Getting There – how to get around
Each solid guide has to start with the basics: how to arrive. In Venice, it is very simple. In
general, what is nice of Venice that it allows you to stay relaxed. It is easy, comfortable and convenient once
you know it (even though it may seem overwhelming at the beginning).
The easiest way to get to the city from both Marco Polo and Treviso (a small airport where some of the discounters arrive) is by bus. You will see the coaches once you are out of the arrival hall, the price is 6 to 10 Euro per ticket and if you fail communicating with the ticket machine located right on the bus stop, you still can get a ticket from the driver. The travel time is 30 minutes from Marco Polo and an hour from Treviso. I recommend to get the round trip fare as this would save you a couple euros and, more importantly, the time).
The coaches arrive to the Piazzale Roma – which is a sort of “junction” and the starting/ending point for many vaporetto’s (water trams) and buses that connect the city with the mainland. Train station (Ferrovia) is also located very closed – just a few steps away.
If you arrive during the daytime, go straight to the Biletteria (a small building with the tickets office) and buy a vaporetto pass for the duration of your stay.
The passes are available for 24, 48 and 72 hours and for a week. It will save you a great deal of money, as otherwise a one–way fair would cost 7 euro. Yikes! On entering the floating vaporetto station (Fermata), validate your pass with one of the machines located on the poles before the entrance. If you have a pass for 24 etc hours, it needs the validation only once. If you have a ticket with certain number of journeys, on the other hand, you should validate it every time.
If you are lucky and arrive at night, you can try to get your pass from the ticket machine that is also located at every station, or if you don’t want to spend much time trying to understand how it functions (just because there are too many options to choose from), and vaporetto is arriving, just get a one way ticket. That will be a 7 euro deal…. However (tsss, I’ve told you this is a guide for very special people J), should you not wish to spend 7 (14, 21, etc euro, depending on the number of your party), you may pretend you did not know how it works! Most likely, you will not get caught and fined. During the whole month I saw just once a special person checking tickets on the boat (and then I did not have a chance to give him mine having to leave before he’s even got to me, as we arrived to my fermata). I saw, however, him asking a foreign lady who did not have a ticket to pay her fare – that is, not a penalty, just the normal ticket price. When arrives the morning, you can get your pass at any station from the cashier or from machine. The Venetians are very gentili (kind). Having said that, the vaporetto’s are so charming and efficient, and the folks working thereon do such great job, I felt it’s only fair to be nice and pay my fare.
Ok, since we’ve already started on the water tram, let’s get it sorted…. So, let's begin with first and foremost –
Il VAPORETTO
Il Vaporetto, as some of you know, is the water tram. Also, it is the only means of public transportation in Venezia (even the bicycles are banned, leaving the strollers literally the only vehicle on wheels allowed on the islands). The Lido is an exception, it has the cars, but I haven’t been to Lido due to (a) it’s famous for its beach and I arrived in autumn; and (b) because it has the cars.
Living in the paradise without the cars, not hearing their rumore (noise), not sensing their chaotic movement all around gives some splendid, miraculous, non–comparable liberty. When you get tired of enjoying the quiet beauty of the palazzo’s reflected in the misty waters, or the marvelous courtyards still keeping the trace of the doges once walking there in their splendid robes, il Vaporetto comes quite handy to allow to continue discovering the city from the water or just to get you home (or to your chosen dinner venue, to that extent).
First and foremost, i vaporetti (this is Italian plural for the word) run all day and all night, with the regular intervals. On each fermata you can find the list of vaporetti stopping there, the schedule by the hour and the list of stops it makes along the route (which also gives a hint of the direction). Inside the platform (vaporetto stops float on the water), there’s even a scheme of the route showing the amount of time it takes to get to each station.
Usually there are two platforms on each fermata, one for each direction, so check before you go in if it’s the one you need. At some locations two platforms can be at some distance from each other. In rare cases, to the contrary, there is just one from which i vaporetti depart in both directions. If this is the case and you can't figure the direction, just ask the guy in charge (the one who throws the rope and latches/unlatches the doors).
