purchase in advance but I believe you’ll still need to exchange a voucher

You could also purchase at the airport if you are arriving in Venice

https://actv.avmspa.it/en/content/prices

I learned the hard way that there are some small vaporetto stops in Venice where you cannot buy a ticket from either a human or a machine. You don't want to find yourself stuck with having to walk to another vaporetto stop. If you calculate that you'll at least come close to taking enough trips (at 9.50 euros each) to match the cost of a pass, I'd recommend getting a pass. Unfortunately, there isn't a 4-day (96-hour) pass, so you'll need to decide what to do before or after the validity period of the 36-hour pass. Buying one or two individual tickets for that period, if necessary, might be the smart way to go. The extra 24-hour pass would cost 25 euros, well over the cost of two individual tickets. But if you go the individual-ticket route, be sure you'll be able to buy tickets at the stop(s) where you plan to board the vaporetto.

There's a lot of stale information on the internet showing outdated vaporetto fares. The current information is here: https://actv.avmspa.it/en/content/venice-urban-services-0 Yes, the cost is exorbitant.

When we were there in June, we were staying in an apartment next to the train station.

I told the 11 year old granddaughter to get her hiking shoes on because we weren't riding the vaporetto--at that cost. We walked the entire city. I showed her all the sights that she'll be seeing the rest of her life from pictures online.

Venice can be somewhat confusing to navigate--even for someone that's been there 10 times. My granddaughter at one point asked me where we were. I told her I had no idea where we were and also had no idea where we were going. But I knew eventually we'd get back fine.

Walking is great in Venice, but the best view of the Grand Canal is from the water, and I think the suggestion to ride a vaporetto along the Grand Canal both in the daytime and at night is a good one, assuming one has time to do that. You also need to take a vaporetto to get to the islands of Murano, Burano, Torcello, Giudecca, San Giorgio Maggiore and the Lido. (There are others; those are just the ones most often mentioned. Most visitors don't have time for all of those I've listed.)

If you are flying into Venice, you may purchase the vaporetti passes at the airport where you buy the bus ticket that takes you to Piazzelle Roma, or wait until you arrive at P. Roma. Either way the pass won't start until the initial validation at a vaporetti station.

Both times in Venice I arrived by train, so I bought my 4-day and 7-day passes at the kiosk inside the train depot. It took only a few minutes, then I walked outside, scanned my ticket and boarded the vaporetto.

Here's a website with ticket information and a route map. I wouldn't buy online since others said you have to exchange a voucher for the pass. https://en.venezia.net/venice-vaporetto-tickets.html The pass is for unlimited rides within the pass's time frame so for me it was money well spent.

If you really need a water taxi, plan on spending +€120. Your hotel should be able to arrange one for you. You may need to walk to the water taxi stop.

Edit: I didn't realize the website has old prices. Use the website acraven posted.

If you are flying in you can buy them at the airport either at machines near where you pick up your luggage, or from a person at a both just through the doors after the luggage pick up area. The ticket machines were not working well when I was there earlier this year so we went through the doors to the booth. Some of the larger stops, such as the one at the Rialto Bridge and St. Marks will also have booths where you can buy tickets, but as someone else mentioned, many of the smaller stops don’t. If you think you will use the vaporetto at least twice a day it is worth it to buy a pass for the entire time you will be there. The price goes down the more days you buy. Single use tickets don’t give you enough time to get out to one of the islands and back on the same ticket. Venice is very walkable, though, and that is part of the fun of it, so you may want to only buy a day pass only for the day you are going to be using the vaporetto a lot, such as going out to Murano and Burano. I would suggest that you pick one day to do all your travel on the vaporetto and buy a day pass that morning, head out to Murano, then Burano and even Torcello, then cruise the grand canal after that, and even take an evening ride before your ticket expires. Spend the rest of the time walking.

We didn't buy in advance, we walked off our train at the station, walked up to a kiosk at the vaporetto stop outside, bought a week pass for each of us (since we were going to be there that long), and didn't have to think about it the rest of the trip. Since you're only going to be there 5 days maybe the 72hr pass makes more sense, then fill in as needed. Now that a single ticket is 7,50 euro, it takes only 8 trips for a week pass to pay for itself.

I did learn that I could validate the pass inside my wallet* by holding the wallet up to the reader without having to take out the pass.

*by "wallet" I mean my travel wallet for day use, containing mostly just cash and unimportant receipts, in case somebody pickpockets it

Single vaporetto tickets are now 9.50 euros. I believe the 72-hour pass is 45 euros. The prices went up earlier this year, and there's lots of stale information on the internet.

We were in Venice in May 2022. We bought our vaparetto passes from the train station once we arrived. We rode it up and down the canal multiple times--loved it, especially if you can nab a seat in the front of the boat.

Thanks for all the responses! Our stay in Venice was nice and we traveled with water gondolas for 2 Euros. Water bus was cheap and we did get a pass for 2 days. Very easy to understand once we were there. Happy New Year!

For future readers of this:

Vaporetto #1 is one of Travel's Great Bargains, not to mention Great Moments. Although normally quite crowded, the views along that route are worth it. One may or may not be able to eke out enough space to take any fotos, but that too, is part of its charm.
As for Susanne's original post title....arriving in Venice by water taxi also ranks as a peak experience. Ignore the cost and just enjoy, its unforgettable.
I am done. the waters