Venice pre cruise hotel advise

[Kineticoh20]

Looking for a hotel that a land taxi can take us from the airport to the hotel front door. ( wife and I take a rediculous amount of luggage) and I'm not looking to stress out after a 16 hr flight from California. A hotel where another taxi can take us to the terminal the next day. any help from you savy Venice travelers is appreciated :)

[roothy123]

Perhaps some people will have suggestions, but in the meantime, I'll try to help:

 

If you think you'll be too beat to go out into Venice when you arrive, and would just use the hotel as a place to sleep, you might look at Mestre, a town or suburb just north of Venice and off of the island of Venice. The hotels there are cheaper, they are often more modern than in Venice (think elevator versus stairs) and cabs can get there easily. If you want to go into Venice, it's a 10 minute train ride away, and many of the hotels there are near the train station.

 

Tom's Port Guides (online) are a wonderful source for cruise information. The author, Tom Sheridan, has a favorite hotel in Mestre, so if Mestre sounds like the place for you, you might want to take a look at his Venice guide. He likes the Tritone Hotel in Mestre.

 

If you go with a Venice hotel, make sure you find out if they have an elevator, and if not, if you'll have to climb any stairs. What they call 1st floor is actually a flight up from the ground, so be aware of that! In that case, I think the Alilaguna water boat from the airport goes to a stop that is close to that docking area, and they allow unlimited luggage.

 

I'm assuming your ship will be docked at the regular cruise port (Marittima) but just in case you're on a river boat (Viking, AMA, etc.) be aware that you will probably dock at the San Basilio pier, which I don't think has cab access.

Edited January 17, 2015 by roothy123

[mapleleaves]

Piazzale Roma is the last point of land travel in Venice, so it's where buses, taxis, cars, drop off passengers. There are 2 hotels right at PRoma where a cab can drop you off the door, and a taxi can also pick you up there and drop you at the pier. Santa Chiara and Ca Doge. One has an elevator.

If you can manage a block walk and a small bridge, there's Best Western Olimpia, Arlecchino, and Papadopoli.

Look at http://www.veniceforvisitors.com and find the hotel listing 'by bridges to cross'.

[rocklinmom]

We stayed at the Locanda Vivaldi last June. It was excellent in every way and in a perfect location, and has door to door water taxi service. Not the cheapest but well worth it.

[grandmacani]

We have stayed at hotel Santa Chiara. Right off the bus to the hotel. No bridges to walk over. When we left for the ship we walked out and took a cab. Was about 10 euros. The port is close but getting your bags up to the people mover then walk to drop off luggage looked like to much for my bad hip. Was worth the taxi. Dropped us off where we left our bags. The hotel does have an elevator.

 

 

 

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[Kineticoh20]

Think i might take Roothy,s advice. I can find a great hotel in Estre, take a cab from airport and drop off right in front. Then next day right up to cruise terminal. What is the procedure getting from Estre to spend the day/evening on the island say St Marks square. Where does the train drop you off and how far from there to the square?

[roothy123]

If you pick a hotel near the Mestre train station it’s about a 10 minute walk (or short cab ride) to the station where you can catch a train (frequent service) to Venice’s train station (called Ferrovia Santa Lucia, I think. Ferrovia means train). Train ride is about 10 minutes. Hotel Cris is one hotel that looked good to me in Mestre (reasonably priced, but make sure it DOES have elevator or that they can give you room without steps to it). There’s also a Best Western closer to the station and bus route in Mestre, and some people recommend the Hotel Tritone. Those last 2 places were a little pricey for me, but you may want to look at them, plus the Hotel Cris. Anyway, train ends in Venice, but unless you're up for what looks to be at least a half hour confusing walk, you'll need to find the train station's vaporetto landings. Take #1 or #2 ACTV vaporetto boat (not yellow Alilaguna boat, and not water taxi, which is expensive) in the direction of San Marco and Lido. I think you can buy tickets from the machines at most vaporetto landings. One ticket (ne-way) is around 7 euros or a 24-hour pass is maybe 20 or 24 euros or something like that. Get off about 30 minutes later (if on #2) or 40 minutes later (#1) at San Marco. I think the stop is San Marco Vallaresso; if so, the church will be right there to your right. If you miss the stop, next stop is close by (another San Marco stop) but church would then be on your left. The #1 and #2 go under the Rialto Bridge, so you’ll see that on the way to San Marco (St. Mark’s) Square. You can also walk down the waterfront a short way to see the Bridge of Sighs (be alert for pickpockets, I hear). I believe there are one or two vaporettos that are faster and less crowded from the #1 and 2, but it's a bit more complicated to tell you about them. For more info on the ACTV vaporettos, however, see http://www.veniziaunica.it

 

To get back, take vaporetto in opposite direction (stop you want is “Ferrovia,” near "Piazalle Roma”) and take train back to Mestre.

 

There’s also a bus to Venice from Mestre, but I don’t know much about it. You would also have to find the vaporetto landing at Piazalle Roma, which sounds more confusing than finding the one at the train station, so I’d recommend the train.

 

So to sum up, you can take a cab from San Marco airport in Venice to Mestre. If you want to go to St. Mark's from there, you go by train and vaporetto. Cab to port in the morning.