Travel to Venice
Flying to Venice
Airlines operating direct flights to Venice from the UK include British Airways, easyJet, Flybe, Jet2.com and Ryanair. Cheap flights to Venice are available out of the main summer period, although you can find year-round bargains by shopping around with budget airlines. There are seasonal flights from the USA with American Airlines.
Flight times
From London - 2 hours 10 minutes; Philadelphia - 10 hours 15 minutes (including stopover); Los Angeles - 13 hours 35 minutes (including stopover); Toronto - 9 hours 40 minutes (including stopover); Sydney - 24 hours (including stopover).
Travel by road
The main road route into Venice is the A4, although once travellers arrive in Venice, driving is no longer possible. Most vehicles taken as far as the city are parked at a car park in Piazzale Roma or Tronchetto. Parking at these locations is expensive, so travellers often opt to park in Mestre on the mainland and continue their journey by train or boat.
Traffic drives on the right and the minimum driving age is 18 years. Speed limits are 130kph (80mph) on motorways, 90/110kph (56/68mph) on country roads and 50kph (30mph) in urban areas. All those without an EU licence must carry an International Driving Permit. A Green Card is useful, though not compulsory for EU nationals.
The Automobile Club d'Italia (ACI) (tel: +39 06 491 115; www.aci.it) provides a useful advisory service and can deal with breakdowns.
Emergency breakdown services
Automobile Club d’Italia (ACI) (tel: +39 803 116; 800 116 800 (for foreign tourists)).
Routes
The main route is the A4, which passes through Turin, Milan and Padua before arriving at Venice. There is good access to this road from connecting routes to other major cities, including the A13 from Bologna and the A1 from Florence, Naples and Rome.
Coaches
Eurolines (tel: +39 0861 199 1900; www.eurolines.it) and Flixbus (www.flixbus.it) provide coach services to cities across Europe. ATVO (tel: +39 0421 5944; www.atvo.it) operates a more local service and stops in Treviso, Verona, Padua and Milan from the Piazzale Roma.
Time to city
From Milan - 3 hours; Bologna - 2 hours; Rome - 5 hours 35 minutes; Paris - 11 hours 30 minutes; Barcelona - 12 hours 50 minutes.
Travel by Rail
Services
The railway service in Venice is well maintained, thanks to the fact that the majority of travellers arrive either by rail or boat. High-speed rail links connect Venice with other Italian cities.
The railway station servicing Venice is the Saint Lucia Station at the west end of the Grand Canal. You must validate paper tickets in machines on the platform before boarding regional trains. Visitors can also travel on e-tickets.
Operators
Trenitalia (tel: 892 021; www.trenitalia.com) is the national rail company, which runs a fast, efficient and good-value service throughout Italy. Italo (tel: 892 020, in Italy only; www.italotreno.it) offers a high-speed service from Venice to Bologna via Padua and Florence.
Journey times
From Bologna - 1 hour 25 minutes; Florence - 2 hours 5 minutes; Rome - 4 hours; Milan - 2 hours 30 minutes; Verona - 1 hour 10 minutes; Paris - 11 hours 55 minutes.
Travel by boat
The main ferry port in Venice is the Port of Venice (tel: +39 041 533 4111; www.port.venice.it) which operates ferries out of the Venice Passenger Terminal (tel: +39 041 240 3000; www.vtp.it) located to the west of the city centre. The port also caters for large cruise ships and is one of Europe’s busiest ports. The new Terminal Fusina (www.terminalfusina.it) is the calling port for international ferry lines like Anek Lines and Minoan Lines. The historic city centre from Venice can be easily reached from Terminal Fusina by ferry, bus and train.
Ferry operators
Ferry services to other cities and countries are run mainly in the summer. Venezia Lines (tel: +385 52 422 896; venezialines.com) operates from April to October and provides high-speed catamaran sailings linking Venice to Istria in Croatia as well as to Slovenia.
Transfer
The People Mover, an elevated funicular, connects Piazzale Roma to the Port of Venice.
