Transportation

7 km from Historic Venice, the Marco Polo airport rests on the mainland. To reach the Island from there, trains, busses or cars travel along the man-made causeway: Ponte della Libetrà. This road connects the mainland to the eastern edge of the island and stops in Santa Croce at the Santa Lucia train station or the Piazzale Roma bus station. Cars not left in car parks on the mainland must be parked in the Piazzale Roma or the Tronchetto, which is the largest parking lot in Europe. The east side is also the site of a large boat station, the Stazione Marittima. Tronchetto (Go Europe)

Piazzale Roma (Go Europe)

Arriving in Venice, the comfortable modes of transportation are left behind and one must resort to travel by water through canals or foot over pavement. Cali or streets wind through the island, zigzagging between canals and connecting campos. Essentially narrow alleyways, these streets do not display any traditional layout. When aqua alta floods the canals and streets, temporary, elevated walkways are constructed.

Irregular Streets and Canal layout (Michelin)

Vaparetto (Michelin)

Water transport along Venice’s canals ranges from fast, efficient, and expensive to slow, congested and fairly cheap. The most common form of service is the vaparetto or waterbus, which picks up and drops off at specific stops. These large, usually crowded boats are heavily used on the Canal Grande. Smaller, lighter boats called motoscafi are employed on less crowded, narrower routes. Most waterbuses are operated by the ACTV company, which continually changes and “updates” its maps and routes, causing confusion and uproar among its patrons. The company provides special services, but only in certain seasons along certain routes, primarily for tourists.

Water-taxi (Michelin)

Two types of transportation cater to the elite and tourist groups traversing the city. Water taxis are fast, sleek, and extremely expensive. Another expensive mode of transportation is the traditional gondola - practically designed to navigate the narrow canals. Synonymous with a gondolier singing “Amour, amour” as he poles along, these gondolas are kept up chiefly for the tourist industry. The gondolas are pricey, especially those unaffiliated with an official gondola stand.

Gondolas (Michelin)