Parking in Venice

There are BIG BIG BIG parking garages just after you cross the causeway over the bay onto Venice Island. You can park you vehicle there and pay. Beware there can be long lines. After driving into Venice on 2 different occasion I can truthfully say the best thing to do with a rental vehicle in Venice is to turn it in before you arrive. Just take the train into Venice San Lucia. You can also make reservations for the parking garages online at their website as I did this on my 2nd drive into Venice.

I took Rick's recommendation and parked in the secure parking garage near the main parking lots. It was a bad idea. It was Expensive and time consuming to get in (and out) of a parking space. It was secure, however, nothing was stolen from our car during our stay.

If I had to do it over, I would avoid the hassle and expense and use Rick's better recommendation to park at a train station on the mainland and train into Venice.

Park in Mestre across the street from the train station. Much cheaper than going on in to the big lots and the train from Mestre to Venice is only a few minutes ride. The train ride cost us one euro each way in 2007 so it has possibly gone up but probably not much. The parking was 4,50 euros per night.

We have always parked in Mestre. The lots range from open air to a multi story parking garage. (We have tried both, preferred the parking garage.) It is more expensive on the week ends, but we figured even with the cost of the train, we saved over 1/2 of what it would of been parking on the Venice side of the causeway. Take the first exit for Mestre and follow the signs for the train station. (usually has a picture of a train on it) The lots and garage are right across the street. The train into Venice was 1 euro per person one way in 2008. One thing to keep in mind: They charge you for a day no matter when you arrive. If you get there at 9:00 PM Wednesday night and leave 8:00 AM Saturday, you will be charged for 4 days. (Wed, Tnurs, Fri, Sat) even though it was less than 3 24 hour periods. All the parking garages do this..it is just the way it is.

PS The reason we did not like the open lot is that they required us to leave our key so they could move our car around as they needed to. They park them very close (space is money). You tell them when you are coming back, so that they have your car "available" and not blocked in. The garage, you drive to your parking space, lock it up and take the keys. My husband felt that was worth 2 extra euros a day. I'm not sure all outdoor lots are this way since we only have used one. It cost us 28 euros for 4 days (Saturday was 10 euros, the other day 6 euros)

Thank you very much for all your kind suggestions, very HELPFUL!