water taxis in Venice

Hi Cindy - First of all I would strongly suggest this as a Hotel - http://www.hotelcasanova.it/
Having staid there many times I can tell you it is excellent - My friends Franco, Dario, and Stefano will take good care of you. Nice free beakfast each day and the location is directly behind Piazza San Marco - easy walking to Rialto and all the sights of Venice.
As for the transport to the airport - The hotel will arrange a water taxi which, while more expensive (about $110) will be a gorgeous ride and way to end your Venezia experience. I will be at The Hotel the end of May and may even see you , depending on your departure date>

Ciao, Greg

Hi Cindy,
I found the Alilaguna water bus to be pretty easy. You can buy tickets in advance or at the airport (which is what I did).
Here is their website:
http://www.alilaguna.it/lineablu-eng.html
There are different lines, so check them all to see which one works best for you. The price is 13 euros one way, or 25 euros roundtrip, so the savings is substantial over the taxi. On the other hand, if you have a lot of luggage, the convenience of the taxi might be worth it. Good luck!

cindy - it appears from your post that you have arriving in Venice covered and are asking about getting from your hotel in Venice to Marco Polo airport for a 9:40 am flight.

The time is not a problem, you can actually make it to Marco polo by 5:30 am using public transport.

You have two methods and each method has two choices. I'll try to outline them.

Water.
Alilaguna is basically a boat airport shuttle. There are several lines or routes and each departs from specific locations within Venice. Here is their website:

www.alilaguna.it

Current cost is 13 euros and that includes your luggage.

It takes about an hour and the boat drops you at the docks at the airport. then about a 10 minute walk to the terminal. you can buy tickets in advance or before you board. To get on Alilaguna, you'll need to get from your hotel to the arrival/departure point, probably by walking.

A private water taxi or motoscafi.

Very slick, very nice, pricey, but you'll feel like James Bond and maybe wish you had his expense account. Current pricing is around 100 euros from Venice to Marco Polo. If your hotel has a dock, they will pick you up there, if not they will pick you up at the closet place the speedboat can get to and you can get into to boat. You will arrange this method before hand and probably ask your hotel to set it up for you.

Land:

All land transportation leaves from Piazzale Roma. You will need to get from your hotel to P. le Roma. Depending on where you stay this may include walking, taking a vaporetto or both.

Once you arrive a P. le Roma, there are two buses that service the airport. One is a private company called ATVO. They run a large blue bus with big letteres that say ATVO on it. Hard to miss.

www.atvo.it.

cost for the ATVO bus is 3 euros.

The other bus is a big orange bus operated by ACTV, the same folks that run the vaporetto. I think the cost is 2 euros.

Buses take 20-25 minutes and drop you in front of the terminal.

If you are going to be using a multiday or hour vaporetto pass, probably the cheapest way is to use ACTV. The pass would cover the vaporetto ride to P. le Roma and then the bus ride to the airport.

If you don't mind the cost, the water taxi is wonderful and the most memorable.

Cindy we stayed at Bella Arti Hotel ://www.hotelbellearti.com/ and loved it. It's in the Accademia neighborhood. It cost us 100 Euros a night including a great breakfast and there was a sleeper sofa in the room so if your party is two adults/two children it would be a great value. Also it's a Rick Steves recommended hotel.

Thanks! This is very helpful! I'm assuming Alilaguna and vaporetto are the same thing. I had read on earlier posts that Alilaguna doesn't run before 8:30 a.m., but I noticed on their website that the blue line begins very early. We are flying into Rome and out of Venice, so transportation to the airport is the only thing I'm looking for. However, I'll be returning a rental car when we arrive in Venice, so it may make the most sense for me to return it at the airport and purchase round-trip tickets for Alilaguna. Is this something we can decide when we get there (we're only staying 2 days) or if we chose to splurge (assuming we haven't spent every dime!) could we still set up a water taxi?

Joseline, thanks for the hotel tip! I checked right away, but unfortunately they are full. I can't find anything under 200 euros yet for a family of four, but I'll keep looking. Thanks again!

Was recently in Venice. We had a 9:15 am flight. We took the Alilaguna line from San Marco at 5:54am. It cost €13 each person plus luggage. Got us to the airport in about an hour. Was worth it. You can buy tickets in advance at San Marco-San Zaccaria. Very convenient.

You don't need to drop the car at the airport in Venice. There are several agencies in Piazzale Roma. so you can drop the car there and avoid the extra expense of getting from the airport to P. le Roma. Also the airport drop off ususally has an extra fee.

Okay.... three more questions then... is it fairly easy to drive into P.R. since we don't know what we're doing or where we're going? And do I then pick up transportation there to our hotel? So is a vaporetto for touring Venice and the Alilaguna strictly for the airport?

Driving into P le Roma is a difficult question to answer, because the real answer is it depends. That's where the road ends, so you can't go too far. there is lots of signage telling you where to go once you get there. but there can be a lot of traffic and congestion. I have never picked up or dropped off a rental there. But lots of people do it every day.

Think of the vaporetto as the equivalent of a city bus except it's a boat on water. they have set routes and set stopping points. Vaporettos do not go to the airport but they do go to other islands in the lagoon.

While Alilaguna does serve other functions, you can think of it primarily as an airport shuttle. Points in Venice and the surrounding islands to Marco Polo airport.

I've picked up a rental car several times from Piazzale Roma, with no problem at all. I would assume it's pretty easy to drop off there, too.

As the other poster said, the road ends at Piazzale Roma, so it's not too difficult. All of the car rental places are on the road to your right as you approach the actual piazzale. If you go to google maps, and enter "piazzale Roma venice italy," then lick on the satellite function, you'll see how everything is laid out. The trains and the road (where the cars drive in) cross the water, then the road veers off to Piazzale Roma, where the car rental dropoffs and the bus station are.

From there, you walk over the bridge to the area of the train station. In that area, but to the right, on the water, are the vaporetto stops. There's a ticket booth there, where you can buy the vaporetto tickets.