Luggage in Venice

No porters. Vaporetto stops are the equivalent of municipal bus stops everywhere else. The vaporettos are mainly transporting residents, workers, service people, and tourists, not just travelers, and there's one every few minutes. So you're on your own getting on and off. The canals are not normally choppy so getting off is not difficult.

Cobblestones are one thing, but there are plenty of stairs and short bridges to navigate as well. A walking stick is a big help if you're unsteady.

no one to help and they are VERY VERY crowded. Lots of steps and bridges to cross also depending where your hotel is. We always book a hotel with a private dock and take a private water taxi from the airport to the hotel - and they will help you. It is pricey, but worth every penny after a long flight.

My wife is also unsteady on her feet, but she rides a personal scooter on our trips. We often travel on cruise ships.

When we were in Venice last year, we got an apartment 50 feet from the train station. She could ride the scooter 500-600 yards without having to climb steps over a bridge. My granddaughter and I hit the city walking, and we left her behind.

Venice is not a good place to visit if there are mobility issues. Fortunately, my wife and I have visited Venice 10+ times so she knew what is there.

There are no porters and it will be challenging for someone with a mobility issue to navigate luggage on a vaporetto.

My recommendation is to take a private water taxi to and from your hotel. They will load and unload your luggage. You might also contact the hotel to see if they can arrange for someone to meet you at the water taxi. We stayed at Hotel Flora in Venice in 2023 and they did this for us arriving and departing. In 2017, we stayed at a flat with Truly Venice and they also met us at the water taxi for arrival and departure. You can check with your hotel to see if they can help. Water taxis are expensive, but for us, it was a justifiable expense to make it easy for our mobility impaired travel companions.

Once you offload the luggage and you will still have to navigate cobblestones, bridges, and challenges with navigating. I. 2017, we traveled with two people with mobility issue (back injury and knee injury). They wore good shoes, did not carry anything heavy and we took it slowly. In 2023, the mobility issues were hip related and we followed the same plan.

I wouldn't describe the paving in most of Venice (I say because after several trips I still haven't been to all of the city so I wouldn't want say the entirety) as cobblestones. That would imply small pavers with rounded edges and uneven height. What Venice has in great preponderance is what I would call pavers, man made squares or rectangles with a very small grout line between and very level. The calles (lanes) are humped a bit in the centre so that water flows to the sides and not the middle. Some bridges have bannisters, some don't.

Hi Angie, if you decide to take vaporettos which you probably will want as you sight-see after stopping at your hotel, I would recommend a walking stick. It will help with the unsteadiness, but it will also help others see that your husband would benefit from being in a spot on the boat that he can hold onto something. The vaporettos can be very crowded, and it’s not uncommon to be standing in the middle of a group of people wedged on the outside of it with nothing to grasp.

unless things have changed, I usually could find a seat indoors on a vaporetto. I wasn't looking for one but saw them as I hunted my second fav seating at the stern.

It was also my observation that Italians - if there are any on the vaporetto you are on - will generously give a seat on the dock and assist the infirm and elderly, and the very young without asking.