We will be in Venice 8 days, the last day just leaving venice in the morning by train. We love to walk and understand that Venice is a city for walking, so we expect to walk a lot of places. However, we still think it might be worthwhile to buy a 7 day unlimited ride pass on the ACTV for E51. The basic Venice card also includes free public toilets. Are our instincts good on this...is it worth it, even though we will be walking a lot?

Also, are the traghetti free?

Where are you staying?

If you get the Venice card, it will probably be more for convenience than for cost. 51 Euro is a lot. But, it sort of depends where you are staying - if you are staying somewhere on the outskirts it would probably be worth it.

You could also plan all your trips using the vaporetto to be in a three-day time period, and get a three-day pass; I've also done trips with friends where we did all our vaporetto stuff with a 24 hour pass.

The traghetti are not free - they cost .50 a ride. And there are only a couple that cross with regularity.

Let me know where you are staying...

I love the traghetti, it is the cheapest gondola ride one will ever have!

Sorry, I should have thought to add where we're staying. We'll be near San Stae in Santa Croce.

I understand a ticket on the #1 line costs E5 and the others are E$3.50, so $51 didn't sound all that out of line if we use it alot. Does the ACTV run the traghetti, too?

One of the advantages I can see in having unlimited access on the vaporetti is speed of getting from pt A to pt B...just gives a little more independence- can be in one area of town and get to another quickly (that's why we love the subway in NYC and Metro in Paris.) Although, from my research, I understand the #1 line is slow. Are the others speedier?

How much are the public toilets and are they even desirable to use (clean?) Is the Venice card adding any value there?

Also, Shannon (and Ruth) - We love Chow Venice. Thanks so much for writing it!

Julie - the desert rat going to the water...

Maybe it is because I am older and heavier than Shannon, but I love the vaporettos. Martin and I will plan a day around riding the vaporetto to different places although we do try to stay off them during rush hours. We get either a monthly pass or very inexpensive ten trip tickets with our 3 year abbonamento card. The one is like a local stopping almost everywhere along the Grand Canal. The #82 is an express and skips many of the #1's stops, but it can be tricky. There are certain hours when it stops at Rialto and dischare all passengers who then have to wait for a #1 to continue their journey. There are also certain vaporettos that go straight ot San Mrco and stop only at one or two other prime tourist locations. Then you have the smaller motorscafi that go through the Cannaregio Canal and out to Murano, Burano, etc.
For less than a Euro you can buy an orario - time table. This has tons of useful information including very accurate schedules and routes, different fare possibilities and all the rules. Martin can spend hours poring over it.Ther is a lot of information posted on he walls of the vaporettos tops or near hte ticket booths too.
The traghetti are funn. We do try to say out of htem during rush hours because we are in Venice for a month and can plan our days so as not to interfere with students and commuters who are on a schedule. Just remember as soon as you get on the traghetto, walk to the back and turn around because the first thing the traghetto does when he pulls away from the dock is to turn around. If you do not turn, you will be facing the stern for your trip. On recent trips the gondolieri have usually asked me to sit down. Guess I look old and unsteady. Ruth

Staying near San Stae, it would be convenient to get a pass, because you can cross the canal anytime you want that way, even if it is just one stop.

Ruth mentions the "abbonamento." If you plan to go to Venice more than once in the next few years, this might be an option. You have to pay something like 30 Euro, then you get a card that allow you to buy carnets of tickets for much cheaper, like .70 per ride. You have to go to the ACTV office to get this, and depending on who you talk to, this can be difficult, or easy.

I let my abbonamento expire because I hardly ever use the vaporetto anymore - I can get around easier by walking. But I know lots of shortcuts.

Both times I have been in Venice I bought multi day passes and then almost never used them. A crossing here or there, perhaps once or twice a day, everything else was on foot.

I'd buy the Venice Card, particularly as you're staying near San Stae. I love the vaporettos and find that I'm more inclined to venture further because I know I can just take one back without worrying about getting a ticket. It would not be a complete evening in Venice for me without a trip along the Grand Canal - even if only one or two stops. The weekly card works out reasonably cheaply, particularly if you're planning trips out to Torcello, the Lido or other islands.

Fares on the vaporettos are currently 5e for a 90 minute Grand Canal ticket, 6e for a day ticket that is only valid on the Grand Canal and 3.5e for a ingle trip ticket. So I don;t think the 51e is overly expensive.

Although there are not many of them, the public toilets are clean and fine to use. It's a bit of a performance using them with your Venice Card. You show the card to the attendant, they write down your cards number and then give you the 50e to put in the slot!

When we were there in December we'd pre-booked the first week's Venice Card ticket but then discovered that you could just turn up to the main vaporetto stops and buy one. I'm not sure if this would apply in the busy times, but it certainly made it easy for the rest of our month in Venice.

I would tend to agree with Shannon that if you are staying near San Stae a pass would be a useful thing to have and would probably pay for itself.

Yes, Venice is most definitely a walkable city, but I rather wonder whether you want to walk 30 to 45 minutes every time you want to get to the general area of the major points of interest in San Marco and Dorsoduro.

You will still have ample occasion to walk around once you are in those sestieri.

I've done all the calculations and permutations and Venice Card is marginally cost effective at best. Mà!! If you plan to be mobile, and not having to worry about the arcane differences between the 3.50 and 5 Euro tickets, and time limitations on the Grand Canal, and don't nickel and dime every time you need to use a vaporetto, etc., then the Card meand peace of mind. Therefore, we reserved ours.

Tickets are easy to buy,I can't remember waiting in lines for more than a minute.I never get a pass although we take the vaporetto almost daily while there.RR

I was just in Venice in February and I walked everywhere. The only time I took the water bus was to get to the train station, and I only did that for the experience. It's so easy to walk anywhere you want to go! I'd just pay as you go... that's my two cents!

Just in case: If you or anyone you are traveling with has any physical limitations, etc., then perhaps water travel is a good idea.

Totally agree with teachick. I was there in march and i had the 1 day venice card but didn't really use it (even though we had snow and we were freezing). Walking is the way to see Venice if you can. Get lost in the streets, it is fun and you see the houses by the backdoor.

Keep in mind that the vaporetti are just like busses. They are pretty good at keeping the posted schedule, but that may not be your schedule (I hardly ever take #1, which is much more frequent.), they are crowded at rush hour, the #1 is pretty slow unless you're going only one or two stops and you have to walk to the vaporetto stop - not always
convenient.

In all my trips to Venice (20+), I've purchased one pass and used it twice. Last trip (7 days), I used the vaporetto 4 times, and two of those were to and from the station. Walking in Venice just doesn't take that much time and it is definitely the way to see the city. If you were staying in St. Elena, I'd say get a pass, but you're not. Enjoy the walking.

The public restrooms are amazingly clean to me. I'd use one any day, and pretty much do.

Callie

On past trips we've used the vaporetti quite a bit, both because they often save time, and because it's just plain fun to sit on a vaporetto & cruise around venice

For our upcoming trip I was looking at the venicecard and for our needs we compared the 3 day VeniceCard 29€ with the 3 day ACTV travel card 22€ and decided that for us it wasn't worth paying 7 extra euros just to access the public restrooms. Usually we can find one in a museum or restaurant we're visiting anyway, so we're just going to go with the straight ACTV travel card, and if we have to we'll pay 0.50€ every once in a while, but I doubt it will total 7€ worth...

However if I was travelling with my mother of the teensy-weensy-bladder I'd buy the VeniceCard in a heartbeat