Venice Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Land

Bus

Azienda del Consorzio Trasporti Veneziano (ACTV; 041 24 24; www.actv.it) local buses leave from the bus station on Piazzale Roma for surrounding areas, including Mestre and Chioggia.

ATVO (Azienda Trasporti Veneto Orientale; 041 520 55 30) operates buses to destinations all over the eastern Veneto. A handful of other companies have the occasional service to more-distant locations but, for most places in Italy, the train is an easier option. Tickets and information are available at the ticket office on Piazzale Roma.

Car & motorcycle

The congested A4 connects Trieste with Turin, passing through Mestre (and hence Venice). Take the Venezia exit and follow the signs. From the south, take the A13 from Bologna, which connects with the A4 at Padua.

Once over the Ponte della Libertà bridge from Mestre, cars must be left at one of the car parks on Piazzale Roma or Tronchetto. You will pay €20 or more for every 24 hours. Parking stations in Mestre are cheaper.

The car-rental companies listed here all have offices on Piazzale Roma, as well as at Marco Polo airport. Several companies operate in or near Mestre train station too.

Avis (041 523 73 77)

Europcar (Map pp338-9; 041 523 86 16)

Expressway (041 522 30 00)

Hertz (041 528 40 91)

Train

Venice’s Stazione di Santa Lucia is linked by train to Padua (€2.70 to €10, 30 to 40 minutes, three or four each hour), Verona (€6.10 to €14, 1¼ to 2¼ hours, two each hour). Regular trains race further afield to Milan (€24, 2¾ to three hours), Bologna (€8.20 to €21, one hour 20 minutes to two hours 10 minutes), Florence (€15.90 to €30, three to four hours) and many other cities. You can also reach Venice by rail from major points in France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia and Croatia.

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Boat

Minoan Lines (www.minoan.gr) and Anek (www.anekitalia.com) run regular ferries to Venice from Greece. Venezia Lines (www.venezialines.com) runs high-speed boats to and from Croatia in summer.

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Air

Venice’s modern Marco Polo airport (VCE;041 260 92 60; www.veniceairport.it) is 12km outside Venice and just east of Mestre. Some flights, notably Ryanair’s budget services, use the minuscule San Giuseppe airport (TSF; 0422 31 51 11; www.trevisoairport.it), about 5km southwest of Treviso and 30km (about an hour’s drive through traffic) from Venice. Airport bus services link both airports with Venice and Mestre, and the Alilaguna fast ferry runs from Marco Polo airport.

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