Water taxi options from train station in Venice

If your hotel is within easy walking distance of a stop, use the public water bus.- easier and cheaper.
Map here:
https://actv.avmspa.it/en/content/consult-map

When I was there, outside the train station there are porters with trolley, if your hotel is relatively near the station.

Have a great tour, enjoy!

to be helpful it would be good to know where your hotel is, preferably the name, what time your train is due to arrive (if it is an overnight sleeper expect plenty of lateness), to clarify what you mean by "public water taxi".

Are you asking about the vaporetto, the public water bus which goes on a frequent timetable on a specified route to specified docks/stops - like a land bus just floating, or are you talking about the water taxis which at the airport collect passengers who are strangers to each other and take them to various destinations in Venice, like an airport shuttle in somewhere like Los Angeles?

I don't believe that shared water taxis operate from the station, but I may be wrong.

In 2025 we used https://www.motoscafivenezia.com/en/ from train station directly to our hotel dock. I think it was 80Euro for two of us with luggage. We also used them for return to train station when we departed. Easy to reserve from their website. Reliable and a lovely way to arrive in Venice. Enjoy your trip.

Yes, letting us know the name of your hotel would be helpful. And whether you mean the Santa Lucia train station on the island or the Mestre train station on the mainland.

Meanwhile, this well-known website and its photos and explanations is very useful --- read it all the way to the end: https://rossiwrites.com/italy/venice/which-venice-train-station/

Hello DebsG:

When will you arrive? I will also arrive during the festival and am panicking about transit from the airport.

I have emailed several taxi companies and they all told me they are overbooked.

If your hotel is withn reasonable walking distance of a stop, use the Alilaguna public water bus from the airport:
https://www.alilaguna.it/en/linee

OP is arriving at the train station-which one?

We would need to know where your hotel is to give accurate advice
The film festival does complicate things but $195 for a water taxi seems extremely high

Get Your Guide is a reseller not a tour company
Book a water taxi on the official site

https://www.motoscafivenezia.com/en/

I suspect a vaporetto will work for you but can’t say for sure without knowing where your hotel is
( really no such thing as a “public water taxi”)

There are threads here describing the various modes of transportation in Venice-you need to inform yourself of these options
A forum search should bring those up-filter by Type and Date

ETA
Except from Aussie's post- transportation in Venice
Water transport in Venice.

Gondolas. Only for pleasure, not for transport. 90 euro for half an hour for the boat, more for evenings.
Traghetto – big gondolas, two oarsmen, about ten passengers, for crossing the Grand Canal. Found at Rialto, San Toma and a couple of other places. Cost 2 euro per trip, can save a heap of walking.
Water taxis, which are like a floating limo, costs to match.
Vaporettos - ACTV. Are like a floating bus, operate on a bunch of routes. Get the app Chebateo for routes and schedules. Vaps do not service the airport. Vaps are not water taxis.
Alilaguna ferries, service the airport, run from Marco Polo via a bunch of stops to the main part of Venice, Murano and Lido. They stop at some, but by no means all, vaporetto stops.

We are arriving at the S Lucia station mid-day. Staying at the Hotel MonteCarlo. Any help is appreciated though I’m beginning to realize that the festival may leave no choice but the vaparetto.

Debs

Your hotel website has directions on how to reach from train station
https://www.venicehotelmontecarlo.com/en/how-to-reach-us/

Does not have a dock so water taxi won’t get you any closer than a vaporetto

If you will be in Venice for a few days consider getting a length of stay vaporetto pass ( although you can now do tap and pay)

Be sure to validate your pass each and every time you board- fines are high and they do check

From the ACTV website: "The maximum number of bags/packages allowed for each passenger is three pieces, each of which must not, in any case, exceed a total L+H+W of 150 cm"

Yes, it might be a bit of a pain to take luggage onto a crowded vaporetto. You can try waiting for the next one. But the good news is that you will be in VENICE.

Once you reach Venice’s Santa Lucia train station, take Line 1 or Line 2 heading towards the Lido and then get off at the Vallaresso San Marco stop. The boats run every 10 minutes and the journey time is around 30 minutes across the Grand Canal; after 9pm, the boats run every 20 minutes; and from midnight onwards, you should use Line N (the night line).

On St Mark’s Square (Piazza San Marco), pass under the Clocktower (Torre dell’Orologio) heading towards the Rialto, then turn right into Calle Larga San Marco and then left into Calle degli Specchieri, where you will find Hotel Montecarlo.