Tour Guide Pickup at Cruise Port in Venice

[Dynamictwo]

Some questions follow:

 

We are on the Carnival Sunshine that has an overnight in Venice. I was wondering (1) do we need a tour guide in Venice, or can we do everything on our own, and (2) when we leave the ship in Venice, we need to get to the Hilton Garden Inn Venice Mestre or get a tour guide to pick us up at the ship, give us a half day or full day tour, and then drop us off at the hotel.

 

Can anyone help wiith our questions? Tour guide recommendations would also be terrific.

 

Thanks in advance for your help. Also, we are a group of 6 already.

 

Steve

[Hlitner]

Some questions follow:

 

We are on the Carnival Sunshine that has an overnight in Venice. I was wondering (1) do we need a tour guide in Venice, or can we do everything on our own, and (2) when we leave the ship in Venice, we need to get to the Hilton Garden Inn Venice Mestre or get a tour guide to pick us up at the ship, give us a half day or full day tour, and then drop us off at the hotel.

 

Can anyone help wiith our questions? Tour guide recommendations would also be terrific.

 

Thanks in advance for your help. Also, we are a group of 6 already.

 

Steve

 

You will find a lot of answers to some of your questions by simply looking at the many posts in this forum. But, our short answer would be that unless you simply love having a tour guide to hold your hand...you can definitely do all of Venice (and even the other islands in the lagoon) on your own. But you will need a decent guide book (we recommend the Rick Steves Book) and you should do your pre-trip homework and have some idea of the things you want to see and do. Venice is a city made for walking....with some supplemental transportation provided by the vaporetto (water buses) system.

 

As to your hotel in Mestre, the easiest way to get there is to simply take a land taxi from either the port or nearby Piazale Roma. If you want to spend that last day in Venice and go to your hotel later in the day you could check your luggage at the luggage check place located in the Piazale Roma and then later return to claim your luggage and grab a taxi. Another option would be to take the train to Mestre (not sure how far your hotel is from the train station) and the train station is within walking distance of the Piazzale Roma (which is connected to the port by the new People Mover) although you would have to drag your luggage a few blocks and over a foot bridge.

 

Hank