Which Venice Connected option???

Assuming it covers your arrival and departure times the 72 hour pass would probably work the best. It is good for 72 hours from when you activate and use it for your first ride. So if you arrive at noon and depart before noon on the third day, it would work. If you arrive at 08:00 and leave at 11:00 the third day, it won't cover your ride to the train station. Picking up the pass at the airport covers the orange ACTV bus ride to Piazaale Roma as well.

Thank you. I am thinking about doing the 72 hr (with airport transfer one way) and doing the rolling venice card for me. Only bad part is that that doesn't cover airport transfer. I'd probably still save money just buying a bus fare.

Does the Rolling Venice pass include vaporetto to the islands of Murano, Burano, etc?

Nicolette - the Rolling Venice card which is issued by hellovenezia does not include any transportation on anything. It is basically a discount card for travelers from the ages of 14 to 29. It costs 4 euro at any hellovenezia booth. It does allow the holder to buy a 72 hour vaporetto pass for only 18 euro instead of the normal 33 euro regular price. That is still cheaper than the best discount you can get on veniceconnected. 22 euro versus 24.75 euro there are other tcket discounts as well. You can learn more here: http://www.hellovenezia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=178&Itemid=158&lang=en

Ron, thanks. I do know that you have to buy the transportation card along with the rolling venice card. I was just wondering if the 18 Euros you pay covers the islands or not.

These days, an ACTV pass covers transport everywhere the vaporetto runs except transport to and from Marco Polo airport. Your trips to any of the lagoon islands would be covered on ACTV vessels.

On a side note, we were just in Venice for four days and took the vaporetto everywhere. We had the expensive week passes but no one ever EVER checked our passes, and only one or two big stops had ticket turnstiles (Toma wasn't one of them).

The system is an honor system for the most part but they do check sometimes. I wouldn't get on without a ticket or pass. Personally, I pay my way "check or no check" and "sleep at night".

I think that the current fine for not having a valid ticket is between 40 and 50 euro per person.

Hi Nicolette, We flew into Venice just about 3 weeks ago and stayed in Venice two nights to begin our trip, which sounds very similar to what you are doing. First off, Marco Polo airport is a breeze and it is a great airport to begin your Italy vacation. We thought about the bus and vaporetto option, but instead decided to do the Alilaguna Water Bus directly from the Airport and they will you off at verious points along the Grand Canal. Just use this website to figure it out: http://www.alilaguna.it/index.en.html
Here are the details from this website on how to access the Water Bus. I bought our ticket in the airport, but he says you can also buy at the kiosk near the dock. http://www.reidsguides.com/italy/destinations/veneto/venice/transport/to_by_plane.html Two things to keep in mind. You might want to pre-buy your Train tickets if you are traveling peak times...as we went to the train station on a Friday afternoon and had to wait through two departures that were sold out to get on a train. We never found this to be an issue elsewhere in Italy though. Also, with the Vaperetto, make sure to get on the boat in the direction you want to go!!

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate all of your input. I decided on buying the 72-hr on veniceconnected with the airport transport mostly because the vaporetto 1 and 2 lines go right to San Toma, one block from where we are staying. The alilaguna doesn't stop very close to it. Plus I do plan on using the vaporetto along with lots of walking.
Thank you!