Our family of six will be driving our six passenger van from Bled, Slovania to Venice this June. Do you have any advice on parking once we arrive in Venice? We will be arriving on a Saturday in the late afternoon. Would it be more convenient to drive across the causeway (fighting the traffic) and park at Tronchetto, and take the vaperetto from there - or park at the Mestre Train Station, taking the train to get the vaperetto at Roma Piazzale -- or park at the San Giuilano Parking lot? Help!
Posted by
Ottawa, Ontario,, Canada
521 posts
Hi Patti,
I recommend that you take a look at the excellent information located here, on the europeforvisitors.com website. It has a lot of details about parking including options that might be a little further than the closest - yet highest-priced options.
Posted by
Mansfield, GA
850 posts
If you can find a parking place across the street from the train station in Mestre it would be cheaper. Trains run frequently from Mestre to Venice and only cost a Euro or two. Don't know what the parking is now in Mestre but two years ago it was 4,50 euro per day. Very convenient too.
Posted by
Everett, WA
1299 posts
We have always parked in Mestre and saved over 1/2 off of parking in the cheaper garage in Venice. However, with 6 people, you will need to do some figuring. How many nights are you staying? If you are staying one night, the savings probably won't cover the 12 euros it will cost to get your group in and out of Venice on the train. If you are staying 5 nights, then it would be a great savings. To give you an idea...We paid 24 euros to park in Mestre (5 euros week days, 10 euros Saturday and Sunday). The price for the cheaper garage in Venice was 21 euros (according to the RS guidebook) So it would have been 84 euros for us to park in Venice. Factor in 8 euros to get the 4 of us back and forth on the train, and it was a good savings. Even with 6 it would have been a savings, but we were there 3 nights. BTW, all the parking garages in this area pay by the day, not by 24 hour periods. You may arrive late the first day, but you pay for the whole days. You may leave early the last morning, but you pay for the whole day. Just the way they do it. For 3 nights, we had to pay for 4 days. So..If you are just staying over a Saturday night, park in Venice. If you are spending a few nights, Mestre. The parking garage is across the street from the train, open air lots are a little cheaper, but one we checked required us to leave our keys so they could move our vehicle around as they needed to. We prefered parking in the garage and knowing no one would be touching the car.
Posted by
OP
Safford, Arizona, USA
31 posts
Thanks for all the great suggestions! We will be arriving on Saturday evening and leaving Tuesday morning, so will end up paying for four days. Sounds like Mestre will be a good savings - plus not having to fight the traffic on the causeway!
Posted by
Mansfield, GA
850 posts
Connie makes an excellent point about the parking charge being by the day. We were there for three nights but our charge was for 4 days even though our car was actually there for less than 72 hours. Arrived Thursday around 5 pm and left Sunday around noon.