Marco Polo Airport to Venice: bus, Alilaguna boat or water taxi

Every way into the city

Marco Polo Airport sits on the mainland, and no road reaches the historic centre. Every arrival therefore comes down to one of two moves: a bus to Piazzale Roma, where the roads stop and the water begins, or a boat across the lagoon to a landing stage near your address. The bus is the quickest and the cheapest. The boat costs more and takes longer, but it can save you the crossing of the city at the other end.

What each way costs

Both buses charge the same official fare: €10 one way and €18 for a return, luggage included. The ATVO express runs non-stop to Piazzale Roma. The ACTV Aerobus, line 5, costs the same but stops along the way, and it comes in two combined forms as well: €18 buys the Aerobus together with a 90-minute network ticket, and a supplement of €7 one way or €13 return is bought together with a 1, 2, 3 or 7-day ticket.

The Alilaguna boats cost €18 one way and €32 return on all three airport lines, and the return leg stays valid for 30 days. A shared water taxi is charged per person, the same in each direction.

The private water taxi is the one fare that needs explaining, because two figures are in circulation and both are real. The city's own tariff, set by the council resolutions of 2011 and still in force, fixes €110 from the airport to the historic centre and €120 to the Lido, plus €10 for every person above four and €5 for every bag above four. Off the fixed routes the meter runs instead: €15 to start, €2 a minute, and €10 more between 22:00 and 06:00. What the operators quote is higher. The Consorzio Motoscafi Venezia lists €160 from the airport to a hotel for up to four people, with a night surcharge of €15 between 22:00 and 07:00; Venezia Taxi adds €10 at night. The whole tariff, including the fares inside the city, is set out on water taxi Venice.

Flying into Treviso

Many low-cost flights land at Treviso Canova, 40 minutes from Venice by road. The ATVO coach, line 351, costs €12 one way and €22 return and runs via Mestre into Venice in about 40 minutes. Barzi Service runs roughly hourly for €10 one way and €18 return, with children under ten carried free, but it ends at Tronchetto; from there the People Mover to Piazzale Roma costs €1.50. There is no boat from Treviso.

How long it takes

Twenty minutes. That is what the ATVO express needs for the run to Piazzale Roma, and nothing on the water comes close. The Aerobus takes longer because it stops on the way.

For the boats the number that matters is not the crossing but your landing stage. The Alilaguna Blu line calls almost everywhere: 30 minutes to Murano Colonna, 41 to Fondamente Nove, 65 to the Lido, 85 to San Marco Giardinetti and 114 to the railway station. The Arancio line reaches Guglie in 42 minutes, Rialto in 57 and Santa Maria del Giglio in 73. The seasonal Rossa line, which runs from April to November, takes 80 minutes to San Marco. A shared water taxi leaves once the boat has filled, so reckon with 20 to 45 minutes of waiting and about 50 minutes on the water. A private taxi does the crossing in 20 to 30 minutes. Line by line, with every stop, that is on Alilaguna.

Where to board, and how far you walk

The buses leave from outside Exit D, in the second lane on the left: stop 3 for Venice, stop 4 for Mestre. The ATVO ticket desk in the arrivals hall is open 08:00 to 23:45.

Everything on the water starts with the same walk. From the terminal you follow the blue 'Water transport' signs onto the moving walkway. The signs promise four minutes and other accounts say considerably more, so reckon with four to thirteen minutes on foot, depending on the source, and a little longer with a heavy suitcase. At the far end are the Alilaguna ticket office, open 07:30 to 23:00, and the taxi pier. The voucher for a shared water taxi is exchanged earlier, at desk 71 in the arrivals hall; the whole procedure is on shared water taxi from the airport.

Luggage

• ATVO express bus: unlimited luggage on the airport service, at no extra charge. The most generous of the lot.
• Alilaguna: one large piece up to 160 cm in combined dimensions plus hand luggage; each further piece is €4, paid before boarding.
• Shared water taxi: one suitcase and one carry-on per passenger; the operator asks you not to exceed two bags per person.
• Private water taxi: four people and four bags in the fixed fare, then €5 for each further bag.
• Vaporetto, once you are in the city: three pieces free, each up to 150 cm in combined dimensions.

Booking, vouchers and cancellation

All four options in the box above are booked for a fixed date and can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours before departure. That sets them apart from the vaporetto ticket itself, which is nonrefundable once bought.

What differs is the redemption. The bus ticket is bound to your date and needs no exchange. The Alilaguna voucher is exchanged at the Alilaguna desk, and a return ticket has to be validated again on the day you fly home, within 30 days of the first validation; refunds exist only if the service is cancelled without an hour's notice or runs more than an hour late. The shared taxi voucher goes to desk 71, where you are given a departure. For the private taxi the Consorzio Motoscafi Venezia says it watches arriving flights, so a delay does not cost you the boat.

Which way suits you

• Travelling light, watching the money: the ATVO express, €10 and 20 minutes, then a vaporetto or a short walk from Piazzale Roma.
• A lot of luggage: the bus again, the only option with no piece limit at all.
• Four people with suitcases: the private boat is priced per boat, not per seat, so at four people it costs about what four seats on the shared one cost. At that point the private taxi is the better buy, door to door.
• A hotel on the Grand Canal: the shared taxi sets down at its own landings and at hotels with their own landing stage; the Alilaguna Arancio line runs the canal as far as Santa Maria del Giglio.
• Landing after 23:00: the last Alilaguna Blu leaves the airport at 00:20 and the last Arancio at 23:05. The ACTV Aerobus leaves the airport from 04:08 until 01:10 on weekdays. A water taxi at that hour carries the night surcharge.

The vaporetto ticket and the airport

No timed ACTV ticket is valid to or from Marco Polo Airport. The tariff excludes airport journeys by name, and it excludes the Alilaguna lines as well, because they belong to a different company. A 72-hour pass in your pocket buys you nothing at the arrivals hall.

One bridge exists between the two systems, and it is the Aerobus supplement: €7 one way or €13 return, bought together with your 1, 2, 3 or 7-day ticket, and available for the Rolling Venice version of the three-day ticket too. With it, the airport run travels on the same ticket that carries you around the city for the rest of the week. Every duration and what it covers is on vaporetto prices.

Inside the city the ticket takes over completely:

The fares and journey times on this page follow the official tariffs of the operators that run each service: AVM and ACTV for the Aerobus and the city network, ATVO for the airport coaches, Alilaguna for the airport boats, and the water taxi tariff set by the Comune di Venezia.