They are very friendly and amazingly helpful. All of the personnel speaks
perfect English. It mesmerizes me to watch how they tie the knot when the boat arrives to the platform, announce the name of the stop, help the passengers to disembark, warn if the step's too high or water’s moving, close the doors, untie the rope and quietly retreat to the captain’s booth. If you have got a chance, stand next to the cabin and watch how the captain maneuvers with the steering wheel. There are the seats located also on the nose of the boat (it may be difficult to see those if there’s a crowd), which give a perfect view of the canal and the embankments as the boat passes by.
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If you mistakenly have taken a wrong vaporetto, don’t be upset – perhaps, it is the best adventure unfolds in front of you!
...Once, my friend and I were running to get on the departing boat, jumped on the board and realized within the minutes it is not going where we hoped it would.
"Where are we going?" – I asked the guy on board.
– "You don’t know where are you going?" – he eyed me disbilievingly (and even bit suspiciously, although there was more humor than suspicion in his eyes).
– "No!" – we answered innocently.
– "Where do you need to go?" – Now he was almost laughing, but not at us – it's just Italians are such cheerful folks!
We told him, and he suggested even faster route than we initially planned. So we did not loose anything getting on the wrong boat. On another occasion I was meeting a friend around piazza San Marco late at night. She was carrying the group of clients round the vineyards and we agreed to meet around midnight, after they had dinner following their late arrival. I also had a nice dinner before and was already home when she texted me – but what could be more romantic than a ride across still waters of the Guidecca chanel at night in the moonlight! We met at the still lively piazza, where the accordeonist played the Russian waltz for the late listeners, and headed to a bar for drinks.
Their group was with the local driver who knew the place, and when we finished (closer to 2am), he suggested the nearest vaporetto stop. I vaporetti, as I said, run all night long. However, the night route ("N", as it's mentioned), goes just one way around city. So it meant for me at least an hour to get the stop I need (rather than 10 minutes) as, sadly, the direction of the night boat was opposed to the one I needed. On board I asked the sailor what to do. He said to get off the next stop, Academia, and go straight ahead to the other side of the island (just five minutes), where I can take the same "N" route but just one stop away from my Guidecca island. Which I did – and as much as it was eerie to walk at night through empty passage, though well lit, it proved to be so much faster way home! With time I learned as well that Venezia is, probably, the safest city even at the night time. That night I was so happy to be so soon in my bed.
Resume: When in doubt, ask the vaporetto officer how to get where you need to go – they are very helpful.
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A little bit on ROUTES of the water trams.
Vaporetto No.1 is the basic route going up and down the Grand Canal with stops at all main points of sightseeing. No.2 goes across and along Guidecca channel (Guidecca is a small island south of San Marco populated with the local folks). It serves both as traghetto (ferry) crossing Guidecca channel several times and ends at the piazzale di Roma in one direction and on piazza San Marco in the other.
There are the routes which go to the islands of Murano, Burano and Lido. And then there’s the vaporetto N, which I already mentioned, or the “night” boat. It departs about every 40 minutes during the night and goes around the city. My favorite vaporetto night ride is from piazza San Marco to Guidecca, with no one else on the outside deck, the pitch black waters all around reflect the dark skies and the boat lamps, San Marco coast line is gradually getting smaller opening the view of another big church magnificently appearing right on the bocca (the "mouth", that's the name of the place where the Grand Canal and the Guidecca channel are joined together), the fresh wind blowing into my face, Guidecca is approaching as the row of shimmering lights, the water’s gently swaying the boat making the night around just a magic night...
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Vaporetto is a really good way to see the islands of Venezia.
.... Once I took a lovely evening journey with the Number 4.2, which goes from Guidecca to Murano. I’ve got a book and sat outside at the boat tail, enjoying the views and the tranquility of the waters ride as the night was gently falling down on the city (by the end of the journey, I have to say, I've got a bit nauseaus of the engine starting and stopping and of its fumes). My initial plan was traveling to Murano and take a bit of walk, but by the time we got to the island it got already dark, so I decided I would stay on board and see what happens – perhaps, it brings me back to where I started :).
