How do you get from Marco Polo Airport to Venice?

The short answer

Venice Marco Polo Airport stands on the mainland near the village of Tessera, about seven and a half kilometers northeast of the historic center, across the lagoon. There are three ways from there into the island city: a bus across the road bridge to Piazzale Roma, at the city's northwestern edge; an Alilaguna water bus straight across the lagoon to landings around the city; or a private water taxi.

The bus is the quickest way to the edge of the city and the simplest if you are staying near the station or Piazzale Roma. The Alilaguna boats are slower, but they bring you in by water, often close to where you are staying. The water taxi is the fastest and the most expensive, and the only one that can take you close to many hotel doors. Choose by where you are going, not by the airport.

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The airport

The airport is named after Marco Polo, the Venetian traveler, and its terminal, opened in 2002, is run by the same company that manages Treviso. Arrivals are on the ground floor. It is one of the busiest airports in Italy, with flights from across Europe and a few long-haul routes, some of them seasonal, and it is a base for several low-cost airlines. Because it stands on the shore of the lagoon, boats leave for the city from a dock at the airport itself, a short walk from the terminal, and the whole island city lies in view across the water on a clear day.

By bus to Piazzale Roma

Two companies run buses from the airport to Piazzale Roma, the bus station at the end of the Ponte della Libertà: ATVO, the provincial company, and ACTV, the city's transport company, whose airport route is its line 5, the Aerobus. Both cross the lagoon on the road bridge and stop at the edge of the island city, the last place a bus can go. Other buses run from the airport to Mestre and its railway station, which is useful only if you are staying on the mainland or catching a train onward.

From Piazzale Roma you continue on foot or by water bus. The railway station is across the Ponte della Costituzione, with the Grand Canal water-bus landings beside it, and the landings at Piazzale Roma itself serve the Grand Canal lines. If your lodging is in Santa Croce, San Polo or Cannaregio, you may be able to walk. If it is in San Marco, Castello or Dorsoduro, plan on a water bus (see getting around).

By Alilaguna across the lagoon

Alilaguna, a private company, runs water buses from a dock at the airport straight across the lagoon into the city. Its lines are named by color. The Blue Line calls at Murano, Fondamente Nove on the north shore, the Lido, the Arsenale, San Zaccaria and San Marco, then continues round by the Zattere and the Giudecca to Tronchetto and the railway station. The Orange Line enters the Grand Canal itself, calling at Guglie, San Stae, the Rialto, Sant'Angelo, Ca' Rezzonico and Santa Maria del Giglio. A Red Line runs in summer, by Murano, the Lido and San Zaccaria to San Marco.

It is a slower journey than the bus, but it lands you inside the city, often a short walk from your lodging, and it brings you in the way visitors arrived for most of Venice's history: across open water, with the bell towers rising ahead. Tickets are sold at the airport and online. The Alilaguna boats are not part of ACTV's network, so the city's water-bus travel cards do not cover them.

By water taxi

Water taxis also leave from the airport's dock. They are private motorboats that take you and your luggage across the lagoon and, where the canals allow, to a landing close to your door, or to a hotel's own water gate. For a group sharing the boat, with bags and a lodging on a canal, it can be worth the price; for a single traveler with a backpack, rarely.

Agree the fare before you board.

How to choose

Start with the map. Find your lodging, then the nearest water-bus landing or Alilaguna stop, and count the bridges between it and your door; most bridges have steps, and a heavy case must be carried over each one.

If you are staying near the station, Piazzale Roma or the western end of the Grand Canal, the bus and a short walk are simplest. If you are staying on the Grand Canal between the Rialto and the Accademia, the Orange Line may stop almost at your door. If you are staying in Castello, near San Marco, on the Lido or on the Giudecca, the Blue Line is likely to be the best fit. If you are arriving late at night, check the last departures of each before you land.

Whatever you choose, it helps to have the name of your lodging's nearest campo or landing written down, because Venetian addresses give only a district and a number (see the sestieri).

If you land at Treviso instead

Some airlines fly to Treviso Airport, about thirty kilometers from Venice, and call it Venice-Treviso. It is a different airport, outside the town of Treviso, used mainly by low-cost airlines. Coaches timed to meet the flights run to Mestre station and to Tronchetto at the edge of the island city, and a local bus goes to Treviso's own railway station; there is no boat from Treviso. Allow for the longer journey (see getting here).

Before you fly

Check the current timetables and fares on the operators' own sites, ATVO, ACTV and Alilaguna, before you travel, since routes and hours change with the season. If you arrive on one of the city's fee days, remember that day visitors entering the historic center pay the access fee, while overnight guests register an exemption; arrivals from the airport count the same way as any other (see the access fee).

And do not get off the airport bus at Mestre unless you mean to. Mestre is part of the municipality of Venice, but it is on the mainland; stay on to Piazzale Roma, the end of the line, for the island city (see Mestre is not Venice).