Venice airport to hotel near St. Mark's with luggage

[Sandy R]

We will be staying at the Locanda Orseolo Hotel just behind St. Mark's Square with it's own canal. We want to take our luggage with us to the hotel (2 large bags, 2 rollies) as we'll be staying 4 nights and don't want to leave them at the airport for that length of time. The hotel website says take a complimentary shuttle bus to the "Alilaguna" boat service which will leave us off at St. Mark's Square. No way can we then walk to the hotel with all our luggage. Is there any other way to get from the airport to our hotel? If so, will the cost be terribly high? I remember several years ago when we arrived in Venice by train, there were porters for hire that went on the vaporetto with us and carried our bags right to the hotel. Are there still porters and if yes, where do you hire them at the airport. Thanks for any help...

 

Sandy

[wwinfl91]

I have seen on the web that there are porters that can be hired at the railroad station.

Check out this site and use the search feature for "porter venice italy" and you should find a little information on it.

 

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/index.html

 

Just in case your search doesn't find the information here is what they said.

 

Porters

If you're traveling with a steamer trunk or a stack of Gucci suitcases, you may want to hire a baggage porter to haul your bags from the station to your hotel. Porters usually hang out near the left side of the station, at the bottom of the steps on the way to the vaporetti and water taxis. In theory, porters' rates are set by law, but you should negotiate a price before leaving the station.

 

They don't say how much it would cost. If you were going this route you would probably use land transportation from the airport to the railroad station which is near the Piazza Roma. Then once at the railroad station you would need to track down a porter who could take you to your hotel.

 

The only other option and one that would cost a lot more would be to take a water taxi from the airport or even from the waterbus station at St Marks to your hotel if it is directly on a canal and has the ability to handle people from the canal side.

 

Here is another link that mentions porters in Venice and has some Venice phone numbers.

 

http://www.bellinitravel.com/venice/infomaps.html

 

Have a great next cruise and a great time during your stay in Venice.

[preciouscheryl]

We are in the same state of confusion, as we are also looking to stay at the Locando Orseolo. Trying to figure out the luggage situation is puzzling. Whatever I find out, will send your way..and Please..Sandy, hope the same by you!

 

Thanks tons for the website info neighbor!

[Chick's pal]

Try contacting your hotel about porters!

 

Once we got off the airport water shuttle (10 E) at San Marco there were independent porters hanging around the dock area and offering their services for about 30 E. (I'm sure you could negotiate.) At the hotel, when it was time to check out, we asked the front desk about porter availability BACK to the dock area and were told that one could be arranged.

 

Those porters we encountered were just "guys with carts": specially designed carts to get up and down the stairs of the canal bridges.

 

I should add that we decided AGAINST the porters in the long run, just because we felt strong enough to deal with the 4 pieces of luggage we had.

 

ENJOY VENICE!

[preciouscheryl]

Chick's Pal..

Thanks for the scoop! We'd carry our own, too...BUT, with my back injury, it just won't work.

 

Have a great day!

[joan24]

Sandy,

We are staying at the Locanda Orseola for 4 nights also pre- cruise in May. We were told that a water taxi can take you right to the hotel from the airport. It's about 80 Euro. With my back, there is no way I'd take a vaporetto from the airport and have to lug suitcases. I was told that some water taxi drivers tend to try to leave you at St. Marks and say that they can't go down the canal, but they definitely can. You can reserve a taxi ahead of time, but if your plane is late, you will pay for the extra time. Good luck.

Joan

[preciouscheryl]

I just received an email from Locanda Orseola regarding luggage/transportation:

 

As far as the transportation is concerned, you can either take the ALILAGUNA boat from St. Mark's Square which takes about 15-20 Minutes or the private taxi from our Locanda which is the fastest way. The cost of the private taxi amounts to 70.00 Euro for all of you up to 5 baggages ( 5 Euro more every baggage add).

 

We remain at your complete disposal for any further request or information and, looking forward to reading from you soon, send our best regards from enchanting Venice!

[Sandy R]

Thanks to one of you, I logged onto the website re: porters. Seems like we will be able to find a porter near St. Mark's, to handle our luggage to the hotel.

 

Does anyone have first hand experience about taking the Alilaguna boat from the Venice airport. Where do you catch the boat from the airport. Are we required to take our own luggage to the boat or are there porters at the airport that we can hire or don't we need to.

 

I would rather not hire a private taxi for 70 euro. Is that a private land taxi or a private water taxi. But in the event we decide that's our best choice, where do we find either one, once we land at the Venice airport.

 

Thanks... Sandy

[wwinfl91]

When you get to the exit of the airport there is a bus that you can board that takes you to the dock where you will catch Alilaguna boat. There is no charge for the bus. You can use a luggage cart to get the bus but then will have to carry or roll hopefully your luggage down to the dock and then will need to load it into the waterbus. The trip across to Venice takes about 35 minutes or so. The buses are supposed to run about one an hour but they don't run late at night although they start relatively early, 8 AM I think in the morning. There is a web site for this service. Here is the english language version of it hopefully.

 

http://www.alilaguna.it/?lang=en

 

I'm pretty sure there is a schedule there.

 

Here is another site that talk about the Alliaguna service.

 

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/venice_airport_boat.htm

 

If you back up to the main site there is lots of information on Venice.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[Chick's pal]

The experience noted above was the same as ours. You should have no problem getting your bags from the shuttle bus onto the floating dock near the airport. The personnel on the water bus were VERY helpful with bags, both on and off.

[Sandy R]

Thanks to all of you for the information. Just another reason why I love the cruisecritic board and of course, all the wonderful posters! One last question... if we do decide to sport for a private water taxi, how do we manage that from the airport?

 

Sandy

[wwinfl91]

The taxi stop is right next to the Alilaguna waterbus stop. You would take the same free bus from the airport exit to the dock area. When we were there water taxis were constantly coming and going. There were several waiting for passengers. I don't know if they had been previously arranged but there also seemed to be plenty of them just there from dropping off passengers and waiting to pick up someone to take back. I do know when we were waiting for our waterbus one of them decided to use the waterbus stop to drop off his passengers because the water taxi dock was full. He then asked if anyone wanted to go to Venice by watertaxi rather than wait until the waterbus showed up.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[Aussie Gal]

One thing you need to bear in mind and that is if the Alilaguna water bus is full you will be in trouble with all your luggage. With all that work of loading and unloading luggage, we prefer to take a water taxi and be taken straight to the door of our hotel. You only need to make a wrong move and one's back could play up and then the holiday is ruined.

 

On land we always take taxis from the airport to our hotels, so what is the difference!

 

Jennie

[Sandy R]

Aussie Gal... you're advice struck a chord! I think a water taxi might just be our way to go. So, as I understand it, we take the complimentary bus from the airport, to the water taxi area. Is there any other way to get to the water taxi area other than the bus? And, does anyone know how we pre-reserve one of those water taxis. I assume, if we use a water taxi, we can request they take us right to the Locanda Orseolo and the hotel will take our luggage off the water taxi, into the hotel. What we're going to pay for this whole trip, another $100 isn't going to set us back and it might just save my husband's back! Sorry about the pun...

 

Sandy

[wwinfl91]

Other than walking down to the dock area I don't remember seeing any other way of gettting there. I don't think they allow you to take the luggage carts and roll them down with you so as I said you do end up having to load and then unload your luggage on to the bus that takes you to the docks.

 

I would imagine the hotel could arrange to have a water taxi reserved for you but I had read somewhere if your flight is late the water taxi will try to charge you for their extra waiting time. I don't really think getting a water taxi at the airport dock would be a problem without a reservation. There seemed to be plenty of them available the two trips we made to the airport.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[Chick's pal]

I'm sure the water taxi services have this covered, but be aware that when you walk out of the airport at Venice you aren't at the water immediately. (we were surprised by this!) So you'll have to be sure there is some way for you to get to the water, which is a short jaunt, perhaps the equivalent of about 2-3 blocks, on winding roads, through a fairly industrial area (many unused buildings) with not really a sidewalk on which to walk.

 

I just thought this info might be helpful if you decide to book a water taxi in advance. It is also my memory that there are a good number of booths outside of baggage claim that are selling a variety of transportation services, so surely you could arrange for a water taxi there as well.

 

Perhaps this is all info you already know, but before our trip last year, this was one of my biggest worries--how to get around in Venice. Of course it ended up to be quite easy.

[Aussie Gal]

We have used water taxis before but we came by train and that was an easy exercise from the station to the hotel and vice versa. The water taxis were waiting to pick up passengers from the trains and the hotel organized the return journey.

 

This year we will be using them from the ship to the hotel and then from the hotel to the airport. I am sure it won't be a hassle as the Venetians have been looking after tourists for years.

 

Jennie

[Janice621]

Just got to this thread. We will be leaving on the Celebrity Millenium on June 20, 2005 from Venice. We are flying to Venice on June 18 and arriving the next day. The info on how to get to the hotel (ours is the Hotel Bonvecchiati which is on a canal) has been informative. I am wondering how we are going to get to the ship. I understand Celebrity has a shuttle from the ship to St. Mark's. Could we use that or is another private water taxi in order?

[doubled]

Janice621

 

 

Unfortunately, you'll have to use a water taxi or vaparetto to get to cruise terminal. We had some friends that tried to use free shuttle just this last June and they wouldn't let them on even though they show'd there cruise docs.

 

We are on this same cruise. Come and join our rollcall on the rollcall board.http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=38519&page=1&pp=25

 

Art

[rwdtgb]

Sandy

 

We go to Venice every year,when you leave the airport and hop on the bus to the water(I have never tried to walk from the terminal to the dock).The docks seem to be about 1/2 mile from the terminal.There is no need to pre-arrange the taxi there are plenty waiting for you.The taxi captain will load and unload your luggage and if you meet up with anyone else going to your hotel you can split the cost of the taxi with them.The cost for the boat is about 70 euros...

Tom

[Aussie Gal]

Janice,

 

We stayed at the Hotel Bonveccheati on our very first visit to Venice in 1994. It brings back so many happy memories. It is just around the corner from St. Marco square and is an easy walk. There is also a basin right at the hotel where the gondoliers tie up. I don't know if this info is of any help, but it is nice to know of someone staying there. We had a lovely big room looking over the street and canal. Some of the other rooms were very small.

 

Jennie

[betonic]

I'm not sure if this is of any use but we're going to Venice in early October and w're staying at Hotel Luna Baglioni. I sent them an e-mail asking for transportation and they responded with 2 options. 1. They would send a private driver to the airport and then a private water taxi. This service would cost 140 Euros plus tax. 2. We can take public transportation to the taxi dock and get a taxi to the hotel (but according to them you can't reserve the water taxi in advance). The cost would be about 100 Euros.

 

Good Luck!