【Travel】Venice .:: The Essentials ::.

The idea of moving around by water buses in Venice was daunting at first because we were so used to being chauffeured around by cars and buses, and having to move around in boats was a little unimaginable. Fortunately, the water buses in Venice ran frequently and the ticketing system was reasonably easy to understand.

Getting to Venice (Train)

We caught the train from Florence to Venice (Venezia Santa Lucia station). This is a photo of the train station, so as soon as we walked out, we were greeted by the canal and lots of boats. There was a ACTV water bus ticket office right in front of the train station by the dock, best to buy your tickets here if you intend to travel on the water buses as not all stations sell tickets (or you can buy the tickets on the water bus only if you ask the sailor when you board – bit troublesome).

 

Getting around

Water buses (vaporetti)

The boats in the background of this photo were the water buses, known as the vaporetto (plural vaporetti). The price was pretty steep, it was 7€ for a 1-hour ticket! For tourists, the better option would be buying one of the following tourist travel cards:

• 18,00 € – 12-HOURS TRAVELCARD TOUR OF THE ISLANDS
• 20,00 € – 24-HOURS TRAVELCARD
• 25,00 € – 36-HOURS TRAVELCARD
• 30,00 € – 48-HOURS TRAVELCARD
• 35,00 € – 72-HOURS TRAVELCARD
• 50,00 € – 7 DAYS TRAVELCARD

We got the 48-hour one, still felt it was very pricey… but the fact that it could be used for Burano Island (it takes just less than 1 hour to get there from the main lagoons) made me feel much better. Click [here] to see my photos and trip review for Burano Island.

Tips

• Remember to take your backpack off your shoulders when you are on board. It is common courtesy to fellow passengers and also the law.
• When we went, we had one large suitcase, one carry-on luggage and two backpacks with us and we had no trouble boarding the water bus. There was plenty of standing area at the front and people do let us squeeze in when they saw us with luggage. There was always a sailor at the door (to tie the ferry to its stop), and they offered assistance to make sure everyone getting on and off the water bus in an orderly fashion.
• Remember to validate your ticket when you board.

 

Water Taxis

There were also water taxis available for those in a hurry. They all looked like pretty decent boats with leather seats and everything.

Gondola

The iconic Venice impression – the gondola. It used to be the main transportation watercraft used in the lagoons in the old days, however, technology caught up and they are nowadays only a tourist attraction to help us to picture Venice from 200 years ago.

We didn’t feel the need to spend another 80€ for half an hour on a gondola (80€!)  as we already toured the grand canal on the water bus, and our hostel was right in front of a small canal anyway so we felt we’d seen it all. Of course, if it’s always been your lifelong dream to go on a gondola, definitely do it!

 

Other watercraft

Guess what this was? We saw it one early morning near our water bus stop.

It’s a water garbage truck!! So this is how the Venetians deal with their garbage! It wasn’t smelly at all and the water truck itself seemed pretty well cleaned up too. Before I came, I’d heard people saying Venice smells and the water’s dirty – didn’t feel any of it while we were there!

 

And this is their cargo boat, well now that I think of it, it’s just a normal boat haha! Somehow everything seemed so fancy in Venice.

 

Accommodation

We stayed at the Residenza Al Doge Beato. At 105€ per room per night (in April) with an external private bathroom, it was a reasonably priced property with a small canal view from the balcony, clean sheets, clean and new bathroom, classy decors, unlimited wifi internet and free in-room breakfast.

 

Apart from the nice little canal view, it’s located near the water bus station San Stae so getting to and from was easy.

The breakfast came in a tray with your choice of tea or coffee. Nothing fancy but it was better than nothing! The only downside with this hostel was that the reception wasn’t 24/7 as the reception guy worked at another place – so even though he let us leave our luggage there for our last morning in Venice, we had to rush back to pick up our luggage to suit his time because he had to be somewhere else and we had already checked out.

{Residenza Al Doge Beato}
Address: Santa Croce 1662, Santa Croce, Venice, 30100
Phone: +390415241732
Email: info@aldogebeato.com

 

Airport Shuttle

We took the ATVO airport shuttle as it worked out to be the quickest and most cost effective option – 6€ will get you a one-way ticket to the Marco Polo airport in 20 minutes from Piazzale Roma. Check their website for their timetable. Note this is another operator completely different than the ACTV – you can buy your tickets from the office near the bus stop at Piazzale Roma, the ticket machine outside of that office or just buy from the bus driver. As soon as you come out from the Piazzale Roma water bus station, you would see the bus depot.

The ACTV option is catching the water bus to Piazzale Roma, and then take an actual bus from there. The tickets were more expensive (7€) and it took a lot longer (40-50mins?).

 

What to eat

Apart from the usual Italian food affairs, order these Venice specialties:

• Squid ink pasta!
• Fish risotto (at Burano Island).
• Campari soda (the orange coloured drink).
• Anything seafood.

Before you sit down at any restaurant, check if they have a cover charge! And some of them served really small portion of food so look out if you’re a big eater.

By the way, I got the tiramisu from a gelato place called San Stae Fontego delle Dolcezze near our hostel. It was amazing!

HER{curio}MAJESTY – I was here. April 2014.