Getting to Venice

Getting to Vencie by airplane, train, or car.

Arriving in Venice by train

The first thing you need to know is that there are two Venices—and two Venice train stations. The first station you come to arriving by train is "Venezia-Mestre." Do not get off here! Mestre is merely the landlubbing, industrial suburb of Venice. Stay on the train as it crosses the causeway to the island-city and the station of "Venezia—Stazione Santa Lucia."

(If your ticket is to "Venezia-Mestre," never fear; every few minutes shuttle trains leave for the 10-minute, 5-mile ride halfway across the lagoon into Venice proper.)

Arriving in Venice by car

What you do is, you drive across the causeway into Venice and Piazzale Roma, and then immediately pull into the first garage on your right (cheapest of the bunch) to park your car for the duration of your stay. There are no cars allowed in Venice at all. Hard to drive on all that water, see.

The airports that serve Venice

Most people still arrive in Venice by train, but with the rise of no-frills airlines, more and more can get here by plane. Venice's Marco Polo Airport (www.veniceairport.it) is in Mestre.

From the airport, you can either catch a motoscafo boat direct to Piazza San Marco (it stops once en route at the Lido, Venice's resorty beach island and costs €12; www.alilaguna.it), or a slightly cheaper, half-hour bus ride to Piazzale Roma, the car parking lot near Stazione Santa Lucia. For once, I vote going the slightly more expensive route as it's way more romantic to arrive by boat (besides, unelss you're staying very close to Piazzale Roma, you'll end up paying an additional €6 for a vaporetto from Piazzale Roma to get to your hotel anyway).

Some low-cost flights, including those on Ryanair, land at another regional airport near Treviso (www.trevisoairport.it). It's about a one-hour, €5 bus ride from Venice (buses are timed to meet incoming Ryanair flights).