When planning your Italy tours catalogue, it’s important not to forget about public transportation. Getting to and around a destination is one of the three keystones of travel planning; the other two are food and attractions. Therefore, we’ve gathered all Venice public transport options in this article.
Public Transport in Venice: Map, Tickets and Prices for Tours in Italy
Venice, one of the world’s most visited tourist destinations, is unlike any other city in Europe, even the world. Situated on an archipelago of shallow islands in the Venetian Lagoon, it has no main roads and virtually no vehicle traffic. Instead, when looking at a Venice public transport map, you’ll immediately notice that all routes are on water.
While this may seem out of the ordinary to you at first sight, it’s actually much less complicated than you’d think. You just need someone to explain things to you. Allow us to be that person!
Public Transport to Venice
First of all, let’s look into how to get to Venice with public transportation. Although there is no land-based Venice public transportation, you can actually get to the islands over land.
From major mainland arrival points in Venice, including the cruise terminal, Marco Polo Airport or even Treviso Airport, you can get to Venice via these services:
- Land bus
- Train
- Land taxi
- People Mover
These overland Venice public transport options stop at Piazzale Roma, which is the location of the Santa Lucia train station, the People Mover station and bus station on Venice’s main island. It’s also a busy connection point for all kinds of water-based public transport in Venice.
You can find all kinds of information about getting to and around Venice on the ACTV website.
Besides those various land-based transportation options to Venice, you can also get a water taxi from your arrival point to your destination. Note, however, that those can be quite expensive.
Another option is the Alilaguna or water bus, which is cheaper and has a handful of routes around the archipelago, connecting major locations like Marco Polo Airport, the cruise terminal, Lido, Murano and San Marco.
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Water taxi
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Alilaguna (water bus)
Check here for the Alilaguna time schedules and route map.
Public Transport around Venice
Once you’ve made it to Venice and all its scenic canals and photogenic bridges, there are still a few different Venice public transport options available. Let’s start with the most popular and best available one.
1. “Vaporetto”
The most convenient and affordable way to get around Venice with public transportation is the so-called “vaporetto” service. A vaporetto is nothing else than a water bus, Venice’s version of the city buses you see in most other cities.
These public transportation boats are pretty large and operate according to fixed timetables and routes. You can find Venice vaporetto timetables here. Venice public transport tickets to vaporettos can be bought all over the city, from Venezia Unica agencies to self-serve ticket machines, at newspaper stands or online.
This is by far the best way to travel around Venice when your feet ache after wandering through Venice’s maze of historic alleyways.
2. Water Taxis
Just like in other cities in Italy, you can also get a taxi to your destination. However, in Venice, those are water taxis rather than cars. While this form of private Venice public transport gets you directly to where you’re going, it’s often expensive. As far as Venice public transport prices go, they don’t get much higher than private water taxis.
Additionally, since they can only dock at designated locations, you can’t call a water cab like you would elsewhere.
3. Alilaguna
The Alilaguna is a third option to get around Venice. This service has only four routes, but those do take in many major spots around the city. So, if you’re not looking for a service you can use on a whim all over the city, the select number of Alilaguna routes and stops could be a good option for you.
Transport in Venice with FindYourItaly
At Find Your Italy, we use the best of these Venice public transport options in our tours to and in Venice. From high-speed train transportation to Venice to complimentary transfer between your hotel and the airport, we make visiting Venice on Italy tours as easy as it could be.