The island of Murano in the evening looks quiet eerie. There's hardly anyone outside despite it was just around 8pm, the buildings facing the waters looked completely empty gleaming with the dark wholes of the windows like in the Hitchkok movies (I think because they mosty were warehouses and the production facilites, while the residents quarters were hidden inside the island).
Every time we stopped at the fermata I was dreading this would be the end of journey so I would have
to disembark and wander by the empty streets searching for my way back, so sailing off the coastal line of Murano after some time gave me a sigh of relief...
...The view of the lagoon was glorious with the full moon brightly shining in the dark skies and a giant lighthouse reflecting in the dark and wavy waters. There was hardly anyone on board and, in any case, two pairs of the tail seats outside where I sheltered with my book were separated from the rest of the salon by the glass doors. The engine roared ploughing the water and I hoped we're just sailing toward Venice rather than to yet another island submerged in darkness.
Luckily, the boat emerged on the other side of the lagoon delivering the few remaining passengers right in the midst of the cheerful tourist crowd quickly dissolving the boat solitude. It felt good to end the “round the Venice” improvised tour in that way and feel the terra firma once again. ...I have to tell you, during my first week in Venice at times I felt the swaying even when walking on the ground – the past–effect of many vaporetto rides. This soon was gone... but in a way, isn’t it lovely at times to detach from the reality?...
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So, il vaporetto is reliable and comfortable, if somewhat slow, and the ONLY means of transport :) Gondolas and water taxis are, of course, avialable as well, – to rich and famous, who can easily affort it (a ride to Marco Polo airport will cost around 70–80 euro and thirty mintues aboard la gondola will be around the same). Taking il vaporetto is a good way to rest the tired feet, to see the waterfront – but otherwise, it's often faster walking to your destination – provided you don't have to go to another island and you know where to go. To me it was an amazing discovery realizing that it's possible to cross the whole of the central part of town, from the South to the North, in 20 minutes! Vaporetto ride around would take at least 45, possibly, even more.
The story on the Venice transportation wouldn't be complete without mentioning of il traghetto. That's the historic means of crossing the
canal which still exists nowdays and is quite a convenient way of getting from one shore to another. Traghetto means a ferry. It's basically a gondola transporting people from one side of the Grand canal to the other at certian
points. For the meek 2 euro, the cost of one–way trip, it is an excellent possiblity to both cross the canal and
experience a ride in a gondola. All in one! :)
As there are just three bridges over the Grand canal in Venice, il traghetto may come quite handy. The bridges are:
il Ponte Scalzi next to the Ferrovia (train station) in the upper West end of the canal,
il Ponte di Rialto in the middle, and
il Ponte Academia – at the lower East side.
Il traghetto stops are marked on any city map. They are located near those vaporetto stops: Santa Maria di Giglio, San Toma, San Silvestro, Ca’d’Oro (in front of the Rialto market), and San Marcuola in Canareggio.
I would suggest to take il traghetto as an experience. It's lots of fun: it's operated by a gondoliero, it's narrow and shaky, and packed with a dozen people, it may be rather breathtaking ride! I was holding tight to the bench when we crossed to the Rialto market with a hotel cook on gastronomic tour. With a bit of imagination you may feel as a real Venetian a few hundred years ago, wrapped in a black coat with the silk red lining…… Unleash your fantasy to carry you where you'd like to go in the old Venezia to complete the picture :)
Speaking of gondolas, the last time I checked couple years ago the price for a ride was 80 euro. For sure it’s romantic and la gondola can bring you to the rii (streams) where you cannot reach with a big boat….. Il gondoliero may even sing for you... the slow sentimental song will be reflected of the stone walls and linger under the arches of the bridges… so, go for it if you have extra euros to spare. Il gondoliero would be very happy as this would take him off his waiting post near a big hotel or close to the foundation of Peggy Guggenheim. I gondolieri are quite cute in their striped shirts and straw hats with the red or blue ribbon, with a neat neckerchief and the navy pants underlining their cute buts.... or not so cute – it depends, some are on heavier side, some are bolding... You see, il Gondoliero profession is handed over from the father to son, there are family clans where it’s hard to get in for a stranger, so you can meet a representative of any generation from the old to the young.
