Venice - water taxi

You can do either one. You can also have your hotel arrange the taxi for you.

I'd say you could just find one when you arrive. Should be several waiting there. You might want to print out the price quote from the motoscafi website as a reference and check that is the price the capitano quotes you, or very close. But I'm sure it is regulated pretty well. Never heard anybody complain about being over charged. One thing to look at is that you may get a small discount for booking a round trip on the motoscafi website. so if you need one when you leave as well, it might be worth prebooking.

Water taxis are very expensive, so I'll be the one to ask: Are you sure you need one? If you don't have a lot of luggage, it's possible a vaporetto would be sufficient.

Nancy,
I agree with Acraven. Water taxis are expensive!

I'd suggest asking your hotel which is the closest vaporetto (water bus) stop to your hotel & which vaporetto would take you there.

You can buy your tickets (or passes) at the train station & embark the correct vaporetto right outside the train station.

Here's an Informative article about vaporetti in Venice.

Hope this helps :-)

But there's no better or more relaxing way to arrive into Venice than via a water taxi...especially if you hotel has its own private water taxi door.

Agreed. A water taxi down the Grand Canal is a genuine treat. I would spend money on that over a gondola ride any time. ( But usually we do use the vaporetto.)

Nancy,

If you have a generous travel budget or a rich benefactor, use a water taxi. If you have a more modest budget like most of us, use a Vaporetto. You'll likely be using the Vaporetti several times during your travels, so probably a good idea to get used to them. My usual caveat - DON'T forget to validate your ticket on the electronic machine before boarding!

I think in a previous thread, the OP determined that given a party of 4 with a hotel located deep in the heart of the island, water taxi was the way to go.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/venice-train-station-to-hotel-c6eab1ab-e658-4b2b-8de4-8d82be1e05e3

I can say I wish we would have taken a water taxi. There were so many available. It was a long walk from the airport to where the boats were and we had already purchased our tickets for the aliguana unfortunately. We were a family of 4 and we paid 60 for the water bus and it took an hour and 20 minutes to get on one, very long line at the airport. (I assume this is because our luggage was literally the last off the plane.) And then a very slow ride to get to Venice and you couldn't see a thing. So 110 ( the quoted price to a couple that ended up ditching the line and taking the taxi, the line was horribly long- and the empty boats would just sit there for 20 minutes because they only ran every 30 minutes, welcome to Italy and public transportation) would have been fast and easy after being awake for 24 hours. We were able to walk to our apartment for the water bus stop.

@ northwestern, if you had taken the other public transportation method, bus/boat combo, you would have boarded the bus at the airport door, been at Piazzale Roma in 30 minutes, and could then take your choice of vaporettos best suited to your stop. At worst, on the No 1 boat to San Zaccaria, 45 minutes later. And you would have saved at least 4 EUR.

There's nothing worse than being on that slooowwww moving Alilaguna from the airport to Venice as all the water taxis zoom by you and onto their destinations in a matter of minutes while you know you have at LEAST an hour of more riding.

Well, there probably are a few worse things - but it is frustrating.

But the topic here is about a taxi at Ferrovia.

The answer - there will be plenty, they are easy to find.

@Sam, I knew about the bus. Could not convince my husband to take the bus, he wanted to be on the water. Lesson learned.

I hope you NEVER let him forget that he needs to listen to you.

Hey Priscilla!
That's an amazing article on water transport in Venice! Thank You for that!

One other thought about a water taxi vs vap- yes the vap may be less expensive BUT I find that the vaps from the train station are very crowded. Even if carrying just a carry-on, you could be very cramped. Also, if unfamiliar with which line you should take, you are spending a bunch of jet-lagged time getting on the correct vap. And, if your hotel is not near a vap stop you still need to find the hotel! Especially for first time Venice visitors, I would recommend the taxi. You can economize later. IMHO, getting to the hotel with the fewest hassles would top the cost. Use the time saved to reconnoiter the area around your hotel, find the closest vap stop, etc. I think many first time Venice visitors have no clue about the crowds they will encounter, the narrowness of the calles, and the difficulty navigating a place that doesn't have the traditional "blocks".

The above post offers good advice. The vaporetti at the train station are very crowded--- not fun at all with luggage. It is much better to board at Piazzale Roma--- which you will do if you take the bus from the airport.

I want to comment on one aspect of the helpful link that Priscilla provided. They address in several places the situation where you are at a small or remote dock, with no ticket booth or machine. It is possible to board a vaporetto without a ticket, but you must be very careful. They state that " immediately after boarding" or elsewhere " immediately upon boarding" you approach a crew member and ask to buy a ticket. I submit that is too late. You need to tell the crewman or woman manning the boarding process AS YOU BOARD that you do not have a ticket and want to buy one. Make eye contact as you say this. He or she does not have time to sell you a ticket at that moment but will expect you to remain near the boarding area to pay for the ticket when boarding is complete.

I have seen way too many posts on Tripadvisor by people who thought it was OK to board and then go find a way to pay. Generally the result was a fine, in the neighborhood of €60. Do not wait for them to check tickets and do not try to pay after boarding in silence--- tell the crew member before you set foot on the boat. Technically you cannot even be on the boarding dock without a ticket, but they have to relax this rule for remote docks with no way to purchase tickets.

And do not forget to tap your ticket or pass on the machine as you board, to validate it. Travel with an unvalidated ticket is the same as travel with no ticket---a fine if you are caught.