Venice Excursions From Chioggia

[Loibs]

We are going on Italy, The Adriatic & Greece in 2023. Based on the ship docking in Chioggia and the long commute to Venice we just booked a hotel in Venice for one night.  Now we will only have one roundtrip to the ship and an overnight stay in Venice.  We are planning to make the third short day in Chioggia a "spa day" on the ship.

[SueandJay]

On 12/6/2022 at 11:02 AM, OneSixtyToOne said:

We are doing the pre trip extension in Venice so we are thinking about taking the optional trip to Padua when onboard the ship. Looking at the map, it might be a shorter trip than trying to go into Venice again. Has anyone taken this tour?

My husband and I did the trip to Padua last summer during the day the ship sat in Venice before sailing away at the start of our cruise. It was a nice excursion. We pre-booked our own reservations to see the Scrovegni chapel, and then hired a driver for the round-trip from the port to Padua and back. Be forewarned that your visit to the chapel will only be 30 minutes, 15 minutes to adjust the humidity level and 15 minutes in the chapel. But it’s worth it! There is also a nice little museum at the site, with a pretty sculpture garden and café.

[longterm]

On 11/30/2022 at 5:39 PM, jc522 said:

Previous IA&G cruises must have docked in Chioggia. If you were on one of them, please describe the situation relative to maximizing 2.5 days in Venice, as we had hoped to do.

We did the Italy, Adriatic & Greece tour in March 2021, just as Italy reopened after the pandemic.

At that time, Viking docked at Marghera, which is actually a rather nasty chemical plant (read Donna Leon's books to get her take on the foul place). Marghera is largely out of use now, but still not a safe place; in fact, a notice was delivered to our stateroom telling us what to do in the case of a chemical emergency siren. Luckily, we didn't hear one.

On the 2nd night we were moved to another dock (not Choggia, but close to Marghera); Marghera was 45 minutes from Venice.

 

We weren't told that we wouldn't be docking in Venice, but I had already known that the lagoon had been closed for cruise ships earlier in the year.

While the distance to Venice didn't affect our trip, we were more affected by the rule that, at the time, Italy wouldn't allow cruise passengers to wander anywhere in Italy without a tour guide. When we did excursions, there were two guides--one at the front of the group, another at the rear. We were never allowed to wander freely, although our guide in Venice did grant us 30 minutes on our own to walk around without chaperone.

We're going on that cruise again in 2026, but are tacking on the Barcelona to Rome leg, and also the Athens to Istanbul leg on the end. Our plan is to get off the ship when we arrive in Choggia, go to Venice, where we'll have a hotel room booked for two nights, and then return to the ship after 2 nights. That way we won't have to make the trek back and forth, and we'll enjoy Venice in the early hours and late hours when tourists loads are lowest.