How To Reach Venice

Venice, the Veneto region’s capital in northern Italy is a lagoon city in the Adriatic Sea that comprises of more than one hundred islands. The city is built upon these islands and does not have any roadways, it only has canals. Given that the city of Venice has this kind of an infrastructure, it cannot be explored by car. But, reaching Venice is easily possible by air, train, car and even boat! Even though the city is situated on sea, the closest mainland has an airport, railway station and even cruise ships that can bring you to the center of the city.

Ready to explore the waters of Venice? Here are some pointers on the easiest ways to reach Venice.

The closest airport that serves the region of Venice is the Marco Polo Airport, located on mainland Italy, at a distance of 14 km from the center of the city. This airport was named after the famous Venetian explorer Marco Polo and is one of the busiest airports in northern Italy with prime airlines like British Airways, Emirates, Lufthansa, and Alitalia plying back and forth from there to different parts of Italy as well as Europe and non- European countries.

Another airport that can be used to reach Venice is the Treviso Airport, which is located at about 41 km from the centre of the city and is served by various low cost airlines. Once you reach either airport, you can take various modes of transportation like water taxis, regular taxis, water busses and regular busses run by ACVT to reach the center of the city.

Going to Venice by road is not the most popular way to travel to the Lagoon city, but it is an option to consider. The A4 Turin-Trieste, the A13 from Bologna and the A27 from Belluno are the main motorways that connect Venice to mainland Italy. Once you reach the island you need to park your car in one of the car parks that are available; the Piazzale Roma or the Tronchetto. If you want to travel by bus, you can take a bus, run by ATVO, from various parts of Italy and go to the main bus terminal, which is located in Piazzale Roma. From there onwards, you can take other means of transportation on water like a water taxi or a bus to go to the main city.

The closest train station to the lagoon city of Venice is the Santa Lucia Train Station. This station is built inside the lagoon itself and is the main terminal for trains coming in from the rest of Italy and other European countries. Travelling to Venice by train is very convenient; this train station sees 30 million passengers every year travelling back and forth and almost 450 trains a day. There is another railway station that can be traveled to, known as Venezia Mestre. It is located at a distance of 9.3 km from the islands of Venice, in mainland Italy. After you reach this railway station, you can take an ACTV bus from there to reach Venice.

One of the biggest ports in the Mediterranean Sea is the Port of Venice. It is regarded as one of the largest marinas in terms of transporting passengers as well as shipping goods. This port has several services given by cruise companies, high speed vessel companies and ferryboat companies which passengers can avail to reach Venice from Slovenian and Croatian cities like Albona, Pirano and Pola, and also from Syria, Greece and Egypt. More than 200 cruise ships take you to the Venice Maritime Station, from where you can take a boat to reach St. Mark’s Square in Venice.

Since there are no roadways in Venice, you have to use the waterways to move from one place to another. The best way to get around this city is by foot; the more you walk, the more you discover small bridge and alleys that are absolutely unique to the region of Venice. But if you have to go to a nearby island, you will have to take the vaporetto; a public transport on water to commute around Venice. These vaporettos are operating on the Grand Canal and will take you to different islands like Burano, Murano, Lido and Torcello. This is the ideal way of sightseeing in Venice and a unique way to travel in this beautiful city.