Visitor Information for your trip to Venice

Historical Venice begins approx 400 A.D., with the first settlers on the Venetian Lagoon being fearful men coming from the mainland close by. For centuries these people had lived a life of prosperity across a chain of cities in the Roman Empire littered up and down the north-eastern Adriatic sea shore.

Are there any roads in Venice? Nope. Just lots of water and therefore canals. This includes the Grand Canal – speckled with palaces from the Renaissance and Gothic eras. At Piazza San Marco, lies St. Mark’s Basilica, tiled with beautiful Byzantine mosaics, and the bell tower, Campanile, providing spectacular views of the red roofs of Venice. Many of us think of the romantic journey down a canal in Venice but never decide on booking a holiday there. If you’re ready to take the plunge, try here for some romantic getaway deals.

Getting to Venice and Getting Around

From the US, there are now multiple Delta flights from JFK directly into Venice every week, however for most flights from North America you’ll have to take a connecting flight, typically Milan or Rome.

Venice's Marco Polo Airport is in the northern reaches of the suburb, Mestre. From here, you’ll want to get “downtown”, which means to the historical centre of Venice— full of the little islands, with interwoven canals and palaces.

A classy but cheap option (shared motorboat): If you’re going on the cheap and don’t want to pay for private boat transfers, you can go by a shared motorboat as an alternative. This is rated as a top semi-private boat deal, ideally for 2 or 3 people but cheaper than the water taxis. The boat makes a number of scheduled stops (as per passenger), with the ability to alter the route to serve its passengers.

The best option (Alilaguna traghetto): You’ll need to walk about 500 yards outside of the airport. Outside of the “arrivals” building, go left and look for the signs for "Water Bus/Alilaguna" under a canopy across the street, and down to the boat landing area, like a boardwalk. You can purchase tickets from the kiosk before jumping aboard the boat (or alternatively, the blue machine at the airport).

There are two main lines, each colour-coded and a number of seasonal lines. Most visitors go for the blue, orange or red line.

ACTV Citybus

If for some reason you would rather get to Venice on land, the number 5 city bus goes from the airport to Piazzale Roma in Venice. Running several times every hour, it takes approx 35 mins.

Just a word of advice; when you hop onto the bus you need to validate the ticket immediately on the bus’ ticket machine. The ACTV bus stop is just near the main airport door but down the street to the left a little. If you’re not sure yet how you will get to Venice from the airport, you can find out more information about transport to/from Venice Airport.

Some Sights On The Canal

Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s square are nice sights to visit during your trip and if you want to brave the waters yourself, then check out Venice Kayak to get some adrenaline and exercise into your holiday too.

Venice. A truly madly deeply place for lovebirds. Are you married? Maybe this is your proposal moment.


This is a contribution from one of our contributing writers